if it's not there, it's here
2002.09.11 13:26
The Spire of the Cathedral of Beauvais is the first world's tallest building to collapse after a brief existence, and the World Trade Center Towers are the second world's tallest buildings to collapse after a brief existence.
There is an article in today's New Yorker magazine entitled THE "HOLY GROUND" which is about "the early history of the World Trade Center site." Atop the title are the words "THAT WAS NEW YORK."
According to my notes, on 18 August 1996 I was still referring to the virtual museum of architecture I was then planning to 'create' as Non Ici, and by 2 October 1996 the virtual museum was being referred to as Quondam. What happen in-between these two dates was a phone conversation with Susan M. Dixon, a friend from our mutual architecture school days and now an Art Historian whose PhD work was on Piranesi's archaeological publications. Sue and I had many conversations back then regarding a virtual museum of architecture and Piranesi's Campo Marzio. It was Sue that suggested the name "quondam" for the virtual museum of architecture. She had once heard reference to a Professor Quondam in Rome, and the name/word since stuck in her mind. I liked the name immediately.
Quondam used to have an online journal entitled NOT THERE, and here's its first editorial dated 13 December 1997:
Editorial
Don't let anyone ever tell you that anti-matter doesn't matter.
Credit for naming the first virtual museum of architecture QUONDAM goes to Susan M. Dixon. She made the suggestion when the museum's working name, NON ICI, proved unsuitable. NON ICI is a literal translation into Latin of the phrase "not there," however, in Latin, saying that something is not there is the same as saying that that something is here. This obscure bit of linguistic information is good for a laugh, but not good for the naming of a virtual museum of architecture intending to display significant unbuilt architectural designs. Fortunately, the word QUONDAM, with its meaning rich in temporal ambiguity, immediately struck a chord, and, hopefully, the name QUONDAM and the virtual museum it stands for will eventually take a place within some small corner of architectural history.
It's Latin meaning notwithstanding, the notion of things not there still lies at the conceptual core of Quondam's virtual existence, and thus, NOT THERE is the name of Quondam's electronic journal.
The mission of NOT THERE is sincerely direct. As the electronic journal of the first virtual museum of architecture, NOT THERE will strive to continually investigate aspects of architectural design and history that would remain unseen were it not for the aid of computers and CAD. Furthermore, NOT THERE plans to present the wide array of new "tools" and options that computers now make available to architects and designer.
In terms of delivery, the publication of NOT THERE will not follow the tradition of periodic renewal. Rather than come out in monthly or quarterly issues, NOT THERE will simply provide the framework for an ongoing presentation of essays and articles, which will appear as soon as they are prepared and written.
Perhaps the Romans were right after all, because if it's not there, it's here!
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