http://themerica.org/blog/archives/27 an MFA design thesis by dave gottwald Tue, 07 Oct 2008 07:08:28 -0600 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 http://themerica.org/blog/archives/27/comment-page-1#comment-5 jesterpb Sun, 10 Feb 2008 01:35:25 +0000 http://themerica.org/blog/archives/27#comment-5 Other failures of DCA: * Non-Disney Rides - The Ferris Wheel, the Roller Coaster - No theming, no story told. They're just rides like what anyone else could build and has built before. * Fighting the environment - In a word, Sun. I like the idea of big open vistas in a park (see Animal Kingdom for reference) but at DCA, the open spaces only serve as giant places to roast. The sun gets too hot, the asphalt reflects it right back at you. It's SoCal people - we know you're trying to accent the natural sunlight that is so generous and prevalent here. Such a part of the general character of our culture. However, accenting the overwhelming light and heat are the wrong things to focus on. People generally try to AVOID that. Not celebrate it. Especially not for 8 hours while standing in line. A better way to accent it would have been through the use of shade, shafts of light, gems, mirrors, colored glass - perhaps letting natural sunlight be the main source of daytime lighting for most of the park. Instead of something cool and fun like that, we get Heat, Sunburn, and Sweat. Other failures of DCA:
* Non-Disney Rides – The Ferris Wheel, the Roller Coaster – No theming, no story told. They’re just rides like what anyone else could build and has built before.
* Fighting the environment – In a word, Sun. I like the idea of big open vistas in a park (see Animal Kingdom for reference) but at DCA, the open spaces only serve as giant places to roast. The sun gets too hot, the asphalt reflects it right back at you. It’s SoCal people – we know you’re trying to accent the natural sunlight that is so generous and prevalent here. Such a part of the general character of our culture. However, accenting the overwhelming light and heat are the wrong things to focus on. People generally try to AVOID that. Not celebrate it. Especially not for 8 hours while standing in line. A better way to accent it would have been through the use of shade, shafts of light, gems, mirrors, colored glass – perhaps letting natural sunlight be the main source of daytime lighting for most of the park. Instead of something cool and fun like that, we get Heat, Sunburn, and Sweat.

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