· Meridian 87
The case against a viewing deck
It was in the first set of drawings. It came out, and taking it out cost more than building it would have.
The argument for a deck is that people want somewhere to stand. The argument against is that a deck is a structure, a structure needs a step, a step at night needs a light, and one light at ground level ends the thing everybody drove four hours for.
We took it out and flattened eleven kilometres of ground instead, which is to say we found eleven kilometres of ground that was already flat and put nothing on it.
You walk out from your door. There is no edge, no rail and no destination. Several guests have said this is disorienting. It is, for about four minutes.