I was looking at that building interior and the (faux) leather seats built into the concrete that surrounds the sunken waiting area, and it got me thinking about perception and how much of our reality is a sort of mind game we engage in.
Back in the day, that space must have felt like a sort of corporate power display with edgy futuristic vibes. The secretaries sat in the middle area and (mostly) men in dark suits and skinny ties were on those seats with standard issue briefcases. Not a t-shirt in sight. This is the sort of imaginal corporate space that was satirized by Tati in his films in late 60s. By 70s, this space was getting dusty and the men are now wearing polyester suits with fat ties. Various shades of brown. Not sure about the vibes or the secretaries. Today it looks like some sort of nafarious institution.
Through it all it remained the same physical reality. I think this is the ultimate essence and meaning of architectural objects: they are ultimately materialized words in the widest sense, in that their reality is substantially created in the mind and merely girded by the physicality of the object.
My late family member was a technical editor at Bell Labs, and I inherited a few of his papers, and his internal resume is truly boring in many places:
“From October 1970 through December 1970, served as a member of the Western Electric Committee on the Technical Data Design Classification Plan.”
“Worked on studies and publication specifications for an automated Maintenance Data System (MDS).”
He did work on some slightly more interesting things, like documentation for a cable-laying ship, and he was proud of helping with the monumental book project “A History of Engineering and Science in the Bell System”. But overall it was just a job for him, for several decades; he retired as soon as he could.
I went to Holmdel High and my girlfriend's dad was an engineer at the Bell Labs Holmdel location. As it turns out he invented a little something called Adaptive Delta Modulation (aka Abate Delta Modulation) for his Doctorate Thesis in 1968.
They definitely had brain power at the Holmdel location too.
Thoughts on Bell Labs' alum Karl Nell? Having intimated (avoiding formally stating) that some of the things he was read-into came as part of his time there.
Back in the day, that space must have felt like a sort of corporate power display with edgy futuristic vibes. The secretaries sat in the middle area and (mostly) men in dark suits and skinny ties were on those seats with standard issue briefcases. Not a t-shirt in sight. This is the sort of imaginal corporate space that was satirized by Tati in his films in late 60s. By 70s, this space was getting dusty and the men are now wearing polyester suits with fat ties. Various shades of brown. Not sure about the vibes or the secretaries. Today it looks like some sort of nafarious institution.
Through it all it remained the same physical reality. I think this is the ultimate essence and meaning of architectural objects: they are ultimately materialized words in the widest sense, in that their reality is substantially created in the mind and merely girded by the physicality of the object.
“From October 1970 through December 1970, served as a member of the Western Electric Committee on the Technical Data Design Classification Plan.”
“Worked on studies and publication specifications for an automated Maintenance Data System (MDS).”
He did work on some slightly more interesting things, like documentation for a cable-laying ship, and he was proud of helping with the monumental book project “A History of Engineering and Science in the Bell System”. But overall it was just a job for him, for several decades; he retired as soon as he could.
They definitely had brain power at the Holmdel location too.
I love the lore, thanks!