Edifice Complex and Fantasies in 3D

Inasmuch as I despise the inhuman abuses and excesses of the Third Reich, I’m always left perpetually at awe by Hitler’s  passion for humongous structures that dwarf the human scale. The Chancellery, the Volkshalle and the Deutsche Stadion are some of the best examples. It is widely known that his edifice complex stems from his admiration of the Roman Empire of old, with its colossal structures like the Colosseum, Circus Maximus and the pantheon. They believe somehow, that the glory of an empire is best exemplified by grand buildings and open air spaces that inspire awe and respect.

In a third world country as ours we can only hope and dream that someday we can build awe inspiring buildings that will dazzle the imagination of the world for generations to come.  In any democracy, spending billions of taxpayer money on nice buildings  while the rest of the populace is wallowing in poverty, can be considered a shame and depravity; both of which rained down on the Marcoses when the CCP complex was built. By private funding though, great stadiums like the Araneta Coliseum were built and became the toast of Asian architecture for many years.

As for me, I’m no Albert Speer but using Google Sketchup, I was able to build some simple building plans in 3D

This is what I call the Bathala Stadium. An open air vanue for games and other competitions which can hold approximately 3 million people all at once. Here are the dimensions:

Height to top tier: 500 Feet
Height to top of Beacon/Altar: 1,680 Feet
Diameter of Center Oval: 1, 147 Feet
Full Structural Diameter: 4, 518 feet
Capacity: 3-5 million
Purpose: Sports Events, Concerts, Rallies, Worship, etc.

The next one I created was inspired by both the Volkshalle and St. Peters. I call it the Maharlika Hall. Here are the dimensions as per the sketchup ruler:

Length (footprint) : 2086 Feet
Width (footprint): 1419 Feet
Height to Top of Outer Towers: 1017 Feet
Dome Diameter: 665 Feet
Purpose: Cultural Hall, Seat of Government in the Philippines

(click pictures to enlarge)

Bathala Stadium: aerial view, the Maharlika Hall is in the upper right of center

Another view of the stadium. the small speck on top of the beacon is a man

Perspective of Maharlika Hall, Man on foreground to scale

Maharlika Hall, The Seat of Philippine power

Pandemics, Fashion and Vampires

I had a little bird,
Its name was Enza,
I opened the window,
And in-flew-enza.
-American Skipping Rhyme circa 1918

With the emerging scare in the US and Mexico about the swine influenza outbreak, one can’t help but look back at those days sometime in 2003 when SARS first made headlines. In the center of the outbreak (China) everyone eyed everyone else with suspicion. Public transportation and streets were deserted as the government reminded the populace to avoid congregating together in big groups. Fear was as palpable as the frantic scramble to break the chain of transmission.

While the disease piled bodies in its wake, it strikes the fashion-conscious that bell bottom jeans and big belts are not just the only things that recur in the world of fashion. The surgical mask is THE definitive fashion returnee if ever there was one. In vogue, I guess, since the Spanish Flu Pandemic of 1918.

Eventually, the Guangdong beast was tamed and the pandemic, aborted. Man is once again saved by his mastery of medicine and science.

That was all well and good.

But it seems that nature won’t stop tipping the balance in its favor. Maybe we’re just too damn a burden to this world that Darwin’s natural selection is perpetually trying to worm it way in our midst just to trim down our population to a manageable size.

But something is gravely wrong here. Darwin says only the ‘fittest’ will survive, but somehow, the most lethal and virulent flu pandemics in the history of man are those that target the ‘fittest’ in the population, not the weakest.

The H1N1 Spanish Flu Pandemic of 1918-19 killed 25 million in its first 25 weeks as compared to AIDS which took 25 years to collect its toll. But that’s not the scary part. As I’ve said, the most virulent Flu pandemics kill mostly young, healthy people. In the case of the Spanish Flu this was made possible by what is known as the cytokine storm which is essentially an overreaction of the immune system to the presence of disease-causing microbes. The healthier your immune system is, the stronger the overreaction would be.

The normal seasonal flu usually kills either the very young (2 y.o. and below) or the very old (70 y.o. and up) but the Spanish flu decimated the healthiest people alive at the time, mostly young adults up in the 20-40 year old range.  Just as the First Great War was winding down, so many were struck down at the blush of youth.

This gave rise to silly emo vampires like Edward Cullen, but I digress.

If anything, the current swine flu outbreak in Mexico City is a grim reminder of the lethality of the pandemic flu. And already, it’s showing its pedigree this early: Of the 81 deaths recorded to date in Mexico City, all fall within the 20-40 year old range. In contrast, the infection was detected in Texas, Kansas and other parts of the US but no deaths were recorded so far as all the victims were children. Sounds familiar? You betcha.

If the Swine Flu reaches pandemic proportions and breaks through our shores, I’d rather be a child standing in its path. Wouldn’t you?

"you killed me you swine! Now I'm an emo vampire!"