As I gather the many threads from our 18 years at Rosslyn, I find myself intrigued with the transformation, the many transformations, that are especially evident when reviewing similar subjects now and then. As I begin to showcase some of these comparisons in coming weeks, let’s jumpstart the journey with a view from within the icehouse recorded by me two years ago yesterday.
The structural engineers were on site taking field measurements in order to help finalize a construction plan. I was standing just inside the east end doorway, looking west toward the elevation that would soon be transformed more dramatic than any other.
Today that same view looks like this.
Almost unrecognizable. The once cloistered interior now integrates cohesively, seamlessly, welcomingly with the out-of-doors. The hardwood floors within and the hardwood decking without flow playfully, acknowledging but undeterred by the wall windows, indoors that separate the two. Afternoon sunlight floods the main room, illuminating the interior that for most of its five quarters of a century (or more) was shrouded in darkness, locked inside of mostly impermeable box designed and crafted first and foremost to isolate and insulate the interior from the exterior.
For today, this is all. Two glimpses, two years apart. Transformation. Transparency. A joy to behold from within and without…
What do you think?