A Well Light Oil Refinery and a Suggestive Power Plant.

Every time I drive down from LA, I count landmarks.  Mostly, these are pretty mundane and forgettable to most people that trek down the 405/5, but there are a couple that I always look forward to.  The first one is a Nuclear Power Plant in San Onofre, that is mostly known to the residents for its anatomical resemblances:

The Ocean's Boob Job

What interests me the most about power plants in SoCal are their locations: Right on the Beach.  There are literally people in beach chairs right on the other side of this massive, nuclear structure.  As a kid, I remember going to a beach in Carlsbad, and we would park outside of a power plant, and swim in the water beneath it.  I'm not suggesting the water was polluted or it was an environmental hazard, but I immediately accepted it as part of the surrounding.  In other words, I saw it as a rock on a cliff, an inherent part of the beach.





The next landmark that I always look forward to is the main focus of my trip:  The Long Beach Oil Refinery.

While it's not much to look at in the daytime, at night, it's a dystopian dream that's about to turn into a nightmare.  A Borg Civilization or mechanical society.  Total Recall.  Death Star. etc.

The structure reminds me that buildings don't have to be beautiful to elicit emotional responses.  The refinery here demands attention, and is almost impossible for me to look away from when I drive by it at night.

While both of these buildings are disturbing (in the sense that I wouldn't want to work/live at them), they are also marvelous.  They make me think and reflect on the world we live in today, and how structures reflect the current state of humanity. Power Plant Beach.  Long Beach Refinery.  The world is evolving around us, and we must design to accomidate.  But how we choose to design these structures tells a story of our civilization.  The beach plant reminds me that Power and Energy are so ingrained into our quotidian lives that we just overlook and assume it's there.  Just like a rock in our yard, we don't think it's going anywhere or wonder where it came from.  And in a sense, we don't care.

The refinery reminds me of the limited resources we have, and how our society, that is so dependent on oil, has the potential to turn the American Dream into the American Nightmare.

In any case, both of these structures are a symbol to me.  Not just of our society, but how close to home I am as I drive down the freeway.  Perhaps that is a metaphor in itself, but I have drifted away from the point I want to emphasize right now: design gets its message across, whether intentional or not, or disturbing or wonderful (or both).