From: Stephen Lauf
To: design-l@lists.psu.edu
To: architecthetics@jiscmail.ac.uk
To: archipol@archis.org
Subject: "incredible" military relic
Date: 2001.09.15 09:14
Over a week or two ago I began planning a set of pages for Quondam that were to be entitled "the most incredible building of the 20th century." At the southern-most tip of the State of New Jersey, Cape May Point, there is a long abandoned World War II military bunker. When built, this bunker was 700 feet inland, but today "stands" about fifty feet out at sea. The coast there has shrunk, and the bunker is now very much an example of the Le Corbusian paradigm of a box elevated on pilotis. The bunker at Cape May Point is an enormous concrete hulk seemingly precariously poised on abundant tree-trunk pylons.
Besides the obvious, what I find incredible about this building is its concentration of symbolism and message:
1. that it is literally a concrete manifestation of it's time, namely the middle of the 20th century during World War II.
2. that it is (or at least was) a prime example of modern 'fortress' architecture.
3. that it was once stealth, but over time has been exposed via the power of nature.
4. that it unwittingly now manifests exactly Le Corbusier's prime architectural theory for the 20th century, again the box raised on pilotis.
5. that it is now unsafe, inaccessible, and for all intents and purposes un-usable. Moreover, its future is uncertain, and may one day suddenly collapse.
In light of the recent sad, sad fate of the World Trade Center Towers, I think the bunker at Cape May Point will have to take second place when it comes to "the most incredible building of the 20th century."
Steve Lauf
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