Being a 22-year veteran of hazard mitigation, I look at man-made structures in terms of how they will “respond” to acts of nature, such as tornadoes and earthquakes. Will these structures help protect lives or will they fail?
Although the number of recorded tremblors in Oklahoma far exceeds the number of recorded twisters, they rarely cause significant damage. So, we prepare for tornadoes.
Fortunately, the new OSF headquarters building has been constructed to survive tornadic winds rated as a “5” on the Enhanced Fujita (EF) Scale. (For us disaster geeks, that means a sustained three-second wind gust exceeding 200 mph.) Good for them.
However, I doubt those artsy discs will weather the storm as well. Instead, I suspect they will “go UFO” and wreak destruction and carnage downwind. Or, worse, they will rip through the OSF building itself. Now, that’s art suspended!
While I appreciate and support the intent of the Art in Public Places Act of 2004, I must question the choice in this case. Art can possess both form and function. Or, in this case, serious dysfunction.
—Dan Biby
Oklahoma City
Not to state the obvious here, but in an F5, everything that isn't nailed down is going to "“go UFO” and wreak destruction and carnage downwind." And if you know as much as you profess to know, it probably isn't going to matter even if it's nailed down. In a 200MPH wind, I'm sure you need to concern yourself with thousands of other pieces of debris, what's a couple more in the mix. I mean, NORAD tracks thousands of pieces of space garbage, all of which can be fatal to a space station crew, but that doesn’t prevent NASA or various private companies from continuing to clutter earth’s orbit. It is what it is.
Excellent response! What were they thinking? Oh that's right, it is a Government building. I think that say's it all including the "dysfunctional" art.