There was no real thought to how these units would function when turned over to private or individual living spaces. The apartments are occupied by ex-pats - 15 units in west tower (floors 5-19 ) are occupied by or designated for my colleagues. My apartment, and I assume all apartments in this twin tower complex, have bedrooms labelled ‘A’, ‘B’, or ‘C’ each with a key, a TV and a small refrigerator. At this time the TVs work only in the master bedroom and the living room although I assume I could pay for the others. Each room has a telephone with its own number although only the living room is operable. Again, money would presumably make the others function, but what are cell phones for?
The complex contains a Laundry for both washing/drying and dry cleaning; a minimarket; a coffee bar and a promised restaurant – it functioned of course during the games and as the units (6 per floor for 28 floors for 2 towers = 336) in the towers fill up will probably function again.
The furniture is new, not ugly but antiseptic, although the colors are good: blues, creams and greys. The tiled floors have a decorative inner border in the living/dining room area:
Recently a cabinet for the dining room area was delivered - not especially attractive but functional. In the past couple weeks I’ve begun to add some personal touches: the Bose sound dock for my iPod that makes music listening such a pleasure; I’ve hung four pictures which I had sent from home: an 1840 David Robert’s lithograph of the Sphinx at Giza; a similarly dated map of Italy; a 1960’s Erick Hartmann photo of Hever Castle; and a new Ed Morgan piece from Taos, Northern Plains ca. 1840:
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Since I had also brought a southwest decorated gourd and a small photo also from Taos, I have a small corner that reflects southwest U.S. sensibilities. Rather than spread these few objects around the large white spaces, I have congregated them in the front hallway, to greet me as I enter and to be seen as I pass through from living room to kitchen, from kitchen to bedroom area. Last week-end I purchased new sheets and a duvet cover in cream and blue that my new cleaning ladies helped install - small things to personalize this space.
A bit more on the Hever Castle photograph, taken by Erich Hartmann in 1967.
A number of years ago on the last day visiting friends in England, we went to see Hever Castle (Ann Bolyn’s childhood home). The following day I returned home and the day after that I caught the last day of a showing of Erich Hartmann’s photos at the Magnum Gallery. I had excavated for a season with his son Nick when we were both students and visited the family in Maine during that period. I bought a lovely photo of sea water splashing on rocks in Maine but was struck by a fascinating photo taken at Hever Castle in 1967. I received a copy as a going away present just before I left for Qatar. It is even more marvelous than I remembered. The image above is scanned from the photograph (which doesn't do justice to the original), a bit smaller than the 11X14 of the original. What I love is both the sense of backs turned from the sculpture, as if in boredom, and the sense of imminent danger as the Brits, watching the lake/pond fail to see the menace of the creature rising from the ground, the fingers of her left hand on the rock pulling her up. A friend suggested it appears as though she has swum under the pool and is now rising behind the Brits still watching the water where she dove under.
