Building the Dam Story

At the end, if there is success, one wonders how. Through this wonder one discovers the story. This blog is dedicated to that discovery.

Sunday, July 4, 2010

Architecture


The architecture for the Hoover Dam incorporates an art deco theme, utilizing an artistic vision, a structure that comments on a period in time.

During the 1930s the investment in art was made for appearance sake, to demonstrate that no matter how "poor" a people were, art was not only alive but thriving. The building of the dam was a good place to demonstrate this, with its art deco appearance, as well as the interior of the dam, where the tours were planned to take place. The floors are marble using Italian design and Native American symbols to represent a culture that depended on outside traditions to complete it.

On a day every year that people come together to celebrate the American holiday of Independence, it is a good time to remember the interdependence of life, demonstrated graphically at Hoover Dam, through the people that helped build it to the art that represents a time in culture that continues because of its art.

What we recognize as beauty is not ever one man's sole vision though it may be credited as so. That one man is duly interdependent on so many other things---which the architecture of the Hoover Dam and its interior spaces mark the visions of many. A dam which serves many. An icon of American beauty.