A Halloween scenario

It’s weird. It’s even kind of a scary picture. Like a corner in a Halloween Haunted House; the dramaturgy this time of the year couldn’t be more perfect. I’m just waiting for some terrifying monster to pop up in the middle of that concrete mess. Or, even worse: at places, Seattle and Umeå look like a war zone right now. Leaving me with a strange and awkward feeling of something that is basically unknown to me.

The southern mile of The Alaskan Way Viaduct is a smashed down grey dusty confusion of concrete, arne ring iron, bizarrely bent steel and creaking cracks. In Umeå, The Thornberg Building (Thornbergska huset) is cut in two parts wide away from each other. Excavator buckets are working their way through the collapsing floors, windows gaping black and empty, balconies gone and the yellowish façade ripped in pieces.

It looks like Beirut. And the wet weather in both cities makes the famous Lutzen fog come to mind, stresses the unreal settings, making them come across as really creepy. The scenes make me uncomfortable, although I know there is nothing dangerous going on here. Its just old times going, future coming. But those transitions can be very emotional and sometimes cause war-like states where they are happening.

The Thornberg Building is/was a four-story building right in the city center of Umeå. Typical in the sense of small stores located on the ground floor, offices and apartments at the upper floors, balconies facing the Rådhus (City Hall) Esplanade, one of the wide French-inspired streets built after the great city fire in 1888. Uncharacteristic though, as it was one of the very few buildings left from the era of Functionalism in Umeå. And this is what caused the conflict between preservers and developers in the city. Just as the Viaduct in Seattle is loved by some, others feel that it has to make room for something new.

So what about the 90 000 vehicles lost without the Viaduct right now, what about the Viadoom that was expected in Seattle? Well, it looks like the first part of the week went pretty smoothly considering the circumstances; people finding their ways around it, while actual gridlock and congestions arrived in full force Thursday. And then there is a Seahawks football game Sunday afternoon… But, the demolition has been going so well, the Viaduct will probably reopen Saturday midday already, two days ahead of schedule! That’s a win for Seattle right there!