I undertook an investigation of the physical aspects of the site by measuring of the site in relationship to the inherent logic of the monuments purpose. I related the measurement back to the body and its needs, the body being the primary means of measurement prior to industrialization and especially after the introduction of the metric system. This process highlighted for me the comical and ultimately futile nature of the attempt to measure and control through abstract concepts such as time.
8 Hours Labour was symbolised by a desk and the activity of walking – it took 210 steps to walk around the grass triangle surrounding the monument. By pacing out the site I estimated that it would take 276 office desks to fill the site. In terms of time it took a count of 220 ‘Mississippis’ to walk around the site.
8 Hours Rest was symbolised by a mattress and body lengths – it takes 73.33 recurring of my body lengths to go around the grass triangle surrounding the monument. I estimated that it would take 92 double bed mattresses to fill the site.
8 Hours Recreation – I chose a Jason Recliner chair to symbolise the common recreational past-time of television viewing. The activity of skipping was selected as a recreational body movement – it took 156 skips to circumnavigate the grass triangle around the monument, I estimated that it would take 386 Jason Recliner chairs to fill the site.
Feng shui is another method of analysing the physical aspects of a site – sometimes referred to as acupuncture in space. The practice examines how people experience the space psychologically. The monument and the site are exposed via the traffic and noise to an excess of ‘sha chi’ or poison arrows, the old gaol is also a negative influence energetically. The back of the monument is unsupported – no turtle/mountain energy. At the front of the monument there is no ‘phoenix’, essentially a small hill where benefical chi/energy can gather. The 888 monument, hence workers, are under attack, without support, easily overwhelmed.
Potential solutions would be to relocate the monument further back on the site and shift its orientation so that the Emily McPherson building functioned as supportive ‘mountain energy’. A raised garden bed/hillock in front of the monument would serve to protect the site from the ‘sha chi’, fast moving straight lines of the traffic. Heavy rounded objects such as boulders could be placed in each corner of the triangular site to anchor the energy or protective crystals could be buried. Curving the corners of the site would also reduce the ill effects the triangular shape of the site has upon neighbouring buildings. This would particularly benefit Trades Hall, perhaps reducing the amount of disputes encountered. Landscaping the site with a hedge of round leaved plants would further soften the energy of the environment.
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