The Soul less, the Soul full and Sohole....

‘Soul-less is the digital’ – some claim bitterly, often relating to digital music, photography, food and design.

Soul-full must me the opposite then, the manual, the one off.

The construction industry could be claiming to be the last bastion of large scale art-and-craft.

The last place where sole-full is created daily.

Even under the pretence of the modern and industrial.

Cast your eye around your room. Every nook, every corner embeds hours and hours of individual labour, often performed in situ, high up a ladder, deep in a void, balancing on a scaffolding outside a window.

Can you see the trace of a paint brush?

A crooked tile, a chip missing from the corner of the door sill?

Cherish these imperfections as gifts of those that made your building. They all left a piece of their soul in it.

And then, there is Sohole...

No one seems to be bothered by my debunking of the NZ BIM attempts anymore, so let me indulge in dedicating this little post to a large, muddy hole in Auckland, located not that far from some of the RWC’s happenings.

Sohole was a large development in a pretty part-of Auckland, stopped just after the excavation and foundation were completed, ‘an eyesore’, many locals complain.

I once worked on the project, put many-many hours into it.

Left part of my soul there...