The Temporary Brotherhood

There are starchitects whose names are synonymous with the buildings they design:

Gehry with the Guggenheim,

Hadid with the Heydar Aliyev Center,

Calatrava with his soaring white ribs of steel and light.

Their names cling to their work like signatures on a canvas.

And then there are the builders whose names disappear with time,

whose work dissolves into the finished form.

Only the company may be remembered, if at all.

But at the start of every project, a quiet miracle unfolds.

Strangers meet around a foundation,

and for a brief moment,

A tribe forms, and move as one.

Electricians, framers, architects, masons, and project managers drawn together by contract, schedule, and circumstance.

They must learn to trust fast,

speak in shorthand,

read moods through dust,

and understand each other's rhythms without rehearsal.

Like monks in a temporary monastery, their devotion is to the work itself.

Like actors in a theater troupe, their stage exists only until the final scene.

Like Super Heroes in a Marvel Universe block buster, whos team work and funny banter only last until the evil villain is neutralized.

This is the paradox of building:

Permanence born from impermanence.

A thousand fleeting collaborations giving rise to a single enduring form.

The structure remains,

but the brotherhood that built it vanishes,

leaving behind the faint geometry of their effort in every joint,

line, and seam.

Maybe that's what makes building so human.

It reminds us that even the most lasting work

is built by people who will soon move on to the next one.

And unlike the architects whose names are etched in the conscience of history,

We, the members of the temporary brotherhood,

carry the memory of each engagement quietly inside.

We pass old tribal grounds,

look up at what still stands,

and smile, knowing: we built that!

Field Note:

The team is the scaffolding.

It disappears when the structure can stand on its own, but leaves the fingerprints of those who built it, and hopefully there is a sequel!