Procrustes’ Bed
Midas Dekkers
In a zoo no two cages are the same. The giraffe's cage is high, the elephant's cage big. The director knows that every species has its own demands. Before building his cages, he takes the size of his animals. But who ever saw an architect at a party follow the guests with measure and scales?
A lot of architects make you think of Procrustes, the mythical giant who hosted travelers near Athens. Procrustes had two beds: one short and one tall. He put the tall travelers in the short beds and the short ones in the tall. To make them fit, he chopped off the legs of the tall hosts and stretched those of the small ones, until they finally perished.
A government that makes its citizens jump and play until they fit the environment, is a bad host. It is her duty to design the environment in such way, that a human being feels at home, with his old-fashioned body and his modern mind.
Translated from:
Lichamelijke Oefening (Physical Exercise), Uitgeverij, 2006