For some reason, as I read
How To Draw Up a Project by Jose Luis Mateo, I could not help but think of Casper "The Friendly Ghost" levitating in mid-air, being filled in by parts from a huge Erector Set. Being an amorphous phantasm, Casper has the ability to form an innumerable amount of shapes. This would related directly to Mateo's idea of "...A gaseous body which occupies a space without very precise boundaries." There are a certain number of questions raised by Casper's existence and appearance, for example: Was Casper a real boy? Where did he come from? Why didn't he go to Heaven or Hell? What is Casper's current purpose in life? No one question may define his existence, though many are pertinent to define the nature in which he interacts with people. It is only until the end of the movie that the audience is given the answer to these questions, although the narrative of the story alludes to certain conclusions along the way.
Similarly, the process in which one draws up a project leads to certain conclusions. The amorphous blob in one's mind or in one's sketchbook is the initial conception of an idea; it helps begin to define a general direction. The guts, the erector set structure, and the skin and bones follow, aiding in the birth of a well-defined and iterated project. Such hierarchies progress contemporary architecture, reaffirming Mateo's idea that, "our buildings are a conglomerate of heterogeneous parts," unlike the ancient buildings of yore that are nothing more than, "...primitive invertebrate organisms, where the outside is simply a rough protection differing little from the inside."
