Considerations

Not to start right off by conjuring clouds into my blue-sky phase, but obviously there are going to be some...let's not call them restrictions, but considerations going forward.  I've mentioned budget earlier, which is obviously a biggie.  

If money was no object, I could really go crazy with this...or could I?  Perhaps...perhaps not.

1.  I am not building a theme park.  There will be no Omnimovers spiraling upwards.  No Audio-Animatronic cavemen.  No smellitzers wafting burning wood.  No catchy theme songs.  As awesome as that would all be, I do not have $1 billion in 1982 dollars.  Besides:

2.  We have to live here, after all.  Whatever I do can't intrude on the house being a sanctuary where we can relax and live normal day-to-day lives.  (If anything, my changes should make our day-to-day lives better, no?)

3.  We= there's more than just one resident of the house, and as much as everybody may like EPCOT, they aren't fanatics like me.  I have to respect that and not push it too aggressively.  I also have to bear in mind that two of these residents are children and a third is a dog.  The key word here is "subtle."

4.  The house, its neighborhood and its architecture aren't exactly styled after a geodesic dome, and just as old Walt himself liked different eras and styles of things, I think that's an okay consideration to have.  It'll be a good aesthetic challenge to make futurism mesh (and ideally sing) in a house made with dark-stained woodwork and stone.  I am not doing any hardcore remodels to make the house look JUST LIKE The Land--or any other-- pavilion.

5.  Upkeep and labor-- as lovely as EPCOT's lush flowerscapes are, I do not have a grounds crew to tackle maintenance (and I suspect those areas are weeded and deadheaded and all that jazz on a daily basis).  I like yardening, but I like other things too, and I can't set up a situation where all I'm doing is tending and repairing.  Also, I refer you back to the aforementioned children and dog.  Ergo, nothing can be too precious or delicate or too high-maintenance.

6.  Changes in social considerations and knowledge-- our world has changed a lot since 1982, and the things we didn't really think about back then should come into play today.  One of these issues is accessibility.  I have grieved for the beloved and long-lost Image Works...but when you realize that one (of the many) reasons Disney ditched it was because it wasn't in compliance with the Americans With Disabilities Act...well, fair enough.  As a private residence, I'm not bound by the ADA, but I would always want to honor its spirit.  I have friends with mobility restrictions and it's important that our house be open to them.  Any changes that I make can't pose barriers to their entry.  If anything, in the spirit of EPCOT, I should make changes to make our home more accessible. 

Another concern: the environment.  As graceful and calming as those curving reflecting pools were...I can imagine they used quite a bit of water (they weren't already there when they started building, after all), and they probably required a lot of chemical upkeep to keep them from becoming mosquito farms in the hot Florida sun.  Any of the 1982 EPCOT elements that would inadvertently end up 'sticking it' to Mother Nature are off the table.  (Again, I think this actually is in keeping with the spirit of the place.) 

Having said all of that, there's a lot I can do...and it's more than you think.  Right now I'm still in the research (there's so much I didn't know...and still don't; that's for another post) and site prep phases.  But I've come up with some cool stuff and I can't wait to install some of it...and share it. 

EPCOT House vs. Epcot House vs. EPCOT Center House

There is a difference!

I'm still debating how, exactly, I'm going to implement EPCOT in the house, and part of the decision-making rests on how I'm going to define what EPCOT is.

If I wanted to get full-on hardcore about it, the EPCOT House would be radically overhauled and remodeled into [cue echo voice effect] THE HOME OF THE FUTURE, rather than some kind of theme-park tribute.  The problem?  That costs some serious bank, which I don't have. 

I like the aesthetics of EPCOT Center, so that's definitely going to come into play.  I also have a lot of fond memories of the early-80's, version 1.0 of the park.  I'm also mindful of the dangers of getting too nostalgic, and nostalgia doesn't always play nicely with futurism, so I'll need to keep that in check.

I know I'm not going to do too much with Epcot, which is what I (and The Walt Disney Company) call the park that exists today.  (I am not anti-Epcot by any means; I'll break that down in a later post.)  But I don't feel the need to have a Character Spot or Pixar characters; I'm an EPCOT girl, not a Disney girl.

So the final product will probably combine some aesthetic hat-tips to EPCOT Center and some of the futurist visions of EPCOT.  Again, I have some limitations on what I can do, so we'll see how it turns out.  Right now, though, that's my mindset going forward.  I am still in the 'blue sky' phase, and as time goes on and circumstances permit, anything might happen!

If I can dream it, I can do it...right?

A Foster Home for Inspiration

Over the next few months, I will be documenting my efforts to inject a little EPCOT into the public areas of our house.  I've already started the work, but it's going to take some time to really integrate things, and I think it could be interesting to explain a bit about what I'm doing and why. 

I've been doing some background research and reading and have learned a lot about EPCOT, its origins, its intents and purposes, and what it represented at the time it opened over thirty years ago.  For some of you (I'm hoping some Disney/EPCOT fans will stumble across this blog, even if a couple of years from now), this background will be nothing you haven't heard before, but I'm hoping this information will be fresh for many of you. 

There's a whole complex history and theory behind EPCOT that (I suspect) most casual visitors are unaware of, and it's a great jumping-off point for considerations of design, futurism, society, technology and scientific discovery.  (These are all things that I adore, and I don't know if I adore them because of EPCOT, or adore EPCOT because of them, but either way, it's one giant geosphere of love over here.)  EPCOT urges us to think more deeply about possibility, and to challenge ourselves as thinkers and doers, and explores the essence of what it means to be human. 

If that's not good material for a day-to-day living environment, I don't know what is.