PR15
‘The Pine House’
Belen Culcay
HS20
The region of Glarus has a rich history of mysterious tales. Those tales were great inspiration for this work. Therefore, this Project Handbook is written as a tale...
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The master builders gathered in Luzern and started their three day journey to the court in Glarus. Traveling through the Swiss Alps left them breath-taken and astounded by the mountains that were greeting them once they reached the Linth.
Full of energy and good spirit the group reached the court, where the merchant, overjoyed about the talent responding to his call for aide, welcomed them with great hospitality.
Once everybody was refreshed the merchant went on to explain them his complex task: “The auberge I seek is neither superficial nor should it interfere to much with the beauty and marvelous landscape of our realm. Nonetheless, it must be able to fulfill all the needs my visitors might have. It must inspire them will to visit again, but never leaf the visitor with the feeling of being just one out of ten. Few other places, achieved such greatness, often they end up loaded with cliché.” With these words, the merchant left the group in care of his servant. Following him they were led to their accommodations.
The group of master builders was stationed in one of the old warehouses belonging to the merchant called the “Legler Areal”. Two old dogs where barking, when the couple who run the warehouse received the group with smiles on their faces, knowing that the first test set up by the merchant, was already awaiting them.
They showed the younglings around, explaining them that there was enough food and water in storage for a month, as well as a nice fireplace to keep them warm. When the couple was almost done showing their humble establishment, one of the younglings dared to ask, where they might sleep since he had not seen any place for it. “Our master told us to remove all the beds”, they responded giggling. “You call yourself master builders, proof it. You will find wood and tools in the backyard” they said while leaving the rather puzzled group. But spirit was high and everybody was eager to proof they are worthy of their title. In no time the first beds were built and by the end of the day every master builder slept in his own bed.
The next day the group woke up at the first cry of the rooster and as soon as they all had some of the black brew, they were advised to gather outside and await the merchant as he was planning on showing them the land were he envisioned his auberge. The piece of land the merchant had in mind was located between two small town’s called Luchsingen and Hätzingen that were part of his realm. The builders were surprised by the different appearance of the towns as one was made out of wood and the other out of stone. Following a small trail and the Linth they reached the area. Once a year all this good land gets flooded explained the merchant. It once belonged to two textile producing brothers“Gebrüder Hefti” , but I was able to bargain a good price for it. With those words the merchant left the master builders to themselves and rode on to his court.
The group dissolved and all of them strolled somewhere on their own. When the last daylight vanished behind the mountains, even the last master builders reached the warehouse again and they all the gathered around the fireplace and one by one begun to tell their experiences. “They must be god fearing people, I saw that every house in town has a cross”, said one. “I talked to an old farmer, the weather is hard and the land doesn’t bear much”, mentioned another.
“I requested food at the tavern and they hushed me away, saying there is barley enough for the townspeople”, a third one frowned. “But they will never lack water, as the Linth is a never ending stream”, insisted someone. “On top of that their trees grow strong, it may be winter for years before their fires stop burning. And have you noticed those majestic mountains, there is stone to build the highest castle in the world”, another said.
This way their discussion carried on until all of them fell in a deep slumber. The following weeks were busy and labor intensive, yet pleasurable for the group, as the merchant would send them every night singers, dancers and other entertaining folk, to bring them closer to his culture.
At first the merchant was very pleased with the progress all the individual builders made and he happily listened to their proposals and plans. But with every idea better than the other, his ambition grew and soon he was not satisfied with ideas that inspired him days before.
Inflicted by the merchants stride for greatness, the builders themselves joined him soon in his rush and before long every proposal made by the builders was just as big and majestic as the mountains, as large and lively as the forest, and as elegant and sturdy as the river Linth. One servant overhearing one of the presentations, whispered silently to himself ”You should not try god”. But no one ever heard his words.
Bewitched by the excellence of the proposal, the merchant, without yet knowing what he will build already ordered to bring large sums of marble from the mountains, wood out of the forest and manpower out of the surrounding towns.
It was at the moment, when the first resources arrived at the site and all the master builders were helping in to store it properly, that the most peculiar thing happened to one of the builders. She just had participated in setting up a lumberyard and was about to head back to the warehouse, when she heard a loud noise and got pushed to the ground.
The souring pain in her head left her unconscious. She woke up hearing three voices arguing about something. “And have you seen the scale? Those humans have lost their minds. Thinking they are gods. Pfff, cutting all those fine pine trees deep in the forest, when the larches, that they have been using for century’s grow right along the river”.
She slowly tried to open her eyes, bright sunlight blurred her vision so she could only see contours. When she finally manged to open her eyes, she could only make out three crows flying away into the horizon.
Getting up with an aching head she did not give it much thought, to what had just happened instead she tried to rush back as fast as she possibly could, passing trough the huge shakes made for the workers, the big marble storage rooms and with a still numbing pain in her head, she suddenly realized what was going on, how they had left their original plans behind in exchange for greatness. She suddenly stopped in her track and sat down.
A sudden feeling of sadness kicking in, memories of her childhood flashing by and then she saw it one of the houses, that first got her interested in building. She could instantly smell the trees of the Chilean Patagonia and remember what the master builder that created that house said: “In truth, this house is an exercise in repetition and replication, it is doing something again, though the gods may anger and the attempt always fails.”
In her mind a new, more suitable idea begun to form. Hastily she went to the drawing board and as soon as she finished asked for an audience with the merchant. Willingly, the merchant received her during dinner, looking forward to hearing about the newest proposal so it might still his ambition. Eagerly and with confidence she went on to show her proposal. She explained: “It shouldn’t be as big and majestic as the mountains, rather humble and adjusting to its surroundings. It should have a pitched roof like a pine so from afar you wont be able to distinguish it from one. The wooden structure resembling the skeleton of a bird...”; “Stop!” the merchant declared . “I have heard enough of your nonsense”. You can leave my court at once.
And so it came to be that one master builder left the court only days before the flooding of the century, that destroyed the merchants court. The merchant himself was never to bee seen after this catastrophe. According to the townsfolk, sometimes in cold fall nights, you can hear hammering of stone, as it is the merchants soul still trying to build his majestic auberge.
THE END