Architectural Wonder in Our Hospital

“I always knew the architect appointed by the corporation as a consultant would be as wonderful as any consultants employed by the corporation” one of our professors said. I was surprised. I did not know for a fact that consultants employed by the corporation were always so wonderful. Furthermore, I was aware of the goof-ups of the current ones, so that I was surprised to hear from one of ours that he was so wonderful. “What happened that you are now convinced that he is so wonderful?” I asked. “He has removed the front wall of our offices. He has put a wooden partition there.” “That may be because there is a shortage of sand. He must not have been able to put a brick wall there” I offered. “There is no shortage of sand now” came the answer. “I think he has done that to make the rooms look stylish. Don’t you know that they have wooden floors in stylish places these days?” “I have seen wooden floors in some posh places. But those were floors. He has put walls” I said. “That is a modern concept. It is a concept of lateral thinking.” I had read de Bono’s ‘Lateral Thinking’. This did not seem to be anything like that. Our professor was being sarcastic, I decided. “But that is not all. He has left a huge open space in the front wall, where he is going to fit transparent glass.” “Huh?” I could not say anything else. Anyone could break that glass to enter that room and steal the contents. If there was a bomb blast (our hospital is on the hit list of terrorists and hence they have closed almost all gates) the glass shreds would kill the people inside. “He has recessed the front wall to make the room smaller. Then he has put a storage cabinet outside the door.” “Outside?” I asked incredulously. “Yes. He says that will be OK. He is putting a lock on the cabinet.” So when we had to get anything from the storage cabinet, we had to out of the room. If anyone wanted to steal anything from the cabinet, all he had to do was to kick the door of the cabinet or break its flimsy lock with a pointed object.” “I agree with you” I said. “The architect is indeed is corporation class.” “The process of selection of such architects must be very complex” said another professor. “Yes. Many factors must be considered in that process besides architectural abilities” I said. “No sir. Let me put it in a correct form. Many factors must be considered in that process other than architectural abilities” said the first professor. “Can we not protest?” asked the other professor. “I have protested enough” I said. The letter has been sent to the chief engineer of the corporation.” “What is the outcome?” “The usual – no response.”