"Story poles" are temporary structures that illustrate the shape of a proposed building. Typically composed of PVC pipe, string, and vinyl flags, these provisional outlines merge the present and future as they jut from the ground and float over existing buildings. In some California cities, they are erected during the formal design review process to demonstrate how potential structures will affect the views of surrounding neighbors. In other words, story poles are a special way to represent a building that prioritizes visualizing what will be obstructed, not replicating what will be built.
In so doing, story poles also illustrate how buildings are mechanisms for controlling the environment. Created out of simple disputes over who can see the Pacific Ocean, the poles literally embody the aesthetic and monetary conflicts between nearby property rights holders. By calling attention to this instrumental way of understanding buildings—that buildings are understood as sources of conflict over scarce resources—story poles emphasize how different ways of interpreting the built environment are wrapped up in the social systems that give buildings meaning. The elements of the landscape we emphasize are connected to systems that produce and contest value, cultural importance, and power. Moreover, because story poles are constructed as part of an institutionalized process of laws and regulations, they are an example of how these domains are defined, negotiated, and enforced.
ARTIST BIOGRAPHY
David Schalliol is an associate professor of sociology at St. Olaf College who is interested in the relationship between community, social structure, and place. He exhibits widely with the support of institutions including the Graham Foundation, PBS, and the European Union, and his work has been featured in publications including MAS Context, Bauwelt, and The New York Times. David is the author of Isolated Building Studies (UTAKATADO) and co-author, with Michael Carriere, of The City Creative (The University of Chicago Press). David earned his BA from Kenyon College and his MA and PhD from The University of Chicago.
