Aquarium of things that last

Which lasts longer: the beautiful or the ugly? The Brighton Aquarium knows.

And what exactly makes things last?

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Hi, everyone-

This week, I’m curious to hear what you think might be the reason why:

Certain things last more than others.

Is it … Durability? Versatility? Adaptability? Utility?

If we look at age-old creatures that have outlasted even the oldest human civilizations, here are some that might come to mind:

Maybe the ocean is trying to tell us something. But it seems that to outlast everything else, it need *not* be the most beautiful. The unconventionally shaped creatures of the ocean tells us this much. [Data: NOAA, BBC, & Ocean Conservancy]

Manta rays, jellyfish, rockfish, and sharks have lived below sea level for ages. They’ve lived through our grandmothers’ own stellar achievements of surviving world wars, the Great Depression, the Great Recession, the Great anything else. Making them even greater than any measurements of greatness humans attempt to set. And making any of those attempts anything but great.

It’s no wonder that whenever I look at the ocean and smell the sea water, it isn’t fishy stench that I smell.

I only smell the undying.

And for one boy, it was similar.

Eugenius Birch wasn’t like any other kid.

When he was little, he ideated, designed, and submitted plans for a passenger carriage to a railway company. Sounds a lot more like a well-seasoned construction manager commissioned to build something fit for a world fair. I think my first memory of submitting anything to anyone was a job application to a library. Which ended in crickets. And me questioning my worth. 

I wonder if he asked his family:

Should I put this out there?

Then imagine being a loyal friend and family to Eugenius. A wide-eyed boy fixated on his amateur-ish scribbles.

What would you say?

Eugenius’ design might’ve been good. 

But was it enough? 

Watching dreams get crushed is already hard. Watching it happen to someone you love … is enough for anyone to swallow any signs of doubt. And just lie.

And maybe this is why Eugenius went ahead anyway. Because he had people around him who know … that:

Dreams that last will carry anyone through being last.

So Eugenius went ahead with the ugly like the ugliest rockfish. He butt through like a hungry shark would. And he jellyfish-stung those who mocked his direction. Until, like a mature Manta, he knew what the deep ocean knew:

The ugly, hungry, and stinging isn’t just for dreaming. It is for outlasting the already-beautiful.

Eugenius submitted his carriage innovation to the London Greenwich company. The changes he put forth meant placing wheels beneath the carriage. Not the sides. And the company welcomed him with open arms.

It is obvious, now. 

But that’s the beauty of something that works:

It only seems obvious … when the formerly ugly have already outlasted the beautiful. 

And this conviction projected Eugenius onward.

So when Eugenius was commissioned to design and build the Brighton SEA Life Aquarium in the UK—one of the oldest aquariums in the world—he knew what he wanted:

A design of his own ugly imagining that, regardless of any mockery from the beautiful, should always sing a lasting tune:

One of perfect imperfections.

Eugenius created an aquarium fit for Neptune. If he were to visit the shores of England. Stone arches, Roman columns from Bath, and red granite and green marble from Edinburgh to front a reality as beautifully cold and hard as Edinburgh itself:

Come and go like the ocean waves. But the shores are for the undying.

Eugenius incorporated designs for the Brighton aquarium from India, Egypt, and Pompeii. Including the more stable groin vaulting system (as opposed to its barrel equivalent). [Data: SEA Life Brighton aquarium] 50°49′11″N 0°08′07″W

I suppose Eugenius was probably used to a wave of resistance.

• When he was young, people might have wondered: Why would you put the wheels under the carriage instead of where it’s always been: the side?

• And when he was proposing ancient yet foreign elements into the Brighton SEA Life Aquarium, the same questions might’ve been asked: What gives you the right?

• When he was a bit older people might’ve still wondered: Who are you to design railways, rope machinery, and pier technology?

The Pier at Courtown incorporated the screw-blade piles design that Eugenius along with a few other invented and popularized. [Data: University of Massachusets, Alan J. Luteneger]

But that’s exactly the beauty of Eugenius’ work. He understood that making things that last isn’t really about making things that have been. It’s not about making something entirely new. And it’s not even about making the ugly beautiful.

It’s about an undying law:

Letting the deep, faraway, and ancient waters come to shore is how things last.

In other words, it’s about ownership of the before and after.

-Thalia

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-Thalia