Plate16

Specification for a Place That Does Not Exist

found document — brief issued to a visualisation studio

PROJECT MERIDIAN — EXTERIOR VISUALS — REV 04

Time of day: 18:40, late September. Light warm, low, raking.
Sky: 20% cloud, high cirrus. No aircraft.
Foliage: mature. Trees to read as 15–20 years established.
Population: 11 figures, mixed ages. None facing camera.
One (1) child on a scooter, mid-motion, blurred.
Wear: light. Some leaf litter at kerb. Do not model damage.
Vehicles: 3, parked, mid-range, none newer than 4 years.
A dog, off-lead, exiting frame right.
NOTE: buyers respond to the dog. Retain the dog.

Ground has not been broken. The trees in the brief are older than the development they stand in. The light is from a September that has to have already happened, because nobody can render anticipation, only recollection.

The image sold four hundred units. It hung at the sales suite for two years. When the buildings went up they were compared, unfavourably, to it.

Retain the dog.