Architecture and Morality

OMD, OMA, OEM, OMG! OMMMMM...

                         (Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, Office of Metropolitan Architecture, Original Equipment Manufacturer,  Oh My God)

Note: For this article we shall focus on OMD vs OMA

Architecture and Morality, where have you heard those words before? OMD of course! It's the title of their hit album released in 1981. OMD if you don't already know is an English alternative electronica pop band from the eighties, the acronym stands for, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark. I happen to love this "Synth-Pop" band, being a product of the eighties myself. Hits such as Souvenir, Enola-Gay, Message and If you leave, among many of their other songs, shall live forever in timeless glory for all eternity. Has this anything to do with architecture? Possibly. The title of that "album"  (yes dated material here) is based on a book of architecture for which I know nothing about ( Hold on let me go research and I'll be right back). I have found not much on this book. The title is, Morality and Architecture  (OMD Reversed the words you see in a clever way to avoid copyright infringement, I think) published in 1977. It seems like a long forgotten work that no one besides myself seems to be interested in. No longer in print (correct me if I'm wrong) existing copies sell for high dollar on amazon and David Watkin's follow up book, Morality and Architecture Revisited sells for even more. From what little I could gather the premise of the book is a critique of modern architecture, I have not read the book so please feel free to comment and correct me below, better yet please leave a description of the book for those who have not read it. Seeing how modern architecture has completely dominated the current era I would imagine such a book criticizing it would not be popular with anyone unless you are some kind of contrarian who doesn't believe in progressive modern ideas I suppose. Anyway my point of this article frankly is in the naming and inspiration of naming itself and why would a rock band chose such a name and could an architect be influenced by a rock band? Interesting no? Could OMD have inspired OMA? No you dummy OMA was founded before OMD if anything the reverse was true. Ah, I really can't say which came first both being formed in 1978 as I found out from my "Wikipedia" research. Who knows, maybe this connection may not even exist except for in my own mind. I would like to think that architecture borrowed from cutting edge music rather than cutting edge music borrowed from architecture, which would be lame. I'm sure someone out there can clear up this mystery and if you can please comment below.

With catchy acronyms flying around success is surely to be gained-Hey it worked for OMD why not OMA? It would be OMG! (Oh My God for you under the rock people) I am of the firm belief that a good name is the measure of success. Sure you need some "stuff" to back it up but I'm noticing in my later years that many people have stuff but no snappy, snazzy, catchy, clever, feel good, super cool, sophisticated, complex, mindful name, such as OMA or OMD.  There's a little thing that gets in the way that determines the success of your name: Synesthegia. (I write about this in past articles) The use of acronyms triggers synesthegia which is why we love them so much and why they work so well. The military is the king of acronyms as we all know. Here are some of my favorites: DZ-Drop Zone, FNG F-ing  New Guy, HALO High Altitude Low Opening, JAG-Judge Advocate General, JSOC-Joint Special Operations Command, LZ -Landing Zone, MOB- Main Operating Base, ROZ-Restricted Operating Zone, SWAG-Scientific Wild Ass Guess, WILCO-Will Comply. Aviation loves their Acronyms as well, CAT-Clear Air Turbulence, FBO-Fixed-Base Operator, PIC- Pilot in Command, TCAS-Traffic collision Avoidance System. The Internet as well is pretty big on this: ROFL-Rolling On Floor Laughing, STFU-Shut The "Freak" Up, LMK-Let Me Know, SMH-Shaking My Head, NVM-Never Mind, OFC-Of Course, WTF-.....

And the mother of all acronyms: NASA's (The National Aeronautics and Space Administration)
OSIRIS-RExspacecraft. Which stands for: Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer. 

So that is my completely, brief, abridged history (or my CBA) of the wonderful world of Acronyms.
We love these annoying presumptuous little condensed made up fun sounding things and with synesthegia, being triggered, the cross referencing of thoughts and our senses, makes it happen. Take ROFL from our list above- sounds like vomit, conjures up a boys name (like in the Sound Of Music), sounds like a dog barking. The myriad of thoughts and sensations this acronym induces is fascinating. The mind attaches sensations, imagery, feelings and emotion all at the same time to this thing created to represent a thought. Not only are our sensations stimulated, we play a part in the action- ROFL - me, laughing, rolling around on the floor...OK back to architecture. So why does the acronym OMA sound so pleasing to the ear? OHM, OOOOOHHHMMM, OOHM, sound familiar? Well it should. It's the Buddhist pray mantra- Maybe Tibetan? OK so we need a-lot of fact checking in this article (along with editing, spell checking, etc. etc.) but hopefully you know what I mean. Now let's put it all together and give ourselves a name. One that rolls off the tongue conjures up much imagery and stimulates thought and sensations all at the same time...what could that be, maybe, OMA, Office of Metropolitan Architecture.