“The Art of Structural Engineering” is Omnipotent as displayed in nature’s ever-present raw beauty of structural expressions as shown in Door County author/artist,
Norbert Blei’s photo of spider webs supported by branches of local flora and according to long time Door County practicing unique, one of a kind, home planning structural engineer, Mike Till, is yet another wonderful illustration of the earth’s ecosystem presenting to all humanity the essence of what is “The Art of Structural Engineering”.
Many years ago, when Michael was a young boy, he often heard his father, Joseph, recite the following poem by Joyce Kilmer…
I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.
A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast;
A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;
A tree that may in summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;
Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.
Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.
As a youngster, starting at the age of 6-7 years old, Michael Till entered through these very doors at the ground level of the Polk Street “L” Train Station for his first haircut.
The overwhelming activity of roaring elevated train cars dropping off and picking up passengers high above the streets of Chicago’s “Little Italy” where fruit peddlers, newspaper stands, coffee shops, shoe shine and barber shops greeted in and out customers at said ground level and where other services were provided with-in the sheltering effect of such a custom made structure, which as it turned out, was the influential and inspirational hinge for Mike Till to later pursue the “Art of Structural Engineering” as his own “Brand” of design throughout his eventual adopted Home Town of Door County… Note how the artful built-up columns in the foreground resembles the above Blei photograph of spider webs creating unique useful constructions amongst the Door County Ecosystem. A knowledge of “Structure” is the bases for all things of the universe. “Structure”, not meaning “Structural” but rather meaning that Poets structure words, Marriage & Relationships are structured, The Constitution is structured and even balancing a simple checking account requires structuring. The first principal of Structural Engineering is ANYTHING structured. Therefore, all of humanity subliminally practices inadvertent Structural Engineering in order to simply survive due to the need to structure all things in their lives no matter how small or large the scale. In Mike Till’s philosophical credo, no one is free from having to structure their daily life activities, of which, again, structure is also at the root in the “Art of Structural Engineering”.