Before the concrete had cured on Wenceslaus Sarmiento’s masterpiece Punchcard Building in the burgeoning metropolis of Phoenix in 1968, it was already on its way to being outdated in some ways. That’s the risk of any art theme based on technology: change.
That’s the risk of any art theme based on technology: change. Today, we laugh at punchcards. Someday, our kids will laugh at USB thumb drives. Any monuments we make to the tech-of-the-day are obsolete even before they’re dedicated. But in the case of the Phoenix Financial Center, the architect managed to dream up something beautiful.