Column “Cityward”
What the Kantonsspital-Hochhaus and I have in common
The building, which opened in 1982, apparently needs to be replaced. This shocked the author who was born in the same year.
The hospital high-rise built in 1982.
These days I’m celebrating my birthday; the 42nd. Always an opportunity to realize that you are no longer the youngest. This feeling is reinforced this year by the following sentence: “The hospital center (high-rise) that opened in 1982 must be replaced.” The quote comes from the recently published report and application by the Lucerne City Council on the development plan for the Lucerne Cantonal Hospital. The point is that the hospital chocolate tower, which was built in the same year as mine, is getting old and needs to make way for a new building.
Of course, the demolition is only planned for the long term – and anyway, I’m not a building. Still, the sentence stuck with me a bit. I’ve now gotten used to the fact that my favorite sports stars could almost be my children since Roger Federer’s retirement. The fact that something with the same “year of manufacture” as me has to be replaced is a new experience. Suddenly I feel a certain connection with the high-rise, which I previously found to be rather plain and, whenever I was there, I wanted to leave as quickly as possible.
But I don’t have to declare a midlife crisis yet. Despite the age parallel with the Kantonsspital-Schoggiturm, I’m looking forward to my birthday. Especially since 42 is a great number (we’ve gotten used to 40, 50 is still a long way away) – in fact, it’s the answer to all questions, at least according to the supercomputer from the story “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”. So I can justifiably hope that I will be able to look forward to my 43rd birthday in a year’s time with a significantly higher level of wisdom. And the chocolate tower of the Lucerne Cantonal Hospital will at least still be standing then.
