You look up at the scaffold and the scaffold is the skeleton that the building wears while it becomes itself. The scaffold is temporary. The scaffold is always temporary. The scaffold exists so that the building can exist and when the building exists the scaffold comes down and the coming down is the disappearing and the disappearing is the scaffold's purpose. The scaffold is the only piece of construction that succeeds by ceasing to exist. The scaffold is the ladder that becomes unnecessary when you reach the top. You look at a finished building and you never think about the scaffold and the never thinking about the scaffold is the scaffold's victory.

The scaffold around the Statue of Liberty during its nineteen eighty six restoration was the largest freestanding scaffold ever built and the largest freestanding meant you could not see Liberty for two years. Three hundred tons of aluminum scaffold wrapped the statue from torch to pedestal and the wrapping from torch to pedestal was the cocoon and the cocoon was the restoration and the restoration replaced the rusted iron armature with stainless steel and replaced the torch with a new one covered in gold leaf. For two years Liberty stood wrapped in scaffold and the wrapped in scaffold meant the tourists came to see a scaffold instead of a statue and the seeing a scaffold instead of a statue was the patience required for preservation. The scaffold came down in nineteen eighty six and the coming down revealed the restored statue and the restored statue was the same statue but cleaned and reinforced and the cleaning and reinforcing is what the scaffold allowed.

The bamboo scaffolds of Hong Kong climb sixty stories and the climbing sixty stories on bamboo is the oldest construction technology still in use alongside the newest buildings on earth. The scaffolders in Hong Kong are called spider men and the spider men tie the bamboo with nylon strips and the tying with nylon strips takes less time than bolting steel tube and the taking less time is why bamboo persists. Bamboo is stronger per weight than steel. Bamboo flexes in typhoon winds and the flexing in typhoon winds is the survival and the survival is that the bamboo scaffold bends while the steel scaffold would break. The spider men climb without harnesses. The spider men have been climbing without harnesses for generations and the climbing without harnesses for generations is the skill and the skill is the knowledge in the body and the knowledge in the body cannot be taught in a classroom.

In New York the sidewalk shed is the scaffold's ground-level cousin and the ground-level cousin has covered the sidewalks of Manhattan for so long that New Yorkers have forgotten what the buildings look like without them. The scaffolding goes up because the facade needs repair and the facade needing repair means the building department requires the shed and the shed protects pedestrians from falling debris and the falling debris is the reason and the reason has covered two hundred miles of Manhattan sidewalk. Some sheds stay up for decades. Some sheds stay up so long that restaurants build outdoor seating under them and the building outdoor seating under the scaffold is the adaptation and the adaptation is New York. The scaffold becomes the streetscape. The temporary becomes permanent. The thing that was supposed to disappear becomes the thing you cannot imagine the street without.

You walk past the scaffold at night and the scaffold is empty and the empty scaffold is the frame without the painting and the frame without the painting is the scaffold waiting for morning. The workers will come at dawn. The workers will climb the scaffold with their tools and their coffee and the climbing with their tools and their coffee is the morning and the morning is the scaffold's shift. The scaffold holds the workers. The workers build the building. The building replaces the scaffold. The scaffold comes down. The workers move to the next scaffold. The next scaffold holds the next building. The scaffold is always moving to the next job because the scaffold's job is always temporary and the always temporary is the scaffold's freedom. No scaffold is permanent. Every scaffold comes down. Every building stands alone eventually. The scaffold. The skeleton. The temporary bones. The structure that exists so another structure can exist. The thing that disappears when the work is done. The evidence of becoming. Gone.