“Don´t try to be…” refers both to the situation of being an outsider and to peer-group pressure. Mobbing in schools occurs frequently, with outsiders being made into scapegoats everywhere and providing as an outlet for aggression. The consequences are bullying, psycho-terror and physical violence, which have a negative influence on the development potential of mobbed children. Outsiders do not correspond to a group’s norms, perhaps because they are too fat or too thin, too sly or too slow, or come from a different background. There is a lot of pressure to conform to the norms within a group. Anyone who does not correspond to them is excluded, which is why so many just try to adapt to the group. Don’t try to be an apple if you are a banana, you will always be a second rate apple is directed both towards the outsiders and towards the group members. The english proverb illustrates how one should have the courage to be what one is, and to say what one really thinks.

The two lines of writing are composed of individual letters attached to the surface of a façade of the same colour.

Don’t try to be …, 2005
Design of the façade of the gym at Pfeilgasse School, Blindengasse 22–24, 1080 Vienna
Commissioned by: City of Vienna, Department of Architecture and Urban Design (MA 19)
Invited competition, implemented

donst try langtext EN (PDF-Document, 47,23 kB)