Anne-apolis

  As a child, I had firmly ingrained into my head that "special things" were only for use when guests came, and the status of the guest would influence the degree to which this was applied. This thinking has lived with me all my life, despite innate resistance. Why should one's most valued things live at the back of a cupboard and only emerge a couple of times a year, or even less often - surely we should be celebrating these as a way of elevating every day? I can understand the logic - the more often something is used, the more likely it will get damaged or broken - but the converse is what I am pondering today. If something can give you joy each and every day, surely this is worth the investment of having something a bit more valuable? This mug is a case in point: it was a gift, and the image is taken from one of my favourite buildings, the Art Museum in Milwaukee, designed by Santiago Calatrava. As an example of graphic design, it is a masterpiece, but it scores well o...

  Humans appear to be naturally attracted to bilateral, or axial, symmetry, usually used in the floor plan to structure the main movement route, and on the entrance facade. Perhaps the inspiration for symmetry in buildings is an idealised conception of the human body, although if this were the case, one wonders why the depiction of humans in these cultures, in painting and sculpture, often show the body in movement, rather than the static face-on view or pose, as can be seen in the very energetic sculptures of the Parthenon. Reconstruction of the Parthenon from Ancient Greece Creative Commons licensed:  https://www.rawpixel.com/image/431804/columns-greece In Ancient China, the same dichotomy appears - in the example of the Forbidden City in Beijing the entire complex has all the major buildings lined up on a single axis, which takes on even more meaning, as only the emperor was permitted to walk on this central path. The narrow stairs on either side are for everyone else. Hall...

  Repetition can be one of the most boring aspects of architecture, especially where one finds whole districts of the same design and the same treatment for each unit within these identical buildings. Some of the housing estates built in the UK and USA in the mid to late twentieth centuries are sad examples, the most notorious of which was Pruitt-Igoe in St Louis, which was imploded just 21 years after it was built, because it had degenerated into a slum. Its fate was attributed mainly to the bland and repetitive environment that had been created in this housing estate, lacking in interest and identity. Pruitt-Igoe before demolition Creative Commons licensed:  https://www.facebook.com/STLPRS/photos/the-pruitt-igoe-housing-complex-located-along-cass-avenue-north-st-louis-consist/1287418993419959/ But repetition has not always had this reputation - in many ancient cultures around the world, it has been used as the highpoint of architectural expression, often reserved to express ...