Re: [I] Architecture, was: Predjudice against the overweight
Lesley Weston
> Daibhid Ceanaideach <daibhidc...@aol.com> wrote:
>
>> On 16 Nov 2009, Bob Larter <bobby...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Lesley Weston wrote:
>>>> At least they have a collection. VPL has announced that they want to
>>>> reduce their reliance on printed material. They have also built this:
>>>>
>>>> http://www.sfu.ca/geog/geog351fall07/Group01/04_dtn/pictures/vpl2.jpg
>>> Jeez, what would you call that 'style'? Mock Roman? Carpark Roman?
>> The Colossal-eyesore-eum?
>
> Oh, I dunno. Imagine it replaced by a glass-steel-and-concrete box.
Like this, the main library at UBC?
http://image07.webshots.com/7/0/4/72/88100472qzhxGy_fs.jpg
Unbelievably, it's by Arthur Erikson. What's more, the back is a plain
wall, so that a duplicate can be added on to double the horror.
> At
> least this _has_ a style, even if it's kitsch. It's not as if it's
> mock-Tudor or mock-Georgian. (And of course it's not mock-Roman. At most
> it's mock-mock-Roman, because mock-Roman is highly praised and widely
> protected everywhere it exists. Of course, that's not under the name of
> mock-Roman; when we're pretentious enough to like something, we don't
> call it "mock", but "Renaissance".)
Or Palladian.
--
Lesley Weston
The addy above is real, but I won't see anything posted to it for a long
time. To reach me, use leswes att shaw dott ca, adjusting as necessary.
Chris Zakes
caused Lesley Weston <brightly_co...@yahoo.co.uk> to write:
>Richard Bos wrote:
>> Daibhid Ceanaideach <daibhidc...@aol.com> wrote:
>>
>>> On 16 Nov 2009, Bob Larter <bobby...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Lesley Weston wrote:
>>>>> At least they have a collection. VPL has announced that they want to
>>>>> reduce their reliance on printed material. They have also built this:
>>>>>
>>>>> http://www.sfu.ca/geog/geog351fall07/Group01/04_dtn/pictures/vpl2.jpg
>>>> Jeez, what would you call that 'style'? Mock Roman? Carpark Roman?
>>> The Colossal-eyesore-eum?
>>
>> Oh, I dunno. Imagine it replaced by a glass-steel-and-concrete box.
>
>Like this, the main library at UBC?
>
>http://image07.webshots.com/7/0/4/72/88100472qzhxGy_fs.jpg
>
>Unbelievably, it's by Arthur Erikson. What's more, the back is a plain
>wall, so that a duplicate can be added on to double the horror.
But... but... think of all the money you save on electricity by having
all those windows.
To my eye it looks like any number of office buildings in this corner
of the world. Not ugly per se, but not as pretty as it could be. (If
you want *ugly* try the library at my alma mater:
http://trapdoorbooks.com/wp-content/uploads/ScreenShot004.jpg
--especially when compared to the overall architectural design of the
university:
Main administration building:
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/183/384354923_fc2b8bd407.jpg
Physics building:
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/36/121728845_d0f511b726.jpg )
-Chris Zakes
Texas
When any government, or any church for that matter, undertakes to say to its
subjects, "This you may not read, this you must not see, this you are forbidden
to know," the end result is tyranny and opression, no matter how holy the motives.
-John Lyle in "If This Goes On--" by Robert Heinlein
Lesley Weston
> On Wed, 02 Dec 2009 07:24:19 -0800, an orbital mind-control laser
> caused Lesley Weston <brightly_co...@yahoo.co.uk> to write:
>
>> Richard Bos wrote:
>>> Daibhid Ceanaideach <daibhidc...@aol.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> On 16 Nov 2009, Bob Larter <bobby...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Lesley Weston wrote:
>>>>>> At least they have a collection. VPL has announced that they want to
>>>>>> reduce their reliance on printed material. They have also built this:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> http://www.sfu.ca/geog/geog351fall07/Group01/04_dtn/pictures/vpl2.jpg
>>>>> Jeez, what would you call that 'style'? Mock Roman? Carpark Roman?
>>>> The Colossal-eyesore-eum?
>>> Oh, I dunno. Imagine it replaced by a glass-steel-and-concrete box.
>> Like this, the main library at UBC?
>>
>> http://image07.webshots.com/7/0/4/72/88100472qzhxGy_fs.jpg
>>
>> Unbelievably, it's by Arthur Erikson. What's more, the back is a plain
>> wall, so that a duplicate can be added on to double the horror.
>
> But... but... think of all the money you save on electricity by having
> all those windows.
Indeed. Also think of all the earthquakes that this coast goes in for.
>
> To my eye it looks like any number of office buildings in this corner
> of the world. Not ugly per se, but not as pretty as it could be. (If
> you want *ugly* try the library at my alma mater:
> http://trapdoorbooks.com/wp-content/uploads/ScreenShot004.jpg
They keep a lot of horses and carriages at your alma mater's library?
But at least it has character, and just one character. Not a collection
of five or six unrelated styles like the UBC one.
> --especially when compared to the overall architectural design of the
> university:
> Main administration building:
> http://farm1.static.flickr.com/183/384354923_fc2b8bd407.jpg
> Physics building:
> http://farm1.static.flickr.com/36/121728845_d0f511b726.jpg )
I prefer your library to these. I generally go for simpler designs, so
long as it's not taken to extremes, but of course it's all a matter of
personal taste.
Chris Zakes
No, just lots of books.
>But at least it has character, and just one character. Not a collection
>of five or six unrelated styles like the UBC one.
The problem with that design is that it looks a lot more like a 1940s
city hall, rather than the northern Italian early Renaissance styling
of most of the rest of the school. It is, to say the least, kind of
jarring.