MeghanIsMe

And my brief review of Salvadori's other book (with Matthys Levy), Why Buildings Fall Down: How Structures Fail. I just finished that yesterday. As much as I miss biking, I do appreciate all this time on the train to read. Today, I'm starting on Alexandra Horowitz' "Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell, and Know."

Salvadori's dedication notes that his mother-in-law thought that his book "Why Buildings Stand Up," was nice, but she would be much more interested in why they fall down. She had a good point; I found this book more engaging than the other one. As well as covering structural theory in a way that I mostly was able to follow (there's an appendix in the back that covers things at a more basic and abstract level too), that theory is tied into specific instances of building collapse, both famous and relatively unknown. One of the authors has professional experience as a forensic engineer and has testified in court proceedings in that capacit. His discussion of those proceedings in the book adds some interest too.

More strongly and clearly than the other books on architecture and design I've read, Why Buildings Fall Down gives me a sense of awe at the number of different pieces, both literal and metaphorical, that must fit nicely together for a building to do what it's supposed to do safely.

In Stewart Brand's "How Buildings Learn," he criticizes architecture focused on static appearance in the present moment with no regard to use over time. One of the targets of his criticism is I. M. Pei specifically and many Brutalist works in general. There's a lot of well-considered and well-justified criticism of some of my favorite architecture; enough to make me consider how architectural photography can glorify commodity-value over use-value, promote form over function, and encourage the production of buildings that fail to meet the needs of their users.

Reading critical theory about stuff you care about is really hard.

And I started my current bunch of reading just wanting to know how they're built.

I finished reading the architecture book and grabbed another one on the way out the door from the stack of interesting stuff that I took home during weeding. I read the introduction of Thomas Gieryn's "Cultural Boundaries of Science: Credibility on the Line" on the train and concluded that I can't read it right now.

This is the kind of book that was deeply important to me in my academic path. Why do people think about science the way they do? What makes it credible, or incredible, to people? How do the socially constructed elements of science affect/effect belief and, at least as importantly, policy?

But I think reading this right now is just going to make me angry and sad. I'm not up to dealing with that yet. I'm glad that I'm reading again, but maybe I should stay around the shallows for a while before jumping into the deep end of epistemology and trying to understand how people form beliefs about things that are important to me and that so many people are just wrong about.

Reading things like this hurts for numerous reasons.

So next is going to be Mario Salvadori's "Why Buildings Stand Up: the Strength of Architecture" (As well as Matthys Levy's "Why Buildings Fall Down: How Structures Fail"). I think that will be a good next step from Edward Allen on my way toward getting back to Condit's book. I'm gonna order them today!

I'm reading Carl Condit's "American Building: Materials and Techniques from the Beginning of the Colonial Settlements to the Present" and looking up some of what he writes about for further clarification and details. The foxtail wedged tenon joint at this link and the ingenuity, precision, and skill that goes into making it, are one of the most beautiful things I've come upon in woodworking. Wow.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortise_and_tenon

I'm done! I'm done with that response paper! Or done enough. Done enough. I'm going to do some more reading. Maybe after I play one *little* game....

It's kind of freeing to have decided to actively try to be less thorough at this stuff. There's a little adrenaline flow as though I know I'm doing something naughty.

But I'd like to get through this with my sanity.

There was a birthday party for the Hendricks Chapel's 85th birthday today. Punch and cake on the plaza at the bottom of the steps! Hendricks Chapel is a non-denominational religious/spiritual space with what I'm told is a fantastic coffee shop in the basement (I wouldn't know).

I'm on such a pretty campus!

For restoman: "The College of Lost Arts

A small college in Charleston, South Carolina, seeks to revive the centuries-old fine building trades."

This makes me think of your plaster work!

http://www.citylab.com/work/2015/02/the-college-of-lost-arts/385644/?utm_source=SFFB

I had a wonderful couple of days with Danae, spent playing board games, eating with family, and enjoying each other's company. I even got a little school work done somewhere in there. This coming week is going to be spent mostly in Chicago attending the Association of American Geographers annual meeting, so it's going to be a lot of time away from home again. Hopefully I can still get some work done in the evenings on my laptop.

For now, I need to get to bed so I can get to campus early tomorrow. I submitted my AAG posters for printing, but I need to get there early and provide updated versions with some errors corrected. There doesn't seem to be a way to update jobs online.

Before bed, I have one more picture to share with you that I found as Danae and I were going through a couple of sets of photos looking for something to use for another purpose. This wasn't right for that use, but I like it too much not to post it. I kind of get lost in all the lines and shapes and spaces here, looking up at the ceiling of the sanctuary of Gary, Indiana's City Methodist Church. One of these days, I'll get to posting the rest of this set.





G'night!

A short photo-break to edit this, then back to work.





This is part of the Kellogg Boulevard-facing facade of the St. Paul City Hall building. It's a beautiful art deco structure. From the Wikipedia article, it looks like the interior is amazing, holding numerous architectural works of art in their own right.

The lighting could have been better. The story of my life as an opportunistic photographer. But the colors beginning to come out in the fading light are rather nice.

Architectural photography is one of the things that really got me started into photography in the first place, though originally my interests were focused on abandoned buildings. It was also a seed for going back to school. I love photographing interesting buildings of all ages and styles wherever I end up.

Here's is the gothic revival Mount Vernon Place United Methodist Church in Baltimore, Maryland. Finished in 1872, the green stone that Wikipedia describes as "a unique metabasalt" gives the edifice an unusual and memorable appearance.





I like the way this angle on the steeple makes the structure into an imposing mountain-top. More pictures ( behind the cut. )

I could spand a long time photographing architecture in Baltimore. There were so many wonderful places!