Continue reading “Under the California Sky”“There is ‘beautiful’ and there is ‘poetical’: one you admire, the other moves you. The way you imagine things to be is how they ought to be. Seeing a place for the first time, you realise you have had an idea of it. Or an idea of it in song.”
Lavinia Greenlaw, Questions of Travel: William Morris in Iceland
Author: Ryan VanderVelden
White Noise: Hotel
Continuing on the topic of liminal spaces, a hotel is a place that provides all the comforts of home without actually being home. For those looking to escape the comforts of home for a few days, a hotel is a wonderful thing. For those who want to be at home, a hotel quickly loses its charm and allure. Sometimes, all I want is to be in my own bed.
The Shapes Arise: Photos from Paris
“A great style is not made by uttering great words…A great style is not made at all. It is discovered by a host of explorers with their minds and hearts full of the thoughts and feelings of their day. When it is discovered it becomes the property of a whole culture, to draw on as it will, until it has been sucked dry of meaning in its turn. “
Robert A. M. Stern, Tradition and Adventure in Architecture: Conversation and Essays
The time for discovery of a great style may be ripe. The opportunity, not only to share, but to lead in the exploration is ours…This task we will share together.”
Robert A. M. Stern, Tradition and Adventure in Architecture: Conversation and Essays
The title for this blog post is taken from “Song of the Broad-Axe” by Walt Whitman. Here is a photo series from Paris.
Continue reading “The Shapes Arise: Photos from Paris”A Photo Selection from London
“The art of architecture is a human creation. Architecture, this human creation, is, in fact, only an application of principles born outside us and which we appropriate to ourselves by observation.”
Eugène Viollet-le-Duc
It is amazing how I can take hundreds of photos over the course of a busy week and it isn’t until months later that I realize I have groups of photos that work so well with each other. Here is a selection of photos from London.
Continue reading “A Photo Selection from London”Wandering Around Zurich
Continue reading “Wandering Around Zurich”“We value the quality of the unpredictable as one of the key virtues of the city. We want to get lost in cities, we don’t want them to be comprehensible all at once. We want to discover them gradually, to understand their layers of complexity.”
Deyan Sudjic, The Language of Cities
The Colorful Architecture of Zurich
Continue reading “The Colorful Architecture of Zurich”“Aesthetic intention and the creation of better surroundings for life are the two permanent characteristics of architecture. These aspects emerge from any significant attempt to explain the city as a human creation. But because architecture gives concrete form to society and is intimately connected with it and with nature, it differs fundamentally from every other art and science.”
Aldo Rossi, The Architecture of the City
Selections from California
Points of Interest: London
Highlights from Zurich
Here is a photo series from Zürich, Switzerland. All photos were taken by me on Sunday, December 31, 2017.
Museums and Architecture: London
“Architectural travel does not end with maturity – all the practicing architects I know travel in order to see places with their own eyes, to observe the effect of a specific form, a quality of light, or a particular dimension, and to learn how people behave in certain spaces.”
Witold Rybczynski, How Architecture Works: A Humanist’s Toolkit
While I am not an architect, I do enjoy traveling to new cities. Each new city brings with it the excitement of seeing beautiful buildings. Pictures can only show us one particular detail or a single segment of scenery. They are crafted to show their subjects in the most flattering light. But seeing something in person is a completely different experience. We see how all of the elements that define a city interact with each other. We see their flaws and shortcomings and we also see their beauty from different angles and perspectives. There is a new context, and for us, the traveler, that is what excites us.
Continue reading “Museums and Architecture: London”
A Walk Through The City 