The lovely dance of columns, scrolls, & bouquets. They should be polite to one another & seek to celebrate one's "grace under pressure".
Abruptness is antithetical to classicism's greatest virtue.
Human scaled 🙏
"studies in neuroscience indicate that humans are hardwired to seek visual evidence of safe, flourishing, nurturing environments,.., which exhibit a delicate balance of softness and strength, variety, and order."
"When we spend time walking in a field of flowers or under a forest canopy, gazing at the undulating treeline that crown hills and mountains , soaking up a sunset, contemplating the sea, or considering a babbling brook, our minds and bodies are restored."
The Maya & their emotional connection to the materials & structure 🌔
"Energized spirits and energies, stones had the capacity to see, smell, vocalize, and breathe. In some cases, a god...lived within their stony frames."
Korean bricks with flowers are delightful & suggests you are alive, indicating a metaphorical smile to the passerby's.
The undulating lines here, are presented for no other reason than to delight your eye, being careful not to overwhelm the viewer.
"Vitruvius had asserted that architecture was derived from the symmetrical-that is, balanced and interdependent-analogy of the body. Di Giorgio went further...he called man ‘a little world, in whom are held all the general perfections of the whole world’"
Brought to you by James Payne, a curator & lover of art, Great Art Explained seeks to unveil some of the world's greatest paintings & sculptures in an approachable & well-balanced light
Highly recommend this one on Bosch
2. The Foundations of Classical Architecture
Calder Loth's incredible series has been instrumental in the way I view not only classical architecture but also the way interact & see the world around me
An impressive short book for anyone looking to understand & embody the "long term". It includes a handful of exploratory short essays that elegantly frames what the @stewartbrand & the team at @longnow is building.
""kairos (opportunity or the propitious moment) and chronos (eternal or ongoing time). While the first...offers hope, the second extends a warning." Kairos is the time of cleverness, chronos the time of wisdom."
2/ Change, acceleration, & the value of time - we're all historians now
"The changes no longer feel quantitative or qualitative but cataclysmic; each new doubling is a new world."
With his quintessential & commanding prose, Durant captures the history & drama of European civilization outside of Italy from 1300-1564. Another text worth savoring.
"Our knowledge is a receding mirage in an expanding desert of ignorance."
2/ The Church, a bank, insurance company, VC firm, & tax collector
"Most of those who bequeathed property left something to her as “fire insurance”; and as the Church controlled the making and probating of wills, her agents were in a position to encourage such legacies."
Another gem of a find at the local bookstore. His works are fluid, inventive, & transformative, shaping not only the Victorian era's thought, but also ours. The diversity of his works & opinions makes reading them a thrill.
John Ruskin, 1 of the 19th century's most powerful art & societal critics. His writings cover a multiplicity of genres & ideas, including science, education, social politics, & aesthetics.
At its essence, he teaches us to use our eyes, to see the world afresh.
3/ Painting & spaces of vision
Art should suggest more than it represents:
"And thus nature is never distinct and never vacant, she is always mysterious, but always abundant; you always see something, but you never see all."
62/ A masterpiece in French Gothic architecture, Chartres Cathedral
"The fame of Chartres rests on its sculpture and its glass. In this palace of the Virgin live 10,000 carved or pictured personages—men, women, children, saints, devils, angels, and the Persons of the Trinity."
63/ Chartres roses
"The modern spirit, too hurried and nervous to achieve patient and placid perfection, stands in wonder before works that must be ascribed not to the genius of singular individuals, but to the spirit and industry of a people, a community, an epoch, and a faith"
64/ German Gothic & its finest achievement, Strasbourg cathedral
"The exterior is French grace, the interior is German force...the combination of dignity and decoration is here perfectly successful...we come to understand Goethe’s description of this façade as “frozen music,”"
1. Cites are about urban space and not objects 2. How to make urban architecture and urban landscape 3. Cities should be lived in and not commuted to from suburbs
3/ Traditional city (Rome)
> Compact, dense, walkable, and lowest per capita carbon footprint
> Composed of buildings, blocks, streets, squares, garden, parks, neighborhoods, and legible public space