#Built environment

[semioticapocalypse]

George Rinhart. A view of the London Tower Bridge. 1900

I Am Collective Memories   •    Follow me, — says Visual Ratatosk

[hitherzones]

[sdog1ablog]

Ph: Sleeping Dog

[visualratatosk]

Someone is always up there, 07

[rae-redacted]

Okay, so your building is LEED and WELL certified. But can I, a mostly able bodied person, open/close your bathroom stall doors (including the disabled stall) with one hand? No? Then THEY AREN'T ACCESSIBLE!!!!

[that-gay-jedi]

FUN ARCHITECTURAL FACT:

Hospitals are not built! If you leave a labyrinth sitting around for too long without a minotaur, it will gradually sink into the earth and a hospital will grow in its place. The hospital keeps the original shape of the labyrinth that created it, but adds on new sections and dimensions of space as it grows. This is why it's so fucking hard to find your way around inside a hospital.

[ladybird-scribbles]

tradition & the vernacular in architecture

It is naïve to assume that simply by using the materials local to an area one will create a development that positively reflects its context.

What we now consider tradition was once the height of innovation. It is important to remember that history and tradition are different concepts - history does not necessarily repeat itself, but each era focuses on something different, and so we can constantly learn from our past. Tradition is simply the past living through us and therefore there is a responsibility for keeping that tradition alive.

In the United Kingdom, conservation drives are mostly centred around individual buildings. Unlike country houses (many of which are run by the National Trust and similar organisations), there is no singular co-ordinated national effort to maintain vernacular housing. Conservation areas are widespread across Britain and Ireland, but the areas that are part of them are highly varied.

In Ireland, there is a drive for the creation of Architectural Conservation Areas (ACAs) - places, or groups of structures, of special architectural interest. For example, in County Cavan there are currently 4 ACAs, each with specific reasons for conservation such as their development pattern, important buildings, or historical significance to the area. ACAs come with conservation guidelines and legal frameworks in place to protect the area. These guidelines are different to policies on listed buildings, for example: property owners are encouraged to reinstate lost original features, and proposed developments are encouraged to use sympathetic design to stay in keeping with the area's character. Demolition requires both planning permission and justification. The core idea behind these guidelines is that any changes should complement the area's character - protecting and enhancing the setting.

Tradition itself is a subjective thing, which has vastly different meanings depending on personal tastes. Drawing on tradition is equally subjective – where is the line between imitation and parody? Is it cost-effective to sensitively replicate a place’s traditional architecture, 300 or more years after it was first built, and how does one do this while also catering to the comforts of 21st century domestic life and needs?

[robertmatejcek]

Borough Bloom  - mixed media - robert matejcek - 2023

“The city seen from the Queensboro Bridge is always the city seen for the first time, in its first wild promise of all the mystery and the beauty in the world.” - F. Scott Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby

tags:

[f0restpunk]

[nickstanley]

Means of egress

[blamebrampton]

Sitting here with some cracked ribs because gravity is my mortal enemy and I’m reminded that we will all at some point in our lives be disabled, unless we die young and cautious.

Accordingly, a built environment that’s accessible is for every one of us. When housing codes call for wider entries, that’s not an imposition, it’s wheelchairs and prams and pushchairs and kids’ bikes and armfuls of shopping bags. When ramps are stipulated, that’s not a burden on businesses, it’s access for the person whose knees are buggered, it’s getting your deliveries without risking someone’s back. When grab bars are installed, that’s not ugly, it’s letting the dumbarse who cracked her own ribs with her own elbow because she was focused on not faceplanting get up using less of her core, it’s giving older people more independence.

Unless you die young and cautious, you will one day be disabled. Let’s plan the built world with that in mind.

[semioticapocalypse]

Ralph Steiner. Untitled (Clotheslines. Manhattan, New York. 1925

I Am Collective Memories   •    Follow me, — says Visual Ratatosk

[allcitiesarebeautiful]

FEATURE

Unconscious Places: Thomas Struth's Conceptual Approach to the Built Environment

Thomas Struth, Greenwich Street, New York, Tribeca 1978.

Thomas Struth’s work is characterized by a meticulous exploration of themes related to the human-environment relationship. His initial artistic practice involved capturing everyday scenes of mostly vacant streets. These photographs were first presented in 1987 at the Kunsthalle Bern in a solo exhibition titled ‹Unbewusste Orte› (Unconscious Places).

The title of this first body of work, ‹Unconscious Places,› directs attention to the psychosocial impact of urban spaces, influenced by both architects and inhabitants. Beyond European and North American cities, Struth’s photographs analytically explore various global sites. Over time, his method has evolved from a strict central perspective composition to a pictorial language that deviates from the original scheme, adapting to the architectural nuances of individual urban spaces.

Read more here → allcitiesarebeautiful.com.

[sdog1ablog]

Ph: Sleeping Dog

[visualratatosk]

europäische_nacht. [shannon_volmet], 15

[panoramicireland]

Trinity College's Campanile is one of Dublin's most famous buildings, finished in 1853 and designed by architect Charles Lanyon.