Lisnaholic

^ That's a nice addition to the streetscape, [MERIT]. In England we often give irreverent nicknames to bits of architecture: as I think as Fluff has mentioned we have the Gerkin and the Walkie-Talkie among others. In the same spirit, I wonder if people in Columbia call your structure "the Keyhole"?


^ Thanks Plankton - you make me wish I'd thought of "exo-structure" myself.
You and me both on the drafting! Although I've stopped now, I spent 13 years man and boy at the drawing board. So many projects and buildings that I've forgotten most of them. Not that I was doing grand design stuff: looking back it seems that I was usually put in charge of sorting out staircases or toilets, though I did have a few more challenging responsibilities too.
__________________________________________________ _________________________

In this thread, I keep coming back to Plankton's Arch as one of my favourite photos here:-

It's very pleasing, with its modest size, its mix of styles and the warm, contrasting colours of the roof and stonework. I also like the fact that it's an entrance arch that leads nowhere, so that we are forced to see it for what it now is: a piece of Art for Art's sake. For structures of equal or greater charm, it's worth going back to Fluff's OP photos as well.

__________________
"Am I enjoying this moment? I know of it and perhaps that is enough." - Sybille Bedford, 1953

Plankton

We have Cloud Gate, otherwise known as The Bean.

__________________
See location...

[MERIT]

The city built this HORRENDOUS art piece outside of the city's library. What is it, you ask? Your guess is as good as mine. A gigantic waste of tax dollars comes to mind.

rostasi

<< <<<<<<

I'd only fault its placement.

Lisnaholic

^ Yes, rostasi, you're right. The sculpture itself isn't so horrendous imo, in fact I rather like the bright yellow colour. The problem is that it's right in front of a complicated, mildly interesting bit of facade.

Here's a worse case of blocking the view of a building: for decades, this London station had an uncluttered entrance yard, so that even though it was set back from the road, it was clearly visible, as a station should be. At a glance you could take in the symmetry of the facade with its 3 arches, and the bit on top, with all its references to classical architecture. It may not be spectacular, but it has a lot of carefully worked-out details in terracota and stone:-



In the 1980s, the station was refurbished by an arrogant architect, and his idea was to dump a clumsy post-modern kiosk right in front of the old building:-



You can no longer appreciate the old facade in full, and from the street it takes a second to realise that there's a station trying to peek out from behind a florist's shop. The whole space is dominated by a graceless building with zero finesse which is little more than a disproportionate roof stuck on disproportionate columns. It doesn't have a single detail of any interest, charm or "art" imo, unless you want to count the gutter that's already bent out of shape at the left-hand corner. Furthurmore, selling flowers is traditionally accomplished by an old lady standing to one side on the pavement, surrounded by buckets. Now she has been awarded a shop that obscures the actual reason that people are there at all - to catch a bl**dy train, you stupid architect.

And now I am angry enough to sympathise with [MERIT] - the unneccesary waste of public money that actually makes our environment uglier.

__________________
"Am I enjoying this moment? I know of it and perhaps that is enough." - Sybille Bedford, 1953

Lisnaholic

St. Peter's Seminary, in Scotland, when it was built in 1966 and how it looks today:-

__________________
"Am I enjoying this moment? I know of it and perhaps that is enough." - Sybille Bedford, 1953

Cuthbert

Lovely contributions Lisna.

I'll be posting Tottenham's new stadium soon.

Lisnaholic

^ Thanks for the comment, Fluff, and congrats on your new avatar. One of the best ever from anyone imo.

I'll be interested to see your photos, and in the meantime I'm waiting for Plankton: anytime now he should be posting a seminary built entirely of shipping containers.....

__________________
"Am I enjoying this moment? I know of it and perhaps that is enough." - Sybille Bedford, 1953

Plankton

Not quite a seminary, but close.



Get well soon fluff.

__________________
See location...

Lisnaholic

Nice pics of New Haven, mindful, and especially Davenport; a city by a river is always more interesting than a city without natural water imo.

^ Thanks, Plankton! Is that the building you designed for fire fighters? All you have to do is swap the stars and stripes for a cruxifix, and voilá! it's a seminary. It's a very trim building, which indicates that some careful thought has gone into its design. I like the way the landings of the tower are all equally spaced, and two of them extend out to become roof terraces - that's one great virtue of using modular units I suppose (at least when you are using them right). I also like the bit on top, which I'm going to call a widow's walk, just so that I can post a pic of a genuine old widow's walk:-



PS: Just noticed that the overhang of your widow's walk is the same distance at each end: Nice!

__________________
"Am I enjoying this moment? I know of it and perhaps that is enough." - Sybille Bedford, 1953