When I was a child and the family or school group or church group would travel to Chicago, I was always amazed by the vast neighborhoods of bungalows. But I didn't know they were this popular, 80,000, or 1/3 of the single family housing stock.
http://zachmortice.com/2022/02/25/chicagos-bungalows-are-where-the-city-comes-together/
https://www.chicagobungalow.org/chicago-bungalow
"What's next? A year ago, the answer that no one foresaw would be "a pandemic." Though the COVID-19 pandemic will end, architecture cannot--and will not--simply return to its old habits and forms. The global health emergency has changed how we live, travel, and work. It has altered how we use and navigate space, what we expect regarding safety and sanitation, and the way we greet strangers and loved ones. . . " p. 59, Architect (journal of AIA), Jan/Feb 2021.
If I could write as well as R.R. Reno*, I would have said this decades ago—I read a lot of architecture magazines.
Nearly 3/4 of Americans (72%) – including majorities across political, racial/ethnic, gender, and socioeconomic lines – prefer traditional architecture for U.S. courthouses and federal office buildings. At least Americans can agree on ugly. National Civic Art Society/Harris Survey Shows Americans Overwhelmingly Prefer Traditional Architecture for Federal Buildings — National Civic Art Society.
In the Dec. issue of First Things R.R. Reno comments: "Modern and postmodern architecture have no visual vocabulary for distinguishing civic from commercial life, which is why during the last 2 decades every attempt at grandeur has ended up looking like an airport terminal." . . . "Modern architecture of the International style can be elegant and pleasing. Its blank walls of glass are the perfect idiom for faceless modern corporations. Postmodern architecture can be ironic and clever, which is why our disenchanted elite like it so much. But these styles cannot speak a civic language, and this is why the public disfavors them and wishes our government would return to older ways of building."
I would disagree with Mr. Reno that it's only the last 2 decades. The most ugly architectural style for public buildings in my opinion is "brutalist," and it looks like it sounds. It's an assault on the eye, and must drive building managers crazy. In Columbus we have the Ohio History Center near the Fair Grounds, built in 1970, but it had become ubiquitous in the 1950s-1970. Very famous architects contributed to this horror. AIA gives them awards, probably because there's so much concrete in them, there's no way to get rid of them.
Antiracist Hysteria by R. R. Reno | Articles | First Things *Scroll to “While we’re at it.”
This afternoon I'm going through all our trip memorabilia--most of it in two large storage boxes in the furnace room. Alaska, Arizona (twice), Arkansas, Baltimore, Bartlesville, Boston, California (3 times) Canada (Vancouver), Chicago, Finland (many cities), Florida, Germany (many cities, river cruise), Greece, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana (Columbus, Madison), Ireland, Israel, Italy (numerous cities), Kentucky, Michigan (Detroit, Boyne City, Bay View), Missouri, Montana, New York, Ohio (Cincinnati, Cleveland, Dayton, Springfield--these were mostly architectural tours), Oregon, Philadelphia, Russia (St. Petersburg), San Antonio, Spain (Madrid, Murcia, Granada, Cordoba), Turkey, Washington DC (3 times). Post cards, maps, guides, newspapers, magazines, hundreds of receipts for restaurants, hotels, museums, art galleries, tours and airlines. Stacks of photos we couldn't use in the albums.
It all needs to go. But as I looked through the things, I couldn't help but think of the thousands of jobs related to tourism and travel, from the maps and brochures to the hotel staffs, the bus drivers, the cooks, waiters, cleaners, and tour guides. All out of work now.
“The Office of Administration and Planning welcomes your feedback on revisions to the Sustainable Design and Construction policy (currently the Green Build and Energy policy). “ Ohio State University
I read my husband’s architecture journals and e-mails and see a lot about “sustainable” and “green” and “small.” Thousands of pages, gallons of ink, and angst filled pie-in-the sky millennial writers worshiping Mother Earth with religious green fever. And then poof. All it took was a pandemic and lockdowns from our governors. No committees or feedback from architects, pastors or librarians. No need even for new or remodeled buildings. Lock ‘em down. Send everyone home except truckers and grocery clerks, get a good internet connection, sign up for Zoom and we’re good to go. No pollution. No sustainable design. No energy plan.
I am so sick of the anti-Trump drivel in every media source--this in "Architect," which awards issue (336 pp) is the size of the old Penney's Christmas catalog. President Obama was known as the "deporter in chief," turning back hundreds of thousands of illegals, and the so-called child cage photos were from his administration. Only because he was dealing with fewer illegals crossing the border has Trump passed Obama on numbers and Soros funded non-profits are assisting with the onslaught. Why is it journalists in all media are all progressives? Why is it "anti-immigrant" to protect our sovereignty which is the #1 job of a President?
Author Jacobs brings up his grandmother, a Polish immigrant, who opened a Kosher restaurant in Hoboken to first drum up sympathy with readers, but of course, there weren't 22 million illegal Poles storming our borders after WWII, were there Mr. Jacobs? "Make the Road New York" is an immigrant rights group and it has a building designed and out sourced to a Mexican firm hired while Obama was president (I suppose there are jobs American architects won't do in a struggling economy?). I'm betting there are walls, doors and locks in this building.
https://www.architectmagazine.com/design/ten-arquitectos-designs-a-beacon-for-the-resistance_o
Over half of this issue is devoted to advertising, indicating a booming economy. I hope Mr. Jacobs takes notice.
Yesterday we carried three sacksful to the church library and Tuesday an unbelievable amount of books and magazines to the public library Friends sale drop off. This is what is left. Stuff no one wants. But it’s interesting to look through. Codes. Books and books of codes. Now all irrelevant, and there are new codes to keep architects, engineers, electricians, plumbers, and city planners and engineers in business. Plus a lot of Bible study workbooks, 10-15 years old, never looked at after the class, and of no use to anyone else.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zBG1xML8U0
I wouldn’t necessarily call the choices, “the best,” but they are certainly influential. The filming begins with the Salk Institute designed by Louis Kahn in La Jolla, California, moves on to Colorado and the chapel at the US Air Force Academy, Trinity Church in Boston, the St. Louis Gateway Arch designed by Saarinen, various buildings in Columbus, Indiana, Falling Water by Frank Lloyd Wright in Pennsylvania and the architecture of Chicago. It leaves out a lot, but is interesting. Hosts are artist Mame McCutchin & architect Charlie Luxton and their big van.
#1 man made tourist example in Colorado—Air Force Academy Chapel. 24,000 pieces of glass with colors representing leaving the world coming into the light of God. The pews are designed to look like old propellers. Stations of the cross use olive wood from Israel.
This is Henry Hobson Richardson’s Trinity Church in Boston which started a particular style, Richardsonian Romanesque. “Like walking into a painting.” Next door is the John Hancock tower. I’ve seen these.
When we visited Fallingwater last year with a group from Columbus Museum of Art it was the earliest day in the Spring it was open, so we didn’t see the lush green in this film. We’ve been on so many wonderful architectural tours with local groups—which is how we saw Columbus, Indiana--this was fun to watch. We’ve also been on a boat ride to see the Chicago architecture—I’ve been to the top of the Sears Tower twice.
I wasn’t familiar with the Reserve Channel, but will continue checking it out.
June Jewell, a CPA and owner of Acuity Business Solutions consulting, says the architectural, engineering and environmental firms she works for easily lose $100,000 each year through inefficient and ineffective practices.
“Of course, sometimes the waste is much, much more – and this goes for larger and smaller businesses,” says Jewell, author of “Find the Lost Dollars: 6 Steps to Increase Profits in Architecture, Engineering, and Environmental Firms,” (www.FindTheLostDollars.com). “The problems are usually so fundamental to a business that they will never see why and how they’re bleeding money; they’re too close.”
There are several nooks and crannies in which firms are apt to lack efficiency. Jewell reviews three general areas where most of these firms can turn unnecessary losses to gains:
• Company culture: While the culture may vary somewhat from one firm to another, architectural, engineering and environmental firms share some of the same characteristics. One is that their founders tend to go into business because they’re creative people who love what they do -- not because they’re business people. So they don’t focus on profits, and they tend to be casual managers with regard to employees’ time. Shifting the culture to a focus of being profitable is not only necessary for sustaining the business; it allows creative people to do more of what they love.
• Ineffective practices: Of course, there are many moving parts in an A&E firm, which means there are many potential areas for improvement. That includes customer service, time management, marketing, strategic planning, accurate budgets and estimates, and the cost of lost opportunities. Failure to create an accurate, meticulous job estimate, for instance, can have multiple consequences, from having disappointed clients to jeopardize projects to losing money because time, materials and other costs were not accurately forecast.
• Systems & IT: This is the third way to improve business management and increase profits. Technology is able to help companies leverage their resources more effectively, yet many of them are still using outdated software and non-integrated systems. By looking at systems as a strategic investment that can help them to be more competitive, they can realize a great return on investment (ROI) from their projects. While the transition from old to new software has its cost in time and work, the efficiency gained in future work production is worth it.
“I’ve worked with hundreds of A&E firms in my 28 years of consulting, and I see these shared problems so often, I offer what I call ‘the $100K Challenge,’ ’’ Jewell says. “That’s a guarantee that I can work with any business that’s doing a few million dollars a year in business and find $100,000 they’re losing in profits.”
In this post-recession economy, she says, it’s vital for firms to tune up their business management practices in order to thrive.
June R. Jewell is a CPA and CEO of Acuity Business Solutions and has written a book, Find the Lost Dollars. Ginny Grimsley of News and Experts supplied the article.
It’s been interesting to see Rome the last few days on TV via Vatican TV as the final 48 hours of Pope Benedict XVI have been broadcast. But 700 years ago, things weren’t looking good for the mighty city.
"In the early 1400s the Eternal City must have been, in most respects, a wretchedly uninspiring sight, a parent that the Florentines may well have wished to disown. A million people had dwelled in Rome during the height of the Empire, but now the city's population was less than that of Florence. The Black Death of 1348 had reduced numbers to 20,000, from which, over the next fifty years, they rose only slightly. Rome had shrunk into a tiny area inside its ancient walls, retreating from the seven hills to huddle among a few streets on the bank of the Tiber across from St. Peter's, whose walls were in danger of collapse. Foxes and beggars roamed the filthy streets. Livestock grazed in the Forum now known as il Campo Vaccino, 'the Field of Cows.'
"Other monuments had suffered even worse fates. The Temple of Jupiter was a dunghill, and both the Theater of Pompey and the Mausoleum of Augustus had become quarries from which the ancient masonry was scavenged, some of it for buildings as far away as Westminster Abbey. Many ancient statues lay in shards, half buried, while others had been burned in kilns to make quicklime or else fertilizer for the feeble crops. Still others were mangers for asses and oxen. The funerary monument of Agrippina the Elder, the mother of Caligula, had been turned into a measure for grain and salt.
"Rome was a dangerous and unappealing place. There were earthquakes, fevers, and endless wars, the latest of which, the War of the Eight Saints, witnessed English mercenaries laying waste to the city. There was no trade or industry apart from the pilgrims who arrived from all over Europe, clutching copies of Mirabilia urbis romae (The Wonders of Rome), which told them which relics to see during their stay. This guidebook directed them to such holy sights as the finger bone of St. Thomas in Santa Croce, in Gerusalemme, the arm of St. Anne and the head of the Samaritan woman converted by Christ in San Paolo fuori le Mura, or the crib of the infant Savior in Santa Maria Maggiore. There was a hucksterish atmosphere to the city: pardoners sold indulgences from stalls in the street, and churches advertised confessions that were supposedly good for a remission of infernal torture for a grand total of 8,000 years.
"The Mirabilia urbis romae did not direct the attention of the pilgrims to the Roman remains that surrounded them. To such pious Christians these ancient ruins were so much heathen idolatry. Worse, they were stained with the blood of Christian martyrs. The Baths of Diocletian, for example, were built with the forced labor of early Christians, many of whom had died during the construction. Antique images that had survived a millennium of earthquakes, erosion, and neglect were therefore deliberately trampled underfoot, spat on, or thrown to the ground and smashed to pieces."
From Brunelleschi's Dome: How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture by Ross King, Penguin Books, 2000
It’s the Medical Center’s new Chiller Plant, an environmental air conditioner that will cool the new James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute and Critical Care Center and several other Medical Center buildings at the Ohio State University. This 95,737-square-foot building will provide 30,000 tons of chilled water. This water can also be used for critical operations during power outages.
http://projectoneblog.osumc.edu/2012/04/02/spotlight-on-the-south-campus-chiller-plant/
Here’s an index of the architectural designs of Thomas Jefferson.
Today I noticed an article about two Utah architects running for Congress. “Søren Simonsen, 44, is an architect and city planner from Salt Lake City, where he serves on the city council. He’s running as a Democrat in Utah’s 3rd Congressional District. Republican Stephen Sandstrom, 48, is an architect from Orem who was elected to the Utah House of Representatives in 2006. He recently resigned to run in Utah’s newly created 4th Congressional District. Both face June primary challenges from other candidates.”
And that’s wonderful. But what I found amusing was that the lede called Jefferson an amateur. Have you seen some of the designs of the 21st century? Who’s calling who an amateur?
Thomas Jefferson may be the most celebrated American architect, albeit an amateur one, to lead a political life, and he certainly wasn’t the last. But oddly, there are no architects currently serving in the U.S. Congress, and according to the AIA, there was only one during the entire 20th century. This year, however, two architects are running for Congress, and they both happen to be from Utah.
The Pruitt-Igoe Myth: an Urban History – Film Trailer from the Pruitt-Igoe Myth on Vimeo.
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