There is an office in Sweden with interior walls made of paper – piles and piles of paper. These “paperwalls” are stacks of magazines that are tightly bound and piled on top of each other. You can see the edges of the magazines and the string that binds them, and it looks like a random pattern. […]
Category: learn about architecture
What is a Chicago Window?
There are all sorts of windows that an architect might select for a building. Chicago Window A grouping of 3 windows, where there are two double hung windows on the sides of a picture window. These windows were used way back when in Chicago, in buildings like The Marquette Building, one of the earliest skyscrapers built. […]
Z is for ZIGGURAT
Ziggurat. What a goofy sounding word, right? What is a ziggurat and how does it relate to architecture? A ziggurat is a a stepped pyramid. Usually a four-sided structure. There were ziggurats in ancient Mesopotamia and also in ancient pre-Columbian Meso-America, Asia and Europe. Ziggurats are built out of stone and although they are found all […]
Modernism among Palm Trees
Modernism is a style of architecture built in the 1950’s. It is recognizable for straight lines, geometric shapes, lots of windows and light, and little decoration. Palm Springs, California is home for a great deal of modernist homes and structures. Architect William F. Cody designed many of these buildings. A film titled, “Desert Maverick,” uncovers his prolific […]
I Can Build it with Seven Pieces
Can you really build this building with only 7 geometric shapes? This is called a tangram and it is a shape that is built out of a series of other geometric shapes. In this case, it is made of” 1 square 5 triangles (different sizes) 1 parallelogram Can you figure it out with just that much […]
Fold Up a Playhouse
Artist/designer Huy Voun Lee is very clever. Origami Playhouse is more than a book, it is a fold out structure with instructions and supplies with which to make origami furniture. It is cleverly constructed for unfolding to play with and then refolding to store. And it is challenging (but not Too Much) so that a child (perhaps […]
He Drew Upside Down
Paul R. Williams was a remarkable architect because he designed so many different types of buildings well, because he was a design innovator and a design thinker. Being a black man was (and continues to be) unusual in the field of architecture. Back in his day, it was almost unheard of. He was an excellent draftsman (someone […]
What is a Favela?
Although the word sounds sort of glamorous, a favela is not that at all – it is a type of very dense slum, or housing for very poor people, typically found in Brazil’s urban areas. Strangely enough, the word favela comes from a sort of tree that makes people itch. In the late 19th century, […]
Brick by Brick Exhibit
Come to Chicago and see the Golden Gate Bridge. Wait, what? Ok, you are right. You are not going to see the REAL Golden Gate Bridge – however it is a really great model of that famous rust-colored bridge made out of Legos. It is 60 foot long bridge built by Lego building professionals. (Wouldn’t that […]
Do You Know your Building Trivia?
We cannot wait to visit Washington DC to see the Whitehouse, of course, and wave hello to President Obama, and also to visit the National Building Museum. Currently there is an exhibit about icebergs at the museum! Well, really the exhibit is the effect of global warming on the built environment. It looks like great […]