Architect as …
Here are a few images from some of the terra cotta rain screens found on the urban renewal towers in parts of Southwest, DC. I have always been a fan of these semi-enclosed balconies and they way they play with public and private space. Plus the non-rectalinear units create a lovely interplay of form while also creating a regular solid/void rhythm to the facade while still allowing maximum penetrations.
www.selophane.com/blog/Images
I love how St. Dominic’s Catholic Church in Southwest, DC combines classical masonry construction in the main church with modern design in the Priory.
I know this is being posted later than my self imposed deadline, but I had a meeting this morning for a job that actually pays money, so that took precedence.
To add to me weekly schedule (tuesday is links and wednesday iphone apps) thursdays will be image post days.
I was walking around near Southwest (Federal Southwest) DC on my way to my meeting this morning and I was totally struck by the fact that as I walked around town I was walking through time. The four photos below show a progresion from the Victorian Eclectic Arts and Industries Building through early International Style FAA building, Brutalism at the DOE entrance to L’Enfant Plaza, and finally historical Post Modernism at the National Museum of African Art in a series of 2 blocks of south west DC. Of course, these buildings are not arranged chronologically on the street, but the feeling is the same. Each is not only typical of the construction and ornament of their respective time periods, but also the treatment of public plazas and spaces.
An unfished poured concrete column – It looks like a hand reaching towards the sky.
A brick ledge in a poured concrete wall – It looks like the wall has been shifted inward.