the birth of reason

Why Vietnam? Why not? Towers of ilium doesn't have to explain things. Expression is the primary goal of communication; a functional outcome is a rare and unanticipated side effect of communication.

An internet of things seems like a nice idea, but until the view screen becomes edible, the computer age will simply be distinguished by billions of unsatisfied people. The challenge, which is a challenge of the prosperity associated with the modern age, will be one of time management. We will have access to almost everything, but only one lifetime in which to choose meaningful experiences.

This post has been framed as a series of claim/response sentences. Our marketing dept. thought it would be a good idea. They have been sacked.

this is interior architecture

Merrill Hall, by Julia Morgan. It serves as a counterpoint to the recent cynical posts on towers of ilium.

the downward spiral becomes more efficient

This picture of an abandoned Soviet era bus stop in Kazakstan comes via a blog called "calvertjournal."

Interesting architecture depends on a client who isn't paying careful attention. Cost, functionality, history, and morality all conspire against expression. The U.S. business community--which includes ordinary households--fails to produce enchanting works because someone always has their eye on the bottom line.

design has no criteria

False! They shout. Design does not exist without a set of assumptions and desires. Its criteria is manufactured. It is fantasy and deception--in whole or part a futile attempt to predict and contain the future. And it succeeds, because design and evolution are similar in one crucial regard: Perfection is less important than function. A car works better than a horse 9 times out of 10. A house designed by an architect is only marginally better than one designed by an amateur.

assumption markets

The recent flurry of posts does not signal a return to the golden ages of towers of ilium. There never was a golden age. Maybe 1966 and early '67.

Residential solar could turn out to be a big thing. Most houses have appliances and a rooftop solar array is just another appliance. That it can be purchased on an installment plan is something that will appeal to many homeowners. Buying things on a credit is the first sign that a culture has become suffused with optimism.

Oil prices will recover.

There is no contradiction between the comment about residential solar systems and our continued reliance on petroleum.

the reality of art

"Whichever technique he chooses, the architect's function is to propose a way of life...."

Thus spake British architect Peter Smithson. He designed the above--a fitting tribute to the corrupt awfulness of English culture. That the British managed to achieve the nadir of modern architecture is not much of a surprise.

What towers of ilium would like to dwell on here is not the absence of warmth or beauty in this blasted heath of an urban courtyard, but on the truth of Smithson's claim. All art is totalitarian and all artists are dictators. The stroke of the brush, the tap of the chisel, the mark of the pen, and the line on the computer are all authoritarian gestures.

autumn of content

Towers of ilium is all for progress; it's change we can't stand. This old version of the Google logo is being preserved on towers of ilium as a tribute to George Santana. Not the historian--and imaginary person who is charged with preserving strange bits of history.