this is incan masonry

To the best of my knowledge, the Incan masonry technique is unique in the history of architecture. No other culture achieved such a level of stylistic accuracy and perfection. The trivia about the size of the stones, the tightness of the joints and the care given to the finishing has been the subject of much discussion. I wonder how much we can read into the craft about the type of people who put it together and the standards that they were held to. Would I have wanted to live in a world where the sole object of existence was rendering such details to such a level of refinement? Who suffered so that walls like the one pictured here would last for millenia?

whither canada: part 2

I've never been to Nova Scotia, but everyone I've talked to has had something good to say about the place. It feels like too far a drive, but that's just because I'm not into big road trips. This picture isn't very representative of the city or the province, but I like having a graphic on my blog posts regardless of the content.

Probably a better place to visit in summer than winter.

the box store and the future of retail architecture

The history of retail architecture over the past century has been about two things: improvement of logistics and an increase in scale. The small shopkeeper will always exist because certain locations and certain services don't or can't benefit from a larger store. On a practical level, scale triumphs, and although certain business founder, like Bradlee's, others take their place, like Wal-Mart. So, I found an article in today's Boston Globe interesting because it described the phenomenon of box stores that are strategically reducing the size of their stores to save on rent, and presumably to improve service.

The spectre of the possibility that one day we will buy everything at Amazon and never browse in person again is something that weighs heavily on the business planners at stores like Best Buy, Staples and Target. In some respects, the shift towards this new retail landscape is being reflected in the construction of massive distribution centers, which are the functional equivalent of the server centers where this blog lives. There is no end point for retail architectural. The souk will always flourish and the experience of shopping online will remain fundamentally different from the unplanned purchases that are still a critical part of the retail experience.

preservation and memory

I don't know what got me thinking about Madison Square Garden, but its status as a New York destination is fairly secure, even if its architecture leaves something to be desired. This picture is simply beautiful, and in some ways, refers unintentionally to the incredible detail of the Penn Station that was demolished so that future generations could enjoy rock concerts and hockey games. (Disclosure: the only big rock concert I have ever been to was there--cheap seats)

I have mixed feeling about preservation, partly because I don't consider architecture as ever reaching a stopping point. A building is always changing--deteriorating, getting repaired, getting new occupants, becoming obsolete. Demolition and erasure from collective memory is the fate of things made by human hands. The longevity of religious and mortuary architecture is the exception, not the rule, and if we aspire to that type of timescale then we deny ourselves room for improvement. I'm particularly enamored of Italian churches that would undergo several facade renovations over the centuries. The Florence Cathedral is the most noteworthy example.

central square and gentrification

Central Square is a challenging place to photograph or describe, but it is a very nice place to go to. There are interesting restaurants and stores. The public spaces are chiefly the sidewalk. It's improved a lot over the past decade.

Is it being gentrified? Is that a bad thing? My feeling is that the answers to those questions are "yes" and "no" respectively. I don't think that Central Square will ever end up like Newbury Street or Harvard Square. Change is inevitable--some businesses will not be able to make it and new businesses may not have the same quirkiness and appeal. Such is the process of urban development and as long as stuff isn't getting burnt down, boarded up and abandoned then the condition is, on balance, a positive one.

I heard that Maya Lin is designing an office tower for Novartis. I don't know what it looks like.

architectural sales technique 101

This is a rendering of the  resort casino that Steve Wynn is seeking to gain approval to build in Foxborough, Mass. I am skeptical of his chances of success, but I don't begrudge the money he is paying his architects right now to develop designs and images for the project. If Wynn is helping someone put food on the table then I can't be too critical, because I am unequivocally in favor of food on tables.

I am of the opinion that this design is a straw man that Wynn is using as a discussion point and as a foil for people who oppose his casino plan. The architecture is so garish and out of keeping with the character of the traditional architecture of New England that I cannot seriously believe that he intends to build anything that looks like this. I am nearly certain that his architects have an alternate plan that is much more conservative and tasteful that they will unveil at some appropriate moment. By demonstrating that he is sensitive to local feedback Wynn will be able to improve his standing in the community and possibly gain some measure of support for his plan. In gambling, I believe this technique is called bluffing.

I'm probably wrong about this.

that was then, what now?

I had expressed skepticism in a post last month about the influence of iconic buildings. Now that it's March, I am going to qualify that skepticism a bit. Exceptional examples of architecture may not have much of an impact on the day to day activities of a modern human but they serve as important historical markers that will inevitably shape people's perception of history. Significant buildings can be used to summarize the achievements of a culture and a geographic region--perhaps unfairly, but analysis of the quality of life that people led depends more on anecdotes than statistics. A large building is a fitting anecdote, and in ancient times a monumental architecture would speak volumes about the priorities of a society. Now, we build larger structures more frequently and with lower up front costs. Their impact is blunted.