Thorncrown Chapel - Simon Ott

In a similar vein to my previous blog, I love the pairing of nature and worship.  So much of our lives today as humans has divorced us from our relationship with the world around us.  Since the industrial revolution we've created more and more of our world around us seperating us from the planet that has sheltered, fed and molded us for millennia.  We tend to forget our roots.  We also tend to forget how vital a spiritual life is as well.  Regardless of our personal belief as individuals the fact that we do and have believed in a higher power has shaped our history and lives and brought us to where we are today.  

Places to remember those fundemental cores of our human experience are vital to our continued existence and thriving.  The Thorncrown Chapel in Eureka Springs, AR is a beautiful way to do that in my opinion.  The world around us provides so much beauty and remembrance that there is more to life than buying the next big screen tv or latest smartphone.  I believe that creating architecture that helps us to engage with the greater world around us is the highest form of the craft of architecture. 

The truest architecture creates a space for us to comfortably live safely and thrive on this planet while maintaining our relationship with the planet.  Looking back, everytime we forget that principle we create problems for either ourselves or the planet as a whole forgetting that were so completely linked that the two cannot possibly be considered separate.  Places that we build for the purpose of coming together to remember a higher power helps us to keep our relationships with others and our world as a whole in perspective, especially if it is a place like Thorncrown Chapel.

La Sagrada Familia - Simon Ott

I hadn't heard about La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona Spain until my Architecture for majors class last semester.  I may well have come across a picture or mention of it in passing at sometime during my life but if I had I obviously had no idea what I was seeing.  The church is astounding.  The vision and dream of the architect Antoni Gaudi is a testiment to the desire of mankind to create a true place of worship in which to experience and commune with a higher power.  

I have always enjoyed seeing the old churches and their attempt to "raise the consciousness" of those who visit but the organic nature of La Sagrada Familia takes it to a whole new level.  I have always felt that the natural world around us provides the most sacred of spaces to be within and it seems that Gaudi managed to merge beauty of nature with the constructs of humankind into a shared space for the purpose of communion with the divine.  

I, for one, applaud his vision and hope I can make the trip to see it someday.

#5 Cathedral of Brasilia, Oscar Niemeyer - by Blenda Araujo

One of my favorites Oscar Niemeyer works it is this church. I had the opportunity to visit the cathedral and whole complex designed by Niemeyer when I was in my second year of architecture. 

Outside view. Detail on the columns.

Brasilia landscape. Esplanada dos Ministerios.

 The work comes down to hand-painted tiles that cover the walls of the Baptistery of oval and stained glass with different shades of blue, white and brown that bring natural lighting to the place. Also, upon entering into the Cathedral, there stands a marble pillar with pictures of passages of the life of Our Lady.

Inside view. Entrance.

Inside view. Detail on the stained glass.

I love the only visible structure of the cathedral - -sixteen concrete columns -- because it has this peculiar shape reaching up towards the sky.

6 - Reversible Destiny Lofts - Hillary Kidd

     The Reversible Destiny Lofts are located in Tokyo and were built in Memory of Helen Keller. Completed in 2005, the building has attracted many visitors from around the world. The building stimulates the visitor and brings attention to the full potential of the body.

     

      The building provides different uses for each individual according to their physical abilities. There are spaces that a three year old could use better than an adult, and there are spaces that a seventy year old may be better suited to explore and that is the reason the lofts were dedicated to the memory of Helen Keller.

     The Lofts are currently used as residential, educational and cultural facilities. Some of the units are available for long and short-term lease.

--- 6 ---Walker Tower - Luan Vinicius

The Walker Tower was my first residence here in USA. Most of the people don`t like so much the Towers, but I really loved to live there. Sometimes was a little boring because there are a lot of rules like visitors until 11pm, no noise after 10pm and others. Anyway, the fact is that the experience that I had there was really different from what I had in my entire life. I`m only son and I had never divided my space with anyone, principally my bedroom. In the towers, I had to share my space with someone from a different culture than mine and the bathroom with him and more two. I was really lucky because my life in Towers was really nice. My roommate had a lot of electrodomestics in the room what turned the little space very usual and cozy as a mini fridge, a TV, a Xbox and a microwave. With all these, the little space turned into a really functional “kitchenette". Another interesting thing is that I had never lived in an apartment and in Walker I lived in the 10th floor and my view was really nice because I could see all the Stadium in front without any barriers. The amenities in Walker were really cool, each floor has its own lounge and a study room, but in the last floor (12th), there were a lot of amazing study rooms available 24hours and each one with a private space. On the first floor were the social lounge (with games and sofas that were nice to spend time talking and hanging out with friends), the computer lab and one of the best amenities… the Xcetera, a little market where you can buy food, candies and beverages. In the beginning it was really strange to live in Walker because I had never did something like that, but this experience was important to me because I could grow personally and I learned how is necessary and important to know to divide and to manage my space and time because I was not the only one who was living there.

2) House of Glass - Charlotte Robert

5 - Crystal River Tree House - Hillary Kidd

 

     Tree houses are not just for kids anymore. In addition to being a creative, inspiring space for children, this tree house also serves as a quiet meditative space for the adults. 

     Green Line Architects design their tree houses as organic spaces that come together as the forest and locally available materials will allow. For this tree house every piece of wood was hand-picked during the construction process. The framing materials of this tree house are made up of either re-claimed or blown-down timbers. The sheathing and siding are locally sawn white pine, and wavy edge cedar.  The pin foundation system used here was chosen for its minimal impact to root systems of the surrounding trees.

“There is always a place for fun and frivolity in architecture!” - David Rasmussen, resident tree house expert of Green Line Architects