Our built environment is a kind of manifestation of our consciousness, our awareness of our place in the world, and a statement of our relationship with others, the world at large, and our selves. The ancients understood this, hence the mystic forms of the Egyptians, Mayans, Druids, as well as other old civilizations like India, where …
Art and architecture are repositories of memory, the stories we tell ourselves as a culture. I came across a mention of French art historian Henri Focillon, and the impact of his thinking on art history. Most people may think of art history as a flowing continuity, where one style “progresses” into another. But Focillon envisioned history …
Shining a light on the inherently dysfunctional structures of North American suburbia, this National Film Board of Canada docudrama Radiant City is named after French-Swiss architect Le Corbusier’s utopian and unrealized Ville Radieuse concept, which envisioned a new, modern way of living and urban organization, featuring clear and almost “totalitarian” demarcations between living, working and leisure. …