Are Buildings Great or the Spaces That They Make?

This space in Ourense, Galicia, Spain is perfectly intriguing.

This image is by Robin Mooty and is at her blog.

Allen Lane SEPTA Station Rebuild

The groovy Furness pedestrian bridge at the Allen Lane SEPTA station in Philadelphia is being really nicely rebuilt.

Fall light on Deco theater.

East Mt Airy, Philadelphia PA.

Modernism at Plymouth Meeting Mall

Glass and white steel frame entry.

I am always surprised by the modern details at the Plymouth Meeting Mall. Placed there by national mall architect Victor Gruen in 1966, they seem sort of alone in their elegance. It would be great if they presaged some bitchin' modern experience like a super lux modern restaurant at the top of Macy's. That glamorous experience is not to be found inside the mall though.

Not to say that there isn't good design elsewhere at the Plymouth Meeting Mall. The design experience created by CREATE Architecture, Planning and Design. for Whole Foods and new stores in the lot below is really good.

It's still sad though that the interior experience of the mall is unhinged from this nice steel and glass entry that welcomes us.

Cheers to William Kleinsasser

He taught me about using personas when I design and gave me an understanding of how architecture flows around people's experiences.

And that it can do so in a way that provides the opportunity for greater meaning.

He also taught me about listening to users.

He was UX before the web was UX.

Cheers.

100 Years of Illustration : Aylward, William J. 1875-1956

"A Singapore Junk at Sea".

100 Years of Illustration : Aylward, William J. 1875-1956

Man, love this image

Congrats on the New WRT Website

It's good to see that Wallace Roberts & Todd (WRT) one of Philadelphia's largest architecture and planning firms, has relaunched their website

This new site moves much more smoothly than the previous site! Also the design is more appealing - lighter and crisper - and it's also easier to navigate. The previous site was dreary and hard to move around in. I can also imagine that this new site is easier to update and for search engines to crawl.

I might consider moving the footer nav up - it's lost far at the bottom.

Twitter feeds could also be pushed to the home page - not just create a link to them. For this clean and simple design, the dynamics a twitter feed would bring to the homepage would be positive. The style of writing on the tweets should be investigated though. A more personal style that shows the tweets are coming from a human at WRT would support the overall brand of real people doing work (this brand position is already reinforced in a variety of ways inside the site.)

Significantly better than most architect's web sites, this is an example to other Philadelphia and national architects.

Congratulations to WRT.

Character AND Theory

Character may be the antidote to the frustrating inability of current architecture theory to deliver buildings that are fulfilling.

Along with teaching theory, maybe we need to help architect students be better people - to have good character. In the film "Goodbye, Mr. Chips", Mr. Chips says that it is enough to teach students to have humor and a sense of proportion.

I think that is probably right.

I trust design justifications by people of good character who can take a balanced measurement of what can be seen through empathy, the intellect and a study of precedent.

I guess I am pitching a case by case theory supported by ongoing honing of one's personal compass.

Your theory will always be in beta but I think the buildings will be better.