To finish 2023 I’d like to share links to some of the websites I check when I need a break, am curious to learn something new, or need inspiration. None of the sites or newsletters listed below are specifically about architecture, engineering, or construction, or the AEC industry. I’ll cover …
One of the most reliable ways to regain perspective when feeling overwhelmed or uncertain, feeling blah, or just when a few extra minutes pop up is to check out APOD, NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day. The image featured here is from Dec 28, 2021, a short video titled Sun …
Steedman murals in the Great Hall – visitors to the main St. Louis Public Library (SLPL) in downtown St. Louis, MO will have the unusual opportunity to see books from the Steedman Architectural Collection on display through May of this year. The exhibit is in the library’s Great Hall – itself worth …
H. Lee Waters Film Collection at Duke University Libraries – from 1936 to 1942 North Carolina photographer H. Lee Waters made hundreds of captivating short silent films of local people. During the Depression, when many couldn’t spare hard-won wages for a portrait but did allow themselves the luxury of going to the movies, …
Up and down with John Kormeling – one-page article in Mark #46 (Oct/Nov 2013, page 32) about architect John Kormeling’s bridge in the Dutch city of Tilburg. It’s designed with a small building that serves as counterweight. Kormeling designed the building as both bridge master’s house and …
Cap Cloud over the Sierra Nevadas – today’s Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) is by Guido Montanes, one of the many professional photographers whose work is posted on APOD. You’ll find a brief explanation of this unusual cloud phenomenon in the photo’s caption. If you’re interested in astronomy, …
Toynbee tiles – If you’re in the mood for a real-life mystery that involves imagination, single-mindedness over spans of time, great ingenuity, a fair amount of what many might describe as wackiness and that remains, despite knowing who the person behind the tiles is, at its heart still an enigma, …
Agritourismo Santa Maria – I recently had the good fortune to spend nearly a week at this working farm and tourist facility in the rolling hills of Umbria just north of Rome. It’s the perfect place for a large group – say an extended family ranging from 30 to …
July travel news: editor’s picks – take a break with this slideshow of 20 hotels and restaurants from around the world selected by Wallpaper for both design and quality of food or drink. 55 slides in all.
The Art of the Bookmark – UK graphic artist Simon C Page offers some great bookmarks in a variety of patterns and colors. Saw it on COLOURlovers. Mirage Bookmark – Swiss makers of fine bookmarks; their site has a exhibition of bookmarks from around the world. Also …
Shed of the Year: boat-roofed creation sails to victory – annual competition in the UK got almost 2000 entrants this year. See some of the others at Shed of the Year 2013 entrants. Why sheds? From Shed of the year contest trumpets UK’s love of garden hideaways: Novelist …
BibliOdyssey – one of my favorite places to take a break; here’s the tag line: Books~~Illustrations~~Science~~History~~Visual Materia Obscura~~Eclectic Bookart. Each post features images based on a theme, or from a specific book or manuscript. The images are wonderful and plentiful and unexpected. Most sources are from early printed books or manuscripts …
The Atlantic Cities often covers how cities and urban areas around the world accommodate bicycle traffic. Here are three recent posts: 10 Brilliant Pieces of Bike Infrastructure – examples, many with clips, from ten cities in Europe, China, and the U.S. A Real-Time Bike-Share Map for the Entire World – …
The Great Nature of Chiura Obata – load time might be a bit long, but if you have the time and inclination to recharge your perceptual and spiritual batteries take a look at Obata’s 1927 paintings of the High Sierra in Yosemite. As the enter page suggests, turn your volume …
Sculptural pipes play secret lullabies to entertain hospital patients – the kids at London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital are in for a treat, an “audio-playground for the young patients.” The Lullaby Project (check out the drawings and the backstory) was developed by architects at Studio Weave and sound artist Jessica Curry. Sculpture? Sound …
Graph Words: online thesaurus – if you’re visually oriented and either enjoy words or want to understand them better, try Graph Words. It maps the various meanings associated with a word and color-codes them as nouns, adjectives, verbs, and adverbs. Shown here is ‘design’ and related nouns and verbs. …
Happy Pi Day! Here’s Some of the Wackiest Celebrations Around the World – about how people around the world celebrate this day (March 14) honoring the Pi, a ratio that’s written in shortened form as 3.14 . …one of the most beautiful and confounding numbers in mathematics. … Pi …
And The Oscar Goes To: Top 10 Contemporary Buildings In Movies – with the Oscars coming up architizer had the good idea to post this top 10 list of buildings you may have seen in movies over the last decade or so. Thanks to AIA St. Louis (home of a great …