forth rail bridge engineering at its finest

pah, NO! I have been to SchlossNeuwanstein (sp?) in the past, mad King Ludwig's silly fabtasy, best used in Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang (one of my fav films btw) BUT I actually find the Wewelsburg a lot more interesting - to my shame.

as regards the Ponte Vecchio, all i can do is *sigh* with longing. Ed just put that up to make me feel even more depressed Thinking of Italy when i'm not actually in Italy is always a very depressing experience for me I miss my homeland terribly.

the seat of the Tawakalnic Govt and the heart of the faith of the people of Tawakalnistan is of course..

Some place in Tunisia?

Rather humble isn't it? I'd have thought you'd be a bit more grandiose....

Like so.....

humility is the mark of the pious man (btw I've been there too! that's the Blue Mosque, not to be confused with the Suleimaniye. ah, Constantinople. Never been have you Ed? you should, you'd love it)

btw anyone ever read "From Bauhaus to Our House" fascinating insight into modern architecture and the design ethos.




Edited by - Tawakalna on 10/11/2004 12:51:05 PM

psssh all foo's the CN tower is the tallest building and is really cool, just to many tourists come up to toronto doing stupid things....

"All these years, in short, I had assumed that in art, if nowhere else, seeing is believing. Well - how very shortsighted! Now, at last, on April 28, 1974, I could see. I had gotten it backward all along. Not `seeing is believing', you ninny, but believing is seeing', for Modern Art has become completely literary: the paintings and other works exist only to illustrate the text. " - Tom Wolfe

You mean that Tom Wolfe? OK. This isn't from the book you mention but are we talking along the same lines?

Reason why I ask is that I find it sometimes difficult to take seriously a man who wears the exact same ice-cream colored suit, shirt and tie, or sometimes a blue shirt, every freakin' time he is to be photographed (sometimes with matching fedora).

shaddap, i think Tom Wolfe's great!

(yes that Tom Wolfe, eponymous "lurker" of Times Square et al. My fav American writer, after Gore Vidal.. )




Edited by - Tawakalna on 10/11/2004 1:33:26 PM

I like Gore Vidal too. He and Wm. Buckley once had a series of very interesting political debates that were televised. That was good viewing.

Actually, I find Wolfe interesting too but... well... his self-image as he projects it into the media often gets in the way for me.

So.... what's he say in Outhouse to Bauhaus

Edited by - Indy11 on 10/11/2004 1:38:26 PM

Edited by - Indy11 on 10/11/2004 1:54:32 PM

Wolfe is one of those people who cuts to the heart of an issue, in this case the decline of Modernism into the eclectic schlock of Post-Modernism. He shows q clearly how American (and other) architects have abandoned personal integrity and originality in favour of fashion and "acceptable" visual themes while still purporting to uphold the values of the industrial aesthetic. I first read this book at about the same time i first visited an Ikea - needless to say the comparison wasn't lost on me.

Shopping malls are the prime example of the problem of style that beset the late 20th C and hasn't gone away (that's my observation, not TW's)

You like castles, eh Taw? Which type? Motte and bailey?

rabats and renaissance

What do you think of Chambord?

you mean the Chateau, right? gotta say I'm not a fan of that overwrought chateau style. I like Versailles because of the scale and the proportions of the plan, but not the form or detail. nor Fontainebleu either. Chantilly's ok cos it's small, so id rather bijou. Chambord, erm well it's restrained compared to most of its companions in the region, can't abide the roof though. like the plan and elevation , minus the dreadful Rococo detailing.

you asked me that because it's supposedely Renaissance, yes? pooh, there isn't a single genuine Renaissance building the whole of Phrantz.

Edited by - Tawakalna on 10/12/2004 12:03:14 PM

Yes. The Chateau. Rooftop is cheesey but that spiral staircase inside is fantastic!

I'd hate to have lived there though. It is just too stoney and cold. But the sheer size of that pile is what got to me. It's huge!