We took a few cues from the south Texas hill country in this transformation. Our favorite part? The new entry composed of a glass box atop a stacked stone base.
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Posts Tagged ‘Details’
Denontie SecreteTuesday, November 24th, 2009One of the more interesting pieces of the Doges Palace is this sculpture located in the colonnade of the interior courtyard. The “Mouths of Truth” were places located throughout the city where any citizen of Venice could privately accuse another of a crime. Once a citizen placed their signed “secret denunciations” in the mouth it would then be investigated and the appropriate action taken.  I can just imagine the guy who took out his grievance against the fisherman who shorted him at the market or all the notes they received asking the council to “please do something about all the pigeons.” More than I think about all the story lines this sculpture was involved in I admire it for what it is. The Venetians could have just as easily built a non-descript slot in the wall. Instead they chose to personify a piece of the building, giving it decoration which reinforced its purpose. Some might argue the simple slot would have been more appropriate, I had the same thought. I’ll let you be the judge. (pun fully intended) Baubles AboundWednesday, November 4th, 2009
I was raised in a home on the south coast of Texas. I remember when the hurricane threats would come through, while the rest of our neighbors were out buying plywood my dad was walking around securing the shutters on the front of our house. Most people probably thought they were just for looks but every few years we’d unhinge those guys and let them fulfill their given purpose – protecting our windows. Shutters are a building detail that has been employed for quite a long time. They have acted as a means of controlling light and ventilation, protection from the elements, security and of course keeping out unwanted pests and insects. Over time, building technology has allowed shutters to be built in a variety of styles and from a variety of materials, though we have moved away from the marble shutters of ancient Greece. Try shutting those by yourself. Shutters now generally play a secondary role in the operation of building openings. The majority of shutters we see are merely ornament, applied to the face of homes for aesthetics. The shutter has gone the way of the “antique” coffee grinder set on a shelf for show. We still cling to the nostalgia of the past even though shutters, even operable ones, are rarely if ever used. The shutter does add character to a façade, but seeing a piece of plastic applied to the side of a window gives an uneasy feeling of falsity. Architecture should be honest in how it speaks. There needs to be “truth of expression” as John Ruskin put it. If it’s a shutter, make it a shutter not a bauble. Otherwise we should embrace our changing needs or technology and design accordingly. |
