James Dunbar
@jamesad
architect, phd student (Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL), traveler, photographer, future architectural historian, part-time punk (semi-retired), critiques of ISM
was in Bruges, Antwerp, and Brussels in December... was the coldest I'd ever been. don't recommend, but got a few nice photos
just for fun: none of the West/Middle/East Point roads existed in the 1938 survey: www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet...
able to confirm @fuzzysay.bsky.social with Rumsey's maps: here's an aerial from 1948 and Google Maps from today:
Bosch, Brueghel, and breweries! Leffe in Dinant to the south, Delerium Tremens in Melle near Ghent... Bruges is nice, Ghent is fantastic, Antwerp is an interesting city (the Zaha Hadid building out at the port makes for some nice photos, though I was there on a cloudy, rainy day)
updated restaurant recommendations, then: Bistro des Lettres and La Petite Perigourdine, plus a cheese shop: L'assuette aux Fromages
fundamentally incompatible worldviews all of those without introspection storming us all "into the future to which our backs are turned, while the pile of debris before us grows skyward. This storm is what we call progress" (apologies to WB)
the drawings can be downloaded and there's a really laughable mistake on the title block. the drawings refer to a Catholic church project that they must have used as a base and it says "Released for Construction". Yikes! No structural engineering indicated on soil that was dredged from the river...
in addition, most of the land on Columbia Island is built up from uncompacted soil dredged from the river (multiple times over the decades). From the following report (available here: npshistory.com/publications...)
would be good to have some structural engineers and construction managers weigh in on this. a proposed 100 feet taller than the Arc de Triomphe, this is going to need a substantial foundation through the old river bottom (see below from an 1862 map of the area: www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet...)
Chicago code requires minimums, as shown in 570.10 Specific Requirements. Not sure if the landlord is required to meet these unless they've done permitted work recently and required to upgrade the number of outlets (unless I'm reading this wrong) codelibrary.amlegal.com/codes/chicag...
as we are propelled forward into the new year, i am thinking about the future and the present - and 'how it doesn't have to be this way'. happy new year for everyone who celebrates it today. an image from my wall of fragments of thoughts:
I arrived at a university archive (where I was told "we don't have much") and saw a cart full of material that hadn't been touched in decades. Nothing was organized, let alone digitized. It was lovely to pour through the archive, though, and I sorted and grouped what I could (for my return).
I learned a few things when I started in architecture: I ran blueprints on an enormous machine (bigger than the one in the image below); I lettered in ink with a Leroy apparatus; I was in charge of the sticky-back library of details...
I first learned of Frank Gehry in 1991, in my 2nd year design studio at Cal Poly. He has intrigued me over the last 34 years and his buildings more often than not have been a delight to experience. Some views from my camera:
but also Intervale and Wilkins intersected (the triangular area below), so there's a lot of reality to the legend:
Stebbins doesn't show up on the modern map. It looks like it wasn't too far (I think) from the park - here's a clip from a 1911 map titled Business District of New York, Brooklyn and Jersey City here: www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet...
Wilkins used to be a much longer street - here's a clip from a 1927 map titled Mayor's Committee on City Planning The City of New York: Predominant Residential Age here: www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet...
from all the (humorous) articles about Trotsky in the Bronx, I only see the Triangle Dairy Restaurant on Wilkins. From Joshua Rubenstein's book:
graffiti in Venice, Nov. 2nd. "Zona antifa" and International Squatters' symbol spray painted in black paint underneath "DETERRITORIALIZE" in orange paint:
last efforts to finish reading & cross-referencing on a Friday night and very surprised to see my name in the postscript of @stevewright1977.bsky.social's Storming Heaven (2nd edition). Thank you -- and critical engagements to follow! [Also, I am very much enjoying The Weight of the Printed Word].
first went to Utrecht in 1994 to see this - and it was closed. returned about 10 years ago on a scheduled visit. an incredible place - the detailing and mechanics of all the moving parts is just lovely. (photo from 1994)