A New Year- Let's begin with some bricks

Happy New Year!

What better way to start the year than with one of the most fundamental building materials: brick
The following are few pictures I dug up of interesting brick buildings in various locations:

Simple brick building in Tokyo

This building is a great example of a simple and clean architecture. Although lacking any embellishments on the facade, the depth of the window indents emphasizes the volume of the building and prevents it from looking flat. Unfortunately, the control joints (especially the vertical ones) break up the continuity of the running bond of the brick and create very noticeable interruptions. I wonder why they needed so many...

Decorative brick buildings in Tokyo

This building is a decorative, even using bricks to create a frame for the windows and integrating the balconies into the facade.

Red Town, Shanghai

In Red Town in Shanghai, there are a number of interesting brick buildings. In the case above, the brick acts like a skin that peels off from the concrete core.

Red Town, Shanghai

In this case, the brick facade becomes horizontally emphasized as it is interrupted at each level by the floor slab. The building attempts to be interesting by the varying floor plates at each level. However, the result is unsuccessful because the difference between floor plates is not great enough. I feel that if the cantilevers and recesses are stronger, the result would be a dynamic facade instead of an awkward-looking brick building.

Brick building Providence

Here we have a slightly Art Deco-ish building in Providence, RI. Although not very interesting in itself, the facade does create some interesting shadows.

Larsen Hall at Harvard University

Last but not least, we have Roy Edward Larsen Hall at Harvard University. This is Brutalist architecture with a twist. Slightly reminiscent of a medieval castle with tiny windows from the mid to upper levels, the arched openings on the ground level bring about a more traditional feel. The mishmash of elements and styles create a surreal image, as if I am looking at a M.C. Escher drawing.

dropped soffit in cement finish

The one thing that I do not understand about this building is the dropped soffit it employs everywhere. It really breaks up the volumetric reading of the form. However, I have seen this similarly employed in other buildings around Harvard, so perhaps this is a conventional method of construction.

List Art Building, Brown University

During our visit to Providence, RI, we passed through Brown University, I noticed an interesting building. After checking on the internet, now I realize that it is actually the List Art Building designed by Philip Johnson in 1971.

The building has the shorter face along the street and the entry is a dramatic triple-height arcade. The building is very modern in style and alignment of the exterior concrete panels reinforces that simple look. However, I feel that the window extrusions on the top level and the bay windows in the mid-levels conflict with the clean modern look, 

List Art Building and adjacent building

Another thing that stood out to me is the way the List Art building attempts to relate to the Beaux-Arts Classical architecture next door by being the same height, similar scale, and close material color. This is a good way to relate to the context, but I feel like it has been overplayed.

Boston Public Library Addition

Connection to original building

I can give you countless numbers of examples but the most recent one that I had actually been to in person is the Boston Public Library. This was an additional to an original building that also had Beaux-Arts style architecture. Similar scale and material palette, but the addition is a modern expression of geometry that contrasts the classical architecture of the existing building. Architects should discover other ways in which the new creatively interacts with the old. And such as in the case of the Boston Public Library, find new innovative ways to connect buildings when they are physically attached.

Water Fire

As part of my Introduction to Urban Design and Development class, we took a class trip to Providence, Rhode Island on 10/25/14. This is first time I have been there and an in-depth look at the area really allows one to see how the city developed.

Providence train station

After a 2 hour train ride from Boston's South Station, we arrived in a humble but interesting building. The Providence train station is a modest and simple concrete building with a clock tower and a large dome above the main waiting area. However, it is the vast lawn in front of the station that caught my attention. Such a expansive field and so severely underutilized on a sunny and warm Saturday.

The narrow Providence River is the centerpiece of the city, and we were specifically there to see the "Water Fire Festival". The wood was already set up on the water, and we were getting a first glimpse of what is to come.

new apartments

Along the river are a number of new apartments that overlook the area. 

The mall above the river

The riverwalk is all for public recreation, and all commercial activity are centralized in the mall built above the river. And although New Urbanists may have a problem with the scale of the mall and the apartments, I feel that here it works quite well. The riverwalk does not need to be activated with commercial activities because it is attractive enough as an urban element in itself. The historical filling of Providence River to reach its narrow state helps to bring the entire area to human scale. Not only do people interact on one side of the river, they can visually connect with those on the other side. The mall serves as an anchor that provides the necessary amenities for adjacent residents as well as visitors.

Water Fire in action

Well, I had a Wordpress blog a couple of years ago but it seems that it has been removed. I can't trust them and I won't. I've started a Blogger blog, and will make sure I save all of my posts so something like this doesn't happen again. Looking forward to the future...