Limekiln Latitudes
On place, purpose and pretty things.Archive for August, 2008
writing about architecture
My work colleagues and gradschool pals are likely tired of hearing me rave about LA Times architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne, but I just can’t help it. I audited a class he taught at the Berkeley J School a few years ago, and what impressed me most was his ability to synthesize. He’s down to earth, genuinely curious, and supremely adept at addressing both an architectural audience and the general public in the majority of his pieces. Three cheers for accessibility.
HERE’S a great article he just wrote about visceral v. intellectual reactions, the changing moods of buildings, and more.
i heart manhattan
I’ve been feeling the love lately – both for this jam-packed island I’ve called home for two years now, and for artists who are downright good with type. The two pieces below just so happen to combine both. The first is a silkscreen I recently ordered from the fantastic Ork Posters, and the second is a poem by Howard Horowitz (“Manhattan,” 1997) from one of my favorite books, “You are Here: Personal Geographies.”
According to the book: “It took the author one and a half years to write and design this poem about Manhattan, in the form of a map as crowded as the place it represents. Horowitz, a professor of environmental studies at Ramapo College, crams in descriptions of physical geography, cultural attractions, buildings, institutions, individuals, and his own memory. His affection for the place is readily apparent as he leads the reader from “lofty crags overlook[ing] the broad Hudson River” at the island’s northern tip, to “a blue slice of sky as vertical walls enclose us” in midtown, to downtown neighborhoods where one can “enjoy zuppa di pesca at the Festival of San Gennaro, or bird’s nest soup in Chinatown.” “
