Before I was so rudely interrupted

I was going to write about two books I got when I stopped in at the library this morning shortly before picking up YKWIA for an appointment. One is A Field Guide to American Houses: the Definitive Guide to Identifying and Understanding America's Domestic Architecture by Virginia Savage McAlester, which has all sorts of information on elements of house structures and also various styles and their origin. It's hefty. I saw the paperback version in the Barnes & Noble yesterday and made a note to check out the library for it. Next to it was Weird U.S.: Your Travel Guide to America's Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets, by Mark Moran and Mark Sceurman. I have the Weird Kentucky book (I got it at a book fair years ago), but had never actually read the one for the United States. So I checked that out. While I'm waiting for my friend to get out of his appointment, I'll go check out the e-book I couldn't last night, if it's still available. And then I'll read for awhile till I get the phone call to come.

My favourite items from the Field Museum (as far as what I saw)

A formula for healing a sick cat

[All pictures from the Field Museum are under the Creative Commons Licence, as per the Museum's request.]

I took lots of pictures, but these were my favourites.  I also loved Sue, the Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton which I've already posted here.

The ticketed exhibit on Voudou of Haiti was very interesting, but I didn't take pictures there.  I did get the book which details the collection and includes many pictures of the exhibit items on display, although it could not capture the painted veves on the floor, the size of the exhibits (many of the loa figures are life-sized), and there were also some televised ceremonies and music playing on monitors there.

A female architect and her daughter (it was during the reign of the female Pharaoh Hatshepsut), 

An amethyst cameo (my favourite stone)

From the Hall of Jade

From the exterior of the building

For YKWIA

who shows me all sorts of unusual houses.

'Flintstones' House Made Entirely of Clay Attracts Visitors

Here's more on Casa Terracotta. Sadly, I didn't see a kitchen in the interior shots in the gallery, but perhaps you may have better luck.

If the pictures are any indication,

then home library design has taken a horrible turn for the worst.

Right at Home: Personal libraries are retreats

Despite the text of the article indicating that people still want spaces to read (both a print book in the hand or electronically), and how shelves can be designed to integrate books into the home that can be innovative rather than merely traditional, the pictures that accompany the article are, well, awful. For one, there are hardly any books to be seen. For another, the shelves are mostly ugly. Three, the one picture with a good number of books has all the books set up so their blocks are set in geometric patterns but the spines are hidden, meaning the books are there for show and generally unusable. I despise books for show, like when people used to build the 'Downton Abbey' libraries mentioned in the article and then fill it with old books that were totally unread, and merely because the weathered covers looked good in the room. As someone who has something in the neighbourhood of 3,000 books, and in a 750-square-foot apartment at that, I relish good private library design that integrates the books into the environment cleanly, reflecting the personality of the owner. A friend has even more books, and he has had built-in bookshelves from floor to ceiling, painted white, put in several rooms, combining two small rooms into a true private library at one point. It's very inviting, and guess what, you can see all the books and while not yet catalogued, they're all in order and you can find one in a very short time. Mine, sadly, are not quite in order; my goal this past year was to get them all up on shelves, and then this year I can actually put them in some semblance of order. The history, fantasy, religion, philosophy, writing, and children's books are in their areas--it's mainly other non-fiction and literature that need help. In my apartment I used fairly decent-looking stacking, folding bookshelves that can easily be taken down and moved, even though I've lived in the same place for over 10 years.

My point is, libraries, even personal ones, are meant to be used. They can be decorative, but shouldn't merely be so. If you do not read, or have no real love of books, skip the home library. If all you do is use electronic books or a computer, a study with a few books in it and a comfy chair or computer is fine--but it isn't a library. Places should be designed around how they are used, not just to be something for the sake of design. (That goes for regular libraries, too, which are often designed with things like flat roofs that will contribute to flooding the stacks later, etc. Architects rarely seem to actually talk to the librarians or patrons who use the library to determine what would work well for them. They should. Then they can be as innovative in their design as they want, but there should be a practical side, as well.) That's my opinion, anyway.

Interesting

The Once and Future Library: An architect’s perspective on designing for changing constituencies

Nifty

Ancient building came with DIY instructions: Like IKEA furniture, symbols showed how the pieces slotted together

It sounds rather like an ancient version of those those houses you used to be able to buy from the Sears catalogue--only this was 6th century, pre-Roman, made by 'Greek artisans coming from the Spartan colony of Taranto in Puglia' for a clientele with a desire for Greek-style buildings.

Breathtaking walls of greenery

A French botanist, Patrick Blanc, designs beautiful landscapes that climb building walls. See his work at:

8-Story Antigravity Forest Facade Takes Root

Blanc's recently completed facade for the Athenaeum hotel in London...could be his most high-profile project yet. Looming over Green Park, it's an eight-story antigravity forest composed of 12,000 plants.

Okay, so the writer doesn't really understand the word antigravity, but the pictures are beautiful and the varied microclimates are challenging. Blanc seems a master in his chosen area, uninterested in normal garden plots. As he puts it, 'I leave horizontal gardens to others. I only think vertically.'