PARIS AND BACK

I went back to University after a 16 year break to complete my architecture course and along the way came across Walter Benjamin. Interesting critiques of modern culture (from before I was born)

For example this description of The Angel of History... "The storm irresistibly propels him into the future to which his back is turned, while the pile of debris before him grows skyward. This storm is what we call progress."

I guess you could say he had a love-hate relationship with modernity, progress, mass media etc. Rang a bell for me.

 

His big unfinished project used the Paris Arcades as a structuring device to link together disparate ideas from high art to fashion, advertising to technology. At least that's my interpretation.

I guess I am also trying to tie together disparate threads from my life and interests as I move further into my seventies. So I was pleased to stroll along some of the "passages covert de Paris" and think about the I'll fated Walter as I drank a small glass of IPA.

 

 

This little circle-in-square church, dating back to the 1670s, was on my walking route, last full day in Paris. The portico, in effect, seven columns wide, with the middle one missing. (Remind me to keep an eye out for other similar examples)

The mansard either side of the pediment make it look very Parisian to my eye, especially with the oval dormers. It doesn't seem to be especially well looked after, but look how well stone holds up after 350 years.

 

Inside there's a fair bit of gold leaf, but it manages to remain calm and serene. Splendid colour scheme in my opinion. I don't pray, but I have started sitting quietly for a while inside churches that I visit. Don't think I've quite got this right yet, but it does seem important.

Then there's the dome: the uplifting space, pulling our senses into the heavens, a metaphor for the consciousness of a higher power, or in my case of transcendant values and ways of life passed down the generations.

 

 

Back in Dubai for sure. A long enough gap to feel strange, but dropping back into my routine with subconscious ease.

Aims achieved.
• Body and soul Refreshed.
• Start to imagine the return of the prodigal son after 40+ years.

International City has been my home for so long. I have transitioned from the desperate economic migrant (putting his children through university after watching his adopted country slide towards the status of a failed state) to the resigned hermit living in a dormitory suburb as old age creeps quietly closer. 

 

 

The pictures here show the seedy side. Broken pavements and tragically poor workmanship, socks on the line through the ever-present desert dust, with a backdrop of more apartments for diaspora hopefuls.

I will miss these signs of human frailty when finally I move back to the UK. And of course I will miss the generous size of my apartment, the earning power, many things.

For now it's back to the old routine with a fresh eye and a spring in the step, continuing to think about buildings, cities, culture, history, the way we live our lives on the shoulders of generations past.

 

CORB VISITED

 

Two different buildings. (in Paris) Four different versions of the Corinthian Capital. One interior, three exterior. One pilaster, three round columns. Two smooth shafts, two fluted.

Differences also in the proportions, the separation and stylisation of the acanthus leaves, the representation of the hibiscus flower, top centre. I could go on.

 

Some years ago, in the wake of Project Soane, I developed a modular system for assembling classical columns. I wasn't aiming to show all the intricate detail, just a quick way to create a placeholder that captured the essentials.

All part of that little enterprise I call "the way we build"

 

Reviewing the Villa Savoye windows in the light of Sunday's visit. It seems to me that there is sub-frame made from square tube. This defines a series of rectangular spaces. Into these spaces fit either a standard two-pane slider, or a fixed light (or in one case a centre pivot)

These infill units seem to be fabricated from flat bar, for the most part. This gives the sliders a very narrow profile in plan, but at the overlap there is a return on both lights. Call it a weather baffle.

 

My hypothesis about the distribution of sliders and fixed lights was mostly correct. Just in the master bedroom, the fixed panel flips to the other end.

Really enjoying the motivation that visit provided. Just pushing things up a notch. I will probably come back to all these families and rebuild them from scratch at some point. But it's a bit like doing a painting. You need to keep all the areas moving forward in parallel to some extent. Do a bit here, do a bit there, stand back and think, rework the first part, etc etc.

 

 

Updating my Revit model of Villa Savoye yesterday, based on last Sunday's visit to the real thing.

Photos are great especially for looking back and noticing the fine detail but there is nothing to replace actually being there. So I'm trying to make the best of my images while memories are still fresh.

These are the secondary bedrooms. I have coloured the beds green so they pop out against the peach walls. The yellow is the master bed position, but not really worked on that area since the visit.

The main insight here, (apart from the peach colour of selected wall surfaces) is the way the walls defining storage units are topped off around head height. So the wardrobes stand free in the space.

Not quite there yet, but a significant leap forward.

 

Le Corbusier is such a difficult guy to pin down, simultaneously claiming to be the height of functional rationalism and an artist of raw emotion.

Here are some of the unusual geometries found in Villa Savoye. I had spotted some of this before my visit, poring over images from various sources as I built my Revit model. But there were a couple of surprises.

The aerofoil shape of the two columns that break the long west-facing opening of the main terrace for example. Very difficult to spot on photos. I suppose it's meant to minimize their obstruction of the view. Does it really make a difference?

I am left with the impression that a lot of the details were worked out on site. I think that's a good thing on the whole. Active collaboration between architect and builder. Not easy to do in today's aggressive contractual atmosphere.

And the walls are so THIN! Exposed ribs like a famine victim 🤔 A weekend home with the thermal properties of a tent? (forgive my hyperbole)

So much to think about after this visit.

 

FRENCH TOAST

 Breakfast behind the old lady's back. Everything is so familiar although I last walked past 45 years ago and I barely remember anything from that visit.

In 2019, a small team of BIM enthusiasts set about building a Revit model of Notre Dame de Paris, purely as a private venture. It was a voyage of discovery, a hands-on approach to understanding the history and construction of this great monument, so recently ravaged by fire.

I love doing that kind of stuff. The experience lent extra layers of meaning to my visit today more than four years later.

 

Derrick cranes and river barges. The materials have changed from wood to steel, but the same principles have been used to build Cathedrals next to a river for hundreds of years. Similarly, factory made container-size modules, stacked 5 high replace the ramshackle craftsman's village of medieval times.

Did they eat quiche and hot chocolate? Not sure how old quiche is, but chocolate came from the new world so we would have transitioned from Gothic to Classical by the time that percolated down to artisan level. Maybe I should have asked for bread and cheese with a glass of cheap wine 🤣🤣🤣

 

Guess where I went this morning? Taking photos to answer all my unresolved questions after working on a Revit model sporadically over many years (and using it for training sessions)

More than a few surprises along the way. Expect more 🙂

 

 If yesterday was Modern Movement, today is French Neoclassical. La Madeleine, Greek Temple outside, Roman Baths inside but still managing to be a quintessential Catholic Church.

Great place to pause and reflect as my Paris trip draws to a close. I will be back in Basingstoke tomorrow night. It's been a wonderful trip. Perfect hospitality from Daniel Hurtubise and family. Going to miss you guys.

We still have Slack of course, but face-to-face is the bestest. 😜

 

 

"Second Empire" became a thing in English architecture with the works of young enthusiasts like Cuthbert Broderick in the Leeds and Scarborough. I have always had a soft spot for Broderick, so I decided to "go to the source"

Palais Garnier was commissioned by the emperor himself (Napoleon III) so it will do nicely although there are lots of more ordinary residential blocks in Paris that exhibit the main features of this style.

Garnier's Opera is riotous enough to be neo-baroque. I guess an opéra is allowed to be a little grotesque. What's in a label anyway? Corb would have hated it just as much under any name. 🤔

 

You can have too much of this kind of stuff, for sure, but I do like the languid caryatids holding branches across the doorway. Maybe they are there to catch the eagle droppings. 🤣🤣🤣

Seriously though, can you imagine living in a society that builds like this? I don't think it's helpful to get judgemental about the past. Quite the reverse. It should be more than a little humbling to realise how much our values and beliefs are shaped by the world we live in.

My aim is to visit buildings, research them and their context, take photos, collect images, make models and analytical sketches, in short to dive in, head first. Out of this activity come thoughts. Express them, in a vivid and forthright way. But keep an open mind. Be gentle with the human souls who lived before us. Seek knowledge, but don't let it puff you up.

That's my little hobby called "the way we build"