Mostly this Flickr group is definitive proof that no matter how garish the building, it will look cool as a 3-point perspective. I mean, check this out:

Photo by syd delicious. Thanks!

A pretty boring box made compelling and dramatic by perspective (though that column capital is sweet detailing). Which is [...]]]> Ohhhh, pretty shiny things!

Mostly this Flickr group is definitive proof that no matter how garish the building, it will look cool as a 3-point perspective. I mean, check this out:

Photo by syd delicious. Thanks!

A pretty boring box made compelling and dramatic by perspective (though that column capital is sweet detailing). Which is why, in architectural drawing class I was forbidden from drawing buildings this way; It’s tantamount to propaganda. Not that one has much choice when it comes to individual photography; aerial views are hard to come by.

Another prominent group member is the Hancock Center, which is the cliche building for engineers to favorite (we love visible lateral braces!), but I like it anyway. I’ve been told that offices with a restricted view are more prestigious, though I don’t quite believe it; sounds like a slick engineer’s sale pitch. Anyway, the vertical truss archetype:

Photo by GatoGaroto. Thanks!

My younger brother has been working as a grip on movies (I’m not sure [...]]]> All I ask of a movie is that it have a plot. That’s it. If something — anything — is happening, I’ll get sucked in and need to watch to the end. (Most recent example: The Core. Shudder.)

My younger brother has been working as a grip on movies (I’m not sure what this means), and most recently finished up on Leaving Barstow. Looking to learn more about the movie, possibly bond, I research it on IMDB. What do I find?

This plot synopsis is empty.

It’s unclear whether our relationship will survive this slight. Even worse, it turns out that Barstow is not, as I believed, the location of the world’s tallest thermometer. That honor belongs to Baker, which we actually visited on some long ago family road trip. Which needs to be part of someone’s photo-documentary thesis project:

Architectural Vernacular in the I-40 Corridor: The Visual Culture of Monuments to Gigantism

How many places could be like this: [...]]]> In light of the recent Pennsylvania boosterism of Tyler Cowen and Pax Americana, I wanted to promote/inquire into Braddock, Pennsylvania (link to artsy town website), which was given a glowing review in the current issue of ReadyMade (which sadly is not online). Instead, quoting the Pittsburg Post-Gazette:

How many places could be like this: post-apocalyptic and happening at the same time?

All over town, vacant buildings are gaping open at the windows, at the roofs. Whole walls have fallen, revealing all the stuff of a household, strewn as if a tornado or hurricane chased it around before depositing it in huge piles and wrong places. Approximately one in four buildings in Braddock is vacant.

But the town’s attempting a valiant renaissance with cheap property prices, artist friendly policies, and a MySpace page. I would talk more about the specifics, but my memory is for crap, and, as stated previously, the article is inexplicably not online.

So I added Braddock to my list of potential commune locations, and was wondering if anyone had been there, had feelings about the place? Their website does a good job of selling me on the move…