Lessons from Living in a House Designed by William Wurster
Urban Designer Jay Claiborne reflects on thirty-five years of living in a house designed by William Wurster.
January 12, 2012 |Artisanal Recycling by Leger Wanaselja
In this post, we highlight several projects from a Berkeley architectural firm that practices Artisanal Recycling, a craft-oriented approach to reusing materials and objects.
November 11, 2011 |Architectural Ornament as Urban Texture: Part 3 – Heraldry and Emblems
When we look at architectural ornament of heraldry and emblems, we see things associated with the aristocracy. Over time the aristocracy of business and commerce subsumed that of humans. Companies and corporations commissioned heraldic crests emblazoned on shields, which were displayed on the buildings they owned and occupied.
October 26, 2011 |Architectural Ornament as Urban Texture: Part 2 – Animals and Birds
The animals commonly depicted on buildings exemplify desirable human character traits. They are the focus in this second installment of the series Architectural Ornament in San Francisco.
September 20, 2011 |Architectural Ornament as Urban Texture: Part 1 – Human Forms
Modernism replaced ornament with a different vocabulary of details involving straight lines, right angles, and clean edges. Still, since we admire buildings from the time when ornament was popular, revealing the meaning of decorative motifs would broaden our understanding and increase out pleasure in passing by them. They contribute to the urban texture of our cities.
June 27, 2011 |Life-Savers for Buildings
Saving people’s lives from the disastrous results of major earthquakes is an important part of California’s building codes, as indeed it should be. But what about saving the lives of buildings?
December 6, 2010 |New Book Chronicles 100 Years of UC Berkeley’s Architecture Department
After a decade of research, interviews, and editing, UC Berkeley’s College of Environmental Design has just published Design on the Edge: A Century of Teaching Architecture, 1903–2003, a book chronicling the history of the University’s Department of Architecture.
November 29, 2010 |Overlook – book review
OVERLOOK, Exploring the Internal Fringes of America presents a panoramic view of how land is used in United States. This book is for the curious who want to inhabit, investigate, and learn to interpret the environment.
September 26, 2010 |