Why do some buildings make us happier than other buildings?
Tom Wolfe offered an eye-opening explanation in his 2003 collegiate novel I Am Charlotte Simmons: “the existence of conspicuous consumption one has rightful access to—as a student had rightful access to the fabulous Dupont Memorial Library—creates a sense of well-being.”
But why did architects suddenly lose interest in their traditional task of providing the pleasures of conspicuous consumption eight decades ago?
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The dirty secret of many of the world’s greatest buildings is that they are great because they are expensive (they please us because they indulge our desire for rightful access to conspicuous consumption)
Why did architects turn against appealing architecture in 1945?
In this century, however, there has been some evidence that the public is finally getting what it wants rather than what academic architects feel it deserves.
For instance, here’s the new firehouse near USC:
Surprisingly, the new firehouses being built on the bigger lots by an architectural firm in San Bernardino are constructed in styles that brawny men with mustaches appreciate.
A Monument to Heaven
Westminster Abbey
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... Prague, possibly the world’s most beautiful city.
19th century sewage infrastructure, for example, had absolutely no business being colorful and ornate. And yet, Victorian craftsmen poured their love into it all the same:
Crossness Pumping Station, London
Some buildings you never tire of seeing: the Florence Duomo, St. Peter’s Basilica, or Chartres Cathedral.
they’re high art.
DiAngelo told host Jalon Johnson that the iconic painting “The Creation of Adam” is “the single image I use to capture the concept of white supremacy.”
As she described the masterpiece to the podcast’s whopping 188 YouTube subscribers, DiAngelo made a major gaffe: “God is in a cloud and there’s all these angels, and he’s reaching out and he’s touching — I don’t know who that is, David or something?”
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“And God is white and David is white and the angels are white — that, that is the perfect convergence of white supremacy, of patriarchy.”
She then goes on to mention she was raised Catholic (did Adam and Eve not get a mention in Sunday school?), and recollects looking up at art in church.
“I didn’t think to myself that God is white, but that, in a lot of ways, is power,” she explained. “I don’t need to. God just reflects me … I always belong racially to what is depicted as the human ideal.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89jOPAGJq-M
Classical music is so awesome at times it makes me feel smarter listening to it.
he Taj Mahal Hotel was commissioned by Jamsetji Tata and opened its doors to guests on 16 December 1903.
An oft-repeated story concerning the reasoning behind the construction of the hotel was Tata being refused admission into Watson's Hotel, as it was reserved for Europeans. However, the validity of this has been challenged by writer Charles Allen, who wrote that Tata was unlikely to care about such a slight to the extent that he would construct a new hotel. Instead, Allen writes, the Taj was built at the urging of editor of The Times of India who felt a hotel "worthy of Bombay" was needed and as a "gift to the city he loved" by Tata.[3]
The original Indian architects were Sitaram Khanderao Vaidya and D. N. Mirza, and the project was completed by an English engineer, W. A. Chambers. The builder was Khansaheb Sorabji Ruttonji Contractor, who also designed and built its famous central floating staircase. The cost of construction was £250,000 (£127 million in 2008 prices).[4]
Originally, the main entrance was on the land-facing side, where the pool now sits.[5]
The original clientele were mainly the Europeans, the Maharajas and the social elites. Many world-renowned personalities from all fields have since stayed there, from Somerset Maugham and Duke Ellington to Lord Mountbatten and Bill Clinton.
More whites should be involved in classical music. Larouche used to say that if one does not have a classical education, one is uneducated. White learning spaces should be baroque and classical spaces.
Would just say to white youth. Your life would have looked like this in a real white country.
As you listen to classical music, I want white youth to think of all the times some black or brown told you that whites have no culture