I love this, thank you Julie. While I have never thought about the meaning of a building, beyond any historical reference, I have always searched for the feel of a place. The feeling in and around a building or room is very important to me.
When I first moved from Canada to San Francisco my friend and I were going for a drink in Union Square and I dragged him from place to place looking for IT. I did not know what I was looking for but I knew I would know. Eventually, I said, 'This is it'.
We entered a gorgeous lounge in a spectacular historical building. There was a mural of angels painted on the ceiling and a Dixieland Jazz band was playing in the middle of the afternoon. We sat down and ordered a drink and chatted to the lovely bartender who asked where we were from. Once we told her she took us by the hand to the farthest bar stool which was the private stool of the Premier of Alberta, the province we were from in Canada. There were books about Alberta and a ton of other Canadian paraphernalia behind the bar! None of this was visible from the front and I did not know about this beautiful place before we found it.
After reading your excellent article and the comments I will be more attentive to the sacred aspects and allow myself to feel the mystery of the buildings I enter. They are allowing me in.
Oh my, what a marvelous story! I love that we can feel places. Absolutely. One of my teachers, David Abram, says buildings are as alive and animate as all the other beings we share the earth with. It certainly feels like it in some places.
I hope your place is still open -- next time I’m in San Francisco, I’d love to meet you there.
It would be amazing to meet you there, in SF. However, I live back in Canada now which is great but the buildings are new and have much less soul. However, the land is staggeringly beautiful so you should come!
“Maybe meaning is so irrepressible that it can be courted intentionally or it can even sneak in, with the maker unawares.”
And the third, the meaning we attach: “Another mystery is the way each individual experiences a place or a poem or story or piece of music doesn't depend on knowing a thing about the maker's intentions or its symbolic content. “
Thank you, Julie! Your earlier post changed how I look at buildings. Until then I hadn’t thought of architects as writers, expressing themselves in stone or similar material rather than words. It makes me think of how we cohabit the same world but don’t know/notice all the stories (metaphors, symbolism) being told around us.
That's so cool! This makes me think that meaning hides in everything, no matter the medium. Maybe meaning is so irrepressible that it can be courted intentionally or it can even sneak in, with the maker unawares. Another mystery is the way each individual experiences a place or a poem or story or piece of music doesn't depend on knowing a thing about the maker's intentions or its symbolic content. Though learning more about a work of art can certainly deepen one's appreciation of it.
Remember when you came and talked to my class? You referred to the circle as a sacred shape, and immediately one of my students asked “What does sacred mean?” And how excited they got when you projected images onto the ceiling!?
I learned a lot from reading this essay--thank you!
Love it!! What does sacred mean, indeed?! I still remember that day vividly. Makes me want to get out the old slide projector and shine something on the ceiling again. . . .
IMHO, most brutalist buildings are dark and dank inside, gloomy, and depressing. That library seems more interested in being an interesting sculptural form on the outside than in making delightful, uplifting spaces for people who like books inside. I'd take any of Aalto's libraries over this one any day.
This was such an interesting read!
I never realised there was so much symbolism in architecture.
Thanks
Thanks for reading. Glad you enjoyed it.
it's the ethnomusicology+close line reading of architecture. lovely.
Thanks for reading!
I love this, thank you Julie. While I have never thought about the meaning of a building, beyond any historical reference, I have always searched for the feel of a place. The feeling in and around a building or room is very important to me.
When I first moved from Canada to San Francisco my friend and I were going for a drink in Union Square and I dragged him from place to place looking for IT. I did not know what I was looking for but I knew I would know. Eventually, I said, 'This is it'.
We entered a gorgeous lounge in a spectacular historical building. There was a mural of angels painted on the ceiling and a Dixieland Jazz band was playing in the middle of the afternoon. We sat down and ordered a drink and chatted to the lovely bartender who asked where we were from. Once we told her she took us by the hand to the farthest bar stool which was the private stool of the Premier of Alberta, the province we were from in Canada. There were books about Alberta and a ton of other Canadian paraphernalia behind the bar! None of this was visible from the front and I did not know about this beautiful place before we found it.
After reading your excellent article and the comments I will be more attentive to the sacred aspects and allow myself to feel the mystery of the buildings I enter. They are allowing me in.
Oh my, what a marvelous story! I love that we can feel places. Absolutely. One of my teachers, David Abram, says buildings are as alive and animate as all the other beings we share the earth with. It certainly feels like it in some places.
I hope your place is still open -- next time I’m in San Francisco, I’d love to meet you there.
It would be amazing to meet you there, in SF. However, I live back in Canada now which is great but the buildings are new and have much less soul. However, the land is staggeringly beautiful so you should come!
You’re on!
Wow, rich and deep. I love how you are digging deep into your architect persona and connecting your literary one to it.
I wonder who/what your audience is evolving to be?
I wonder if there IS a book out of that thesis and these substacks.
Keep 'em coming!
Thanks, Anne! Who knows what might happen when we follow our hearts? 🥰
“Maybe meaning is so irrepressible that it can be courted intentionally or it can even sneak in, with the maker unawares.”
And the third, the meaning we attach: “Another mystery is the way each individual experiences a place or a poem or story or piece of music doesn't depend on knowing a thing about the maker's intentions or its symbolic content. “
Thank you, Julie! Your earlier post changed how I look at buildings. Until then I hadn’t thought of architects as writers, expressing themselves in stone or similar material rather than words. It makes me think of how we cohabit the same world but don’t know/notice all the stories (metaphors, symbolism) being told around us.
That's so cool! This makes me think that meaning hides in everything, no matter the medium. Maybe meaning is so irrepressible that it can be courted intentionally or it can even sneak in, with the maker unawares. Another mystery is the way each individual experiences a place or a poem or story or piece of music doesn't depend on knowing a thing about the maker's intentions or its symbolic content. Though learning more about a work of art can certainly deepen one's appreciation of it.
Remember when you came and talked to my class? You referred to the circle as a sacred shape, and immediately one of my students asked “What does sacred mean?” And how excited they got when you projected images onto the ceiling!?
I learned a lot from reading this essay--thank you!
Love it!! What does sacred mean, indeed?! I still remember that day vividly. Makes me want to get out the old slide projector and shine something on the ceiling again. . . .
You're spot-on that meaning is conveyed subliminally. I'm fascinated by the relationship between spirit and matter - how meaning and form are indivisible. Your question about the brutalist style sent me in search, b/c my first response was about to be NO. But this article reminds me that, yes, I do think so (fwiw). https://www.dezeen.com/2014/09/19/architects-favourite-brutalist-buildings/ I'm very fond of Le Corbusier's buildings at Chandigarh and Ahmedabad, and the Whitney Museum in NYC. Moshe Safde's Habitat 67 in Montreal is pretty cool, too: https://www.dezeen.com/2014/09/11/brutalist-buildings-habitat-67-montreal-moshe-safdie/
I'm with you about Sagrada Familia and the Barragan Chapel. Haven't seen the Barragon, but
I have assigned it as a case study to students. Road trip?
IMHO, most brutalist buildings are dark and dank inside, gloomy, and depressing. That library seems more interested in being an interesting sculptural form on the outside than in making delightful, uplifting spaces for people who like books inside. I'd take any of Aalto's libraries over this one any day.