Postmo sees life as contradicting and not easily reduced to logical consistency while leaving it undecided and ambivalent. No way of discriminating between real and apparent, each suggestion is always encountered by opposite suggestion, and to the extent that all forms of pleasure reap despair. I am thankful that with Christian faith as foundation I grew more and more comfortable with paradoxes, those that seem contradicting yet in essence are not. 'It got over the difficulty of combining furious opposites, by keeping them both, and keeping them both furious.' (GK Chesterton) While the rest sees extreme ends in life as not able to stand each other, in Christian faith one extreme involves, compliments and must stand with the other.

posted by Graciana@Home at 6:19 am

posted by Graciana@Home at 2:42 pm

posted by Graciana@Home at 7:43 pm

Music has to be rescued from reading notes decorum, it has to be located in the heart and in the head. In the heart, most of all, as a proof of love. To love what is appropriate, aware, inventive, varied. Reason is guide, and nothing more. Reason is the basis of the creation, not in itself the end of it. Besides the structure, unity, and purpose, have a little delight, some fantasy and perhaps playfulness. Music must instruct as well as please. Ah yes, and it's been the (dreary) study of classical plaster cast that has dulled my appreciation of the Greeks and Romans. Just as learning doctrines tarnished the brilliance of Scriptures. =P

posted by Graciana@Home at 4:00 pm

Many and grave are my infirmities. Many and grave. But in Jesus is there solid hope for me, with good reason. I must be vigorously and untiringly mindful of my ransom.

I purchased 'Towards a new architecture' unthinkingly, bought it for no good reason. Never did I imagine it could be such a brilliant composition. Things often appear coincidental. Appearance, though, is not reality, often the obvious is not the solution. Life is a mystery. =)

In everything are goodwill, hard work, and faith.

posted by Graciana@Home at 11:57 pm

I’ve got 20(?) years ahead of me to achieve what I am beginning to sketch out. My concept of the art of building is based on the fundamentals, all that my insufficient (or incomplete) resources have so far allowed me to master. NUS killed off my interest in form as the main component in architecture. Now as I arrived in my fourth year I only felt great emptiness inside me and I said to myself, ‘Poor thing, you don’t know anything yet, and worse still, you don’t know what it is that you don’t know.’ That was what caused me such bitter anxiety. Who should I ask? My spirit rebelled every so often, from time to time. If consulting the past is next step, I will choose the most impassioned fighters: the builders of Romanesque period, and learn to understand from them. Late study and reflection have persuaded me that architecture is not simply about harmony of form, but… something else… but what? I wasn’t sure.

I have made so many mistakes, and now I realized with horror just how many gaps there are in my knowledge of architecture. With horror and joy, because at last I realized what is worthwhile. I’ve been observing concrete on many construction sites, its composition, and the revolutionary forms that it demands. They seemed to cry out to me: logic, truth, away with dreams of the art of the past. An architect must have a logical brain in his head, he needs to be wary of the superficial effects, he must be a scientist with a heart, an artist and a scholar. The power is there I know, but it needs to be developed in the direction that I, perhaps unconsciously (because today I seem to deny my young life) was developing it here and on my journey, in my lonely years here. I say that this small success is premature, ruin is nigh. We should not build on sand.

posted by Graciana@Home at 1:55 pm

For fear whereby I will never harbor the knowledge of what is architecture, I began to read about these matters by Vitruvius, people entitle him the first architect. I hope by observing them I could teach myself how to evaluate works already bought into being and those yet to be. He laid out every set of principles for the discipline. Of the education, he said an architect’s expertise is enhanced by many disciplines and various sorts of specialized knowledge, all works executed using these skills are evaluated by a seasoned judgment. This expertise is born both of practice and of reasoning. Practice is the constant, repeated exercise of the hands by which a work is completed in whatever medium. Reasoning is what can demonstrate and explain the works skillfully and systematically. I don’t lack the education, but have to strive to obtain practical manual skills. To place my trust entirely in theories and writings seemed to be chasing after shadow, not something real. An architect must possess a native talent and be amenable to learning the disciplines. To be educated, he must be an experienced draftsman, well-versed in geometry, familiar with history, a diligent student of philosophy, know music, have some acquaintance with medicine, understand the rulings of legal experts, and have clear grasp of astronomy and the ways of heaven.

Here are his reasons why this should be so.

1. Letters.
So that he may strengthen his own memory by reading what has been written in the field. A certain fluency in literature to express his ideas.
2. Draftsmanship.
So that he can more easily use illustrated examples at will to represent the appearance of the work he proposes.
3. Geometry.
This offers many aids, hands down to the technique of compass and rule, enables on-site lay-out of plan , as well as placement of set-squares, levels, and lines. The difficult issues of symmetry are resolved by geometric principles and methods.
4. Arithmetic.
The expenses of building is totaled up, the principles of measurements are developed.
5. History.
A great deal of it. Architects often include ornaments in their work, he ought to be able to supply an explanation why certain motives were introduced.
6. Philosophy.
Completes the architect’s character. Instills the loftiness of spirit, so that he will not be arrogant, but rather tolerant, fair, trustworthy, and more important of all, free from greed. There is really no work that can truly be done without honesty and disinterestedness. Let him be not grasping, no fixing his minds on receiving rewards, but pay attention to protect and maintain his dignity. This discipline is a particular favourite, refers to the foundation and approach too.
7. Physiology.
It is necessary to know this subject thoroughly, for it has many and varied natural applications. It is like the matter of aqueducts. For natural water pressures differ, depending on whether one is dealing with swift downhill run, curvatures, or ascents up onto a gradual slope. No one can compensate for the impact of these pressures except someone who knows the basic facts of nature. Or of materials and their materiality.
8. Music.
To know mathematical principles of pitches, how space and elements affect sound to travel and reach ears clearer or more pleasant. In point of fact, it has nothing to do with knowing how to sing. =’(
9. Science of medicine.
Or climate, and the inclinations of it. And to know about airs, places which are healthful and disease ridden. For example the different applications of water.
10. Law.
This includes party walls, boundaries, courses of gutters and drainage, lighting, water supply. Indeed, architects must exercise a legislator’s care in their dealings both with contractors and with clients.
11. Astronomy.
East, west, north, and south. To understand the principle of sundial. The study of light and shadow is always enjoyable. =)

This just appears too incredible. >.<

posted by Graciana@Home at 3:45 pm

posted by Graciana@Home at 10:50 am

Been always fond of language. This strikes me. "Here the language of man is defeated by the language of stone". Incidentally the architect was speaking of Mukteswar, the gem of Orissan architecture.

posted by Graciana@Home at 12:18 pm