Look what I stumbled upon on my way to an inspection of an ugly apartment. :groan:

This is the Eads Bridge, completed in 1874, over the Mississippi between St. Louis and East St. Louis.

The view I had of Heaven from the back patio of a ranch I was caring for this week

Oh, nice. :up:

This is the Eads Bridge, completed in 1874, over the Mississippi between St. Louis and East St. Louis. — Bitter Crank

I think my favorite bridges are those old late 1800s early 1900s industrial looking ones. Here's a picture of the Pulaski Skyway in northern New Jersey. I drive under it whenever I take the NJ Turnpike on my way south. That area is full of rivers, roads, houses, factories. I can just see some public works guy 100 years ago saying "Screw it, I'm just putting a bridge across the whole f...ing thing."

My wife is partial to blue.

I agree with here, blue is my color.

All y'alls love for architecture is strange to me. I like certain structures, but the ones I like are more connected to personal experiences and specific life scenarios. Is that not the case for you all? For instance, I still love many different views in NYC because they remind me of when I first visited, and subsequently first moved here. But it's not an objective aesthetic standard; it's deeply personal, and architecture otherwise isn't something I'm drawn to. And back in my hometown in the midwest, the house I grew up in in which my parents still live is deeply beautiful to me, but for obvious reasons. Likewise, every time I drive past a Swenson's when I'm back home, my heart flutters a little.

Really, it's just that I have a hard time being objective or rational with something like architecture, because I find a lot of architecture oppressive rather than aesthetic. Is that just because I grew up in the midwest??

Is that just because I grew up in the midwest?? — Noble Dust

I live in the midwest; I have always lived within 100 miles of where I was born (except for 2 years in Boston).

I also like buildings and places with which I have a personal connection. There are barns, small houses, school buildings, streets, etc. that I grew up with that are very meaningful to me. The house I was born in is now gone; it was old and decayed; it was time for it to go. It was nothing special to look at but it is a part of me.

I love large structures too, like the bridge above, for their structural features out of which comes a beauty.

Compared to a Roman arch, this one is very recent but there are not many bridges around that are almost 150 years old (because this part of the world hasn't been building bridges that long).

architecture otherwise isn't something I'm drawn to — Noble Dust

Well, that's all right. You don't have to find architecture fascinating. It's a fairly recent interest to me. It isn't just monumental buildings I like. The Student Union building at the University of Wisconsin in Madison has a small terrace in the back overlooking Lake Mendota. It is a lovely shaded area, just outside the rathskeller where one can get a beer. (I haven't been there recently, I hope it's still the same.) My small back yard is a pleasant place, also an inelegant, weedy affair. I like it, sort of.

There are sleazy bars I liked as spaces; book stores, cafes, department stores. All personal connections.

I'm not a well educated person. True, I got a couple of degrees, but there is a hell of a lot I don't know jack shit about. I've been filling in some of the more manageable holes from my previous educational efforts. Architecture is one of the things I want to know more about.

History too. And an old bridge combines history and architecture both.

Furniture design is another one. My personal taste in furniture is extremely pedestrian or maybe proletarian. But I like looking at nicely designed objects, too.

Like this art deco Zemeth Tombstone radio


or this gorgeous art deco Conoco gas station

It was nothing special to look at but it is a part of me. — Bitter Crank

I think I feel the same thing, maybe, at least to some extent. I'm working on the finishing touches of an album that uses some architectural aspects of the house I grew up in as a jumping-off point for metaphorical content. That's something architectural that I seem to get.

I love large structures too, like the bridge above, for their structural features out of which comes a beauty. — Bitter Crank

See, this to me is really the meat of it. It's just that love you have for large structures; you see it as a beauty. That's fascinating to me. I don't "not" get it, but I don't fully get it, either.

Well, that's all right. You don't have to find architecture fascinating. — Bitter Crank

Yes, I know, I'm just trying to suss out what makes it fascinating to you. Because your fascination is fascinating to me. I'm always fascinated by the fascinations of others that don't fascinate me. EDIT: the fascinations being the things that don't fascinate me, not the "others". Tried to make that poetic and failed.

I'm just trying to suss out what makes it fascinating to you. Because your fascination is fascinating to me. — Noble Dust

That seems like a genuinely generous attitude toward other people's interests.

Eh it's really not, I'm just genuinely interested in other people's aesthetic interests; I'm a terrible person otherwise.

I live in the midwest; I have always lived within 100 miles of where I was born (except for 2 years in Boston). — Bitter Crank

Strikes me that architecture is a mid-western kind of thing. It's social. It's art that expresses a sense of community. Midwesterners believe in working things out together. Good old civic virtue. Lion's Club. Bowling. Street signs you can actually read. Wasn't Frank Lloyd Wright a midwesterner?

Noted. I'm not sure anyone's ideas will or wont' "get me closer to getting it" (getting what?), but I'll look into it.

Eh, sounds like you're romanticizing us. We're not all that. Midwesterners just have a chip on their shoulder. That's the legitimate stereotype.

Get you closer to what you said you "don't fully get". To me it doesn't seem much different than say music. — Πετροκότσυφας

I envy the fact that music and architecture seem close to you. Music is a world to me; architecture is a foreign entity that I like, but don't understand. I file dance, for instance under the same heading. It doesn't mean I haven't encountered structures or dances that have moved me; I have. But they're foreign. If anything, as a composer, I should "get" dance, but I absolutely don't. All Iget is music, literature, and plastic art (to a lesser extent). Speaking broadly, with exceptions.

There are musical structures, kinds of melodies, rythms etc, that I find beautiful or pleasing, without them being "connected to personal experiences and specific life scenarios". In many cases, it is their pleasing nature that leads me to connect them with personal experiences that enhance my appreciation for them. The opposite can happen too. — Πετροκότσυφας

Hmmm. I know for a fact (via self-reflection, because I'm a hopeless nerd when it comes to music) that the music I love the most is connected deeply with my personal experiences and specific life scenarios. For instance, I've posted this piece several times on the forum. I could literally write a dissertation on why this piece means so much to me on a personal level. Steve was a drummer first and foremost...me too! He didn't like the 12-tone guys...same here. He wanted to re-introduce beauty into music. Same! Turns out, as a kid, I was exposed to a "Noah's Ark" short film that was soundtracked by Stewart Copeland, which, looking back, was heavily influenced by Reich, and even this specific movement of this piece. Deeply personal? That's an understatement.



My point being...for me, personal experience always dictates my perception of aesthetics. What does that mean philosophically? I don't know. All I know is that aesthetics is not universal.

I don't know, it might be the case that my aesthetic appreciation for such features (either musical or spatial) is based on personal experiences and life events, so the latter always precede, but if that's so, it's too subtle to notice. — Πετροκότσυφας

That's the thing, I don't think it's too subtle to notice; or, per my own selfish perspective, for me, it's not too subtle. Noticing the personal aesthetic is intuitive. That doesn't mean it's not universal.

Reading back through your post...I don't mean to say that I don't think it's possible to "like" or have a pleasing aesthetic experience without a deeply personal experience. I may have reacted too strongly, initially. There's stuff I like that isn't deeply personal. Here's a track that my co-workers have recently turned me on to. Is it profound? No. I like it, though. But I have no personal connection to it. Is that what you're referring to? Edit: what do I like about that track? Hooks. Great hooks. Are hooks philosophically useful? Who knows?

Not sure about architecture per se, but I like man-made structures that appear in context in interesting patterns like below:

The view I had of Heaven from the back patio of a ranch I was caring for this week — ArguingWAristotleTiff

Surely there are no cacti in heaven! Hell, yes.

It's not just interesting similar patterns, but a political statement comparing religious symbols to capitalist ones. You're philosophical when you don't mean to be.

:victory:

Not a transaction, not a deal, but a gift. Love is what it's all about, it is an overflowing, it is a passion, the passion. Love is taking pains, and giving without consideration, it is not counting, and so unaccountable. It is what you need, and all you need. Don't expect to catch it in a thread, or limit it to definition. — unenlightened

This is beautiful~ This I love~ :heart:

June's voice. Pure beauty. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Rw-hw7rVOrA&index=1&list=RDEM3UCfTXrqCuNF4CL5ULYAnw#dialog

Edward Hopper - Room in New York.

Watching your child set a lifelong goal and achieving it!
Heads up Amsterdam! Tiff's kin are headed your way! :party:

Congratulations Tiff!

Thank you Posty! I am so excited for him!

Europe through my child's eyes



If anyone can tell me what the church looking building is? I believe it is France but I could be wrong.


France's street shortly before winning the World Cup.


I am not really convinced that this is not a California beach...

This thread hasn't been open for a while. I have something I tripped across a couple of months ago I wanted to post here.

This is the most beautiful thing in the history of the universe.





Orkney Island, Scotland, UK. Skara Brae. More than 5,000 years old. Can you believe that? Do you think these people didn't care about beauty?

. Everything in Life is beautiful ... Everything in Life is a celebration ...

. You just have to recognize the beauty of Life and stop be miserable ...

. Small things can become so beautiful ... A little caring ... A little sharing ... That's what Life is ...

. You don't need to go to Machu Picchu, my friend ... To see the splendor of Life ... To see the fragrance of Life ... To see the poetry of Life ...

. The journey is back to you ... Inside you ... Not in Machu Picchu ...

. You don't need to go anywhere to become someone ... You're already that ... What you're looking for ...