Understanding Ugly: Human Responses
Why do some buildings beguile us, others bewilder, and others repel? This downloadable book explores the complex relationships between people and the built environments we inhabit.
Our IDEAS
The Modern and the Perceptions of the Wider Populace
Initiatives to evaluate and manage many aspects of the built environment are often undertaken by building and conservation professionals without reference to the wider societal attitudes and perceptions. Yet repeated studies have confirmed that the wider population perceives and evaluates the built environment in a manner which can be very different than that of building professionals.
The Main Points of Mentoring
In education, mentoring often plays an important role. Sometimes the role of a mentor never ends, and might span the generations.
An Interview with Boris Brott
Music is abstract and architecture more material and physical. A musician can examine the materials in-between differently because they act upon a third sense – that of hearing.
Architectural Fiction
It was late November, and Antoine surveyed the wreck of his Ottawa office. . .
Understanding Architectural Elegance
This article explores the nature of a set of concepts that might be overall classified as 'elegance'. Various writers are considered, as well as the results of polling of members of the wider population.
Learning from Local
In attempting to understand something, it is always good to look around and back in time. Rather unfortunately ordinary details of the past tend to be forgotten, together with what we might learn from them.
Designed for Touring: Niagara Falls, Canada
The Niagara area of Canada has been a tourist destination for over two hundred years, and has successfully evolved to address changing expectations. A short explanatory tour will take the visitor to just a few of the many attractions, and will help to demonstrate why Niagara retains its appeal as a place that everyone has to visit - at least once.