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An Alien Landscape from the Window
Clear air born from the trees the land. White steam that murmurs from a kitchen. Plants that sprout from the earth and flowers floating in a…
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Life Seeps Through Frosted Glass
Clear air born from the trees the land. White steam that murmurs from a kitchen. Plants that sprout from the earth and flowers floating in a…
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Facing the Arches: Cairo, Egypt (part 2)
Before Al-Qahirah the city that would become Cairo was created in the 10th century the city of Fustat stood slightly to the south. In this r…
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Nature Behind a Curtain Wall
Clear air born from the trees the land. White steam that murmurs from a kitchen. Plants that sprout from the earth and flowers floating in a…
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Movie “A City of Columns”
movie “A City of Columns” Hashirama sōchi (intercolumnar device) is a term used concerning cultural assets that refers to any architectural …
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A Combining City: Cairo
I got on a plane in Jordan and flew to Cairo Egypt. It was my first time on the African continent. Though most capitals are busy Cairo seeme…
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Sensing Mother Earth: Petra, Jordan
During my trip I saw many ruins in many countries. While these sites stood distant from our modern lives the people who created them must no…
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Religion and Cities: Isfahan, Iran
I experienced no small amount of culture shock in Iran as it was the first Islamic country I visited. Many of the people I passed on the str…
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Windowology: New Architectural Views from Japan Exhibition at Japan House London
Japan House London is temporarily closed to hinder the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19). Any changes to the above status will be communicate…
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Chapter 2: The frame – the window as optical device or trompe l’oeil from Mantegna to Ryan Gander
Whether facing outwards to the world or inwards to the self an artist is often restrained by the framing device of the window—unable to brea…
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Memories of a Skylight: Tashqurqan Part 3
The following morning when I arrived at Classy’s house at the scheduled time we met with another man who seemed to be about the same age as …
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Shifted Windows: Masuleh, Iran
There is a small village in the valleys of Iran known as Masuleh that has stood there for over a thousand years. Its tiered homes are built …
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Memories of a Skylight: Tashqurqan Part 2
After driving for about 7 minutes in Classy’s car the windshield of which had a crack in it we arrived at a wetland area that was completely…
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Memories of a Skylight: Tashqurqan, Part 1
I headed further west from Turpan by train to arrive at a city in the western reaches of China called Kashgar. From there I climbed a mounta…
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Breathing in the Desert: Yazd, Iran
The bus that headed from northern to southern Iran passed once more through alien landscapes created by the desert. It’s as if one mus…
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A Desert below Sea Level — Turpan, Part 3
What I learned from these grape-drying huts was that the key to a dwelling in a desert below sea level was creating shadows by bricks poplar…
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Starting by Surrounding: Takht-e Soleymān, Iran
I took a cheap shared taxi from Zanjan in northwest Iran headed next to the ancient ruins of Takht-e Soleymān. An archeological site centere…
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A Desert Below Sea Level — Turpan, Part 1
What kind of place is a desert below sea level? Turpan is located in the west of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region an autonomous region …
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Zhangcun: The Needs of the Underground Part 3
I realized something was strange here in the centenarian’s Yaodong. The entrances to Yaodongs are generally shaped into a pointed arc but up…
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“Placing” a Home: East Gilan, Iran, part 2
In Kachalam a village in East Gilan a man agreed to show me around in his car despite it only being our first meeting. As he did I discovere…
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Dry-cured Ham Culatello in Zibello Village
At the beginning of November I drove a car north from Parma and aimed for Zibello village. As I passed through the central Old City I saw fi…
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Zhangcun: The Needs of the Underground Part 2
I’ve come to realize that meeting with elders is the best way to learn about their village. Walking through a loess land of beautiful green …
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America (3)
Development of Various Styles As settlers throughout America gained affluence they developed a wide variety of housing styles including the …
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Houses beyond the Places of Scenic Beauty (2)
Repeating myself the phrase “your house” in Chinese the old man and I walked for about 40 minutes through a town located outside of the scen…
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Zhangcun, “needs of underground” Part 1
A square hole on dry ocherous land. People live inside that hole. I stopped in on the village of Zhangcun in Sanmenxia City Henan. It is loc…
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“Placing” a Home: East Gilan, Iran (Part 1)
Iran was an unknown land to me before I visited it myself. My vague image of it had been of a desolate desert dotted with ancient remains. A…
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Houses beyond the Places of Scenic Beauty (1)
We arrive at the town of Wuzhen in northern Zhejiang after a two-hour bus ride from Shanghai. This is an area famous for its beautiful river…
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Part 6: Proverbs Left to us by Laozi
The aperture in Japanese architecture is the “ma” or “space between ob…
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Shanghai, Bars of Iron Sprouting from Windows (2)
My steps become lighter now that I’ve decided what I’ll look for. This is the beginning of a trip to search for bars of iron. Ten steps out …
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America (2)
French and German Traditions The French who had settled Quebec to trade fur descended south along the Mississippi River and founded New Orle…
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Part 1: Yoshiharu Tsukamoto “Window Behaviorology”
“Human behaviors are the best design resources.” Architect Yoshiharu Tsukamoto (Atelier Bow-Wow/Professor Tokyo Institute of Technology) has…
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Movie “The Birth Canal”
movie “The Birth Canal” “Hashirama equipment” is a term used for cultural assets and refers to the entire architectural componen…
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Vino Santo in Trentino
Drive a car east from Milan go north through Verona and you will see the largest lake in Italy Lake Garda. Continue running north along the …
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Maison La Roche
The windows of Le Corbusier’s Maison la Roche. Inside the gallery a long curved strip window is installed above the curving ramp and as one …
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Kibber, India : The Hidden Hole (part 2)
It was cold in the morning so high above sea level. But when I walked out to the third-floor terrace at my inn I found it surprisingly warm.…
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Shanghai, Bars of Iron Sprouting from Windows (1)
Arriving in Shanghai I was surprised at how noisy it was. This is not a critique: Shanghai is the type of place that if you don’t assert you…
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Part 3 Shokatei at Katsura Imperial Villa
Members of the Imperial Family were the first to enjoy the luxury of tea a valuable item at that time before the art of the tea ceremony was…
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Water Tanks in New York
Photographer Takashi Homma splices compelling shots of windows between his own photos and text. Second article of his “Windows and Photograp…
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Part 2: Jo-an
It seems reasonable to assume that chanoyu or the Japanese “Way of Tea” established by Sen no Rikyu was spread and led by sengok…
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Kibber, India : The Hidden Hole (part 1)
Climbing even higher past Kinnaur district in North India I passed the treeline to find an outstretched land of nothing but brown rocky moun…
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You Make a Better Window Than a Door
Fenestration Observations is a series of window disquisitions by Matthew Fargo. In it the translator of Genpei Akasegawaʼs Hyperart Thomasso…
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Garlic Window in Vessalico village
Lemon raised under the shining sun; cured ham aged in a rich flavor by growing mold; wine made from grapes raised under well-ventilated perg…
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Kinnaur District, North India: The Overhanging Village (Part 3)
I walked back to the home in the small village in order to pick up the pants that had been sewn for me overnight. It seemed that there the m…
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Part 1: Tai-an at Myoki-an Temple
…d as natural materials or so. Columns made of unpeeled logs are regarded as structural elements supporting the building due to its structura…
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Architectural Intention behind Technology
Reiser + Umemoto is the architect duo behind the design of the O-14 office tower in Dubai. What ultimately supported the realization of the …
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Windows as Connectors between the Inside and Outside
Architect Ryue Nishizawa has designed a wide variety of projects including houses a church a station square and art museums. He has also fou…
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Fujiya/Window of the Souvenir Shop
This is a machiya (townhouse) that was built around 1830 in Narai Nagano. The upper part of the opening facing the street is fitted with shi…
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Tenjin Sanshi Kojo/Window of the Paper Factory
This is a 90-year-old paper factory in Uchiko Ehime that specializes in making Ozu washi (handmade Japanese paper). The paper is made using …