If you love architecture, you will love the Bauzeitgeist blog. Interesting commentary, details and history behind architecture drew me in. There aren’t many blogs where I find myself four archive pages in before I come up for breath. I was inspired by Bauzeitgeist‘s post about the Preston Bus Station. Supposedly for many, it was an eyesore and an example of unpopular architectural design.
This led me We Are Dorothy, an online entire store devoted to interesting litho prints about key architectural places. I’m digging this one, but I wish the litho captured the coldness of the massive concrete structure.
Another great brutalist structure from We Are Dorothy, the Tricorn Center:
Huge structures of concrete with repeating, solid patterns were common in the mid-1950s to 1970s. People called this design Brutalism, and the builders, Brutalists.
This peculiar name [Brutalism] was a supposedly clever play on beton brut, French for raw concrete..
..which in the hands of an artist-architect like Le Corbusier, and especially under a Mediterranean sun, could be a strikingly beautiful building material. (BBC).
We had an interesting library where I grew up. The building was similar to mission-style architecture, with clay roof tiles, white stucco and arches. Whenever I think of Brutalist architecture, I still remember walking up the large concrete circular staircase to get to the children’s section on the next level. I would pass my hand on the cold raw concrete as I walked up the stairs. Since the landing on the staircase was circular, sounds seemed to be twisted and muted as I reached the landing. Perhaps the intent to change the sound on the staircase conveyed a movement from the non-fiction world and entering the fictional? I think the dead concrete walls belied all the colorful carpets and life happening inside, which is the same for all architecture- the concrete is only one part.
How did I get here?
What microphones are on Jimmy Fallon’s set? Jimmy has the AT4050 on his desk.
What microphone does Higgins use? The AT5040, which has four capsules!
I find people discussing the wood sound paneling used to stop echos and improve the sound.
I find Bauzeitgeist’s page documenting Jimmy Fallon’s skyline.
..and the archives brings me to the Preston Bus Station.
Thanks, Internet!