View allAll Photos Tagged internals
Fallen fragments of the west window at English Martyrs church photographed on April 11th 2010, The defective upper central transom broke free the previous morning, sending the stained glass/dalle de verre panel above it crashing to the ground where it shattered on the grass below.
It is now clear that the major factor in the declining condition of this window is the poor load bearing capacity of the concrete transoms and their weak connection to the main mullions. The lowest row of panels are bowed and sagging precariously as a result of the weak structure supporting them. Thus the poor condition of the window is as much a failure of the architectural design as much as the nature of the glazing.
Hillmorton's Roman Catholic church of the English Martyrs was built in 1965 (architects Sandy & Norris) with a square core surmounted by an expanse if coloured glass on all four sides forming a lantern, and capped by a concrete vaulted ceiling. Below it was envisaged that four limbs would sprout from this nucleus to form a cross, though in the event only one was built to the north, which served as the nave until the church was re-orientated in the early 1980s when a new sanctuary extension was added to the east.(the old nave being walled off and serving as the church hall ever since). The remaining two temporary walls below the vast windows were finished in brick only in 1990.
The major artistic feature of the building is the enormous expanse of stained glass by noted Welsh artist Jonah Jones, executed in the dalle de verre ('slab of glass') technique popular in the 1950s & 60s, with heavy chunks of glass set in a resin matrix (in place of traditional lead, which would be insufficient to hold such thick pieces of glass). The design of the four windows is abstract, though each incorporates a subtle crown of thorns motif in red glass.
However, times have changed and the dalle de verre technique has not stood the test of time well. Though the east and north windows remain in sound condition those on the south and particularly the west have suffered from the effects of heat expansion which has caused several of the glass pieces to detach from their resin matrix, whilst in the worst cases the resin structure itself is failing, in places cracked and bowing dangerously. Finding a remedy to these problems seems to be frought with difficulties and currently the future of these windows (the largest work ever undertaken by the artist Jonah Jones) hangs in the balance.
Personally I hope they can be saved, admittedly I have an emotional attachment having grown up here, but I also consider them a rare period piece, a bold expression of the kind of optimism and vision that gave us Coventry Cathedral (a mere 12 miles away) and Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral, both of which are accepted as iconic statements of their time, despite the general unpopularity of the architecture of the time.
Any information on how to proceed with saving these precarious artworks will be most gratefully recieved.
For more information on the artist Jonah Jones see the following website dedicated to his life and work
Festival Paroles de Plantes 2019
4ème édition à La Ferté-Gaucher
une expérience sensorielle du monde végétal pour grand et petit
My life continues to twist and turn down paths I have never walked before, the unknown lies around every corner. My emotions and mind are working against me, I feel like I am being internally executed by myself...
Informal meeting of competitiveness ministers (internal market and industry) on 16 July 2018 - Arrivals and Welcome. Picturing Federal Minister Margarete Schramböck (left). Copyright BKA/Martin Votava
مؤتمر الكويت للتدقيق الداخلي
30th November to 1st December 2016
Hilton Kuwait Resort, Al Dorra Ballroom
“Growing up as a kid I was always curious and cared about what was going on in the world. I was so passionate about it that after leaving school, I worked for various humanitarian groups. We were planning a trip to Iraq one Sunday; talking about the possible eventualities which might happen while we were out there. Little were we to know that a couple of days later, it was 9/11 and all our plans were to change.
I was 21 when I first went out to Iraq. It was horrific. Watching people die needlessly, and not being able to help people. I remember being in a hospital in Baghdad and there was this four month old child, dying of dehydration. I found it ridiculous that I had a thousand dollars in my pocket but there was nothing I could do for her. I was thinking that even if I could find some medication in the city somewhere, it wouldn’t be enough. She’d go back to the same situation which had put her there. Even the doctor said there was nothing he could do.
I was naive going in, thinking that going there I’d be able to tell people what was really going on, and that it would make a difference - it didn’t. People listened but nothing really happened. As a got older I learned to be more pragmatic about what I could achieve, and I realised I was limited by my experiences educationally. So I put myself through university; I did a Masters degree and then a PhD in Politics and Internal Relations. After all those earlier experiences, falling into teaching and lecturing by accident has been a godsend. Because, for all it’s faults, it’s a great opportunity to challenge the students into thinking about things which I’ve experienced, things they might not have otherwise.”
Love the internal mirror - on the school run the driver needs eyes in the back of his head ;-) Interesting front seating arrangement upstairs. Route 611
Copyright © Joel Lawson All rights reserved.
Residents of this apartment building, at 1841 16th Street NW, were evacuated after critical internal walls collapsed overnight and early morning Saturday. Inspectors also evacuated the neighboring property. T remains blocked.
Our organization, the Dupont Circle Citizens Association (www.dupont-circle.org), worked hard, in conjunction with the mayor's office, to secure accommodations for displaced residents at a nearby hotel, and subsequent accommodations with area residents.
**Displaced residents need your help** If you have a spare room or other accommodations, these displaced residents need a place to stay starting Monday night, for a few days, as they work quickly to locate housing. I've met these folks, and they are good people. Please email me directly at: joellawson@mac.com
We will be taking action--in conjuction with the Dupont Circle Conservancy (http://dupontcircleconservancy.org)--regarding potential loss of a historic property, helping the residents find housing, and we'll monitor the obligations of the landlord to their tenants in this emergency.
The landlords were mentioned in a May 4 Washington Post article about problem properties:
"In 2005, DCRA spent $9,000 on a house on 16th Street NW valued at $1 million and owned by professor Amy Mazur and her physician husband, Joseph Liberman. Liberman said he and his wife rent out the house and were unaware of complaints about its condition."
Doubt it. (Article link below)
16th Street was blocked for most of the morning and early afternoon, and a section of T Street remains off limits, due to danger of collapse.
May 4 article mentioning landlords:
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/03/...
Photos of interior walls collapsing:
picasaweb.google.com/depewbri/1841Collapse
UPDATE (Monday morning): Emergency shoring underway, and residents permitted temporary access to retrieve belongings.
JULY 31 UPDATE: The owners intend "partial demolition" on Monday, Aug. 4. The Dupont Circle Conservancy, DCCA and others are in communication with city officials regarding the owners' plans:
Internally Displaced Persons (IDP's) stand next to the Cathedral on November 9, 2013 in Bossangoa, 380 km north of Bangui. 41.000 IDP’s took shelter near the Cathedral following the mass exactions of September 8, 2013. Chaos followed the ouster of Francois Bozize earlier this year and reports of summary executions, looting and abuses against civilians have prompted international concern that the Central African Republic could become another Somali-style failed state. PHOTO / MATTHIEU ALEXANDRE
South easterly view from the observation level of the Kempler Building along the Chicago River. You may be able to spot the reflection of the Willis (Sears) Tower in the right third, Millenium Park and The Bean (Cloud Gate) below, and Lake Michigan in the distance. The reflections were so intense that at times it was difficult to distinguish between what was there and what was just an optical illusion.
A poor image, I know; I was hoping to give some idea of the lack of apparent haze in this older lens. This is a round-iris model of the Summitar, an early vintage of the type; some suggest that the out-of-focus performance of this kind is markedly different than that of the later hex-iris type. I have a hex-iris version I prefer for some reason, and I'm keeping that for myself.