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Panoramic view of the top of Tianmenshan Mountain, with visibility ll the way down to the city of Zhangjiajie. The top of the mountain can be reached by cable car from the centre of the city - a 45 minute ride through the suburbs and rural landscape prior to dramatically rising up the mountain summit.
Tianmen Mountain, located near the city of Zhangjiajie in Hunan Province, China, is a stunning natural landmark known for its dramatic scenery and cultural significance. Accessible by a steep cable car ride, the mountain features sheer cliffs, deep valleys, and lush forests, offering breathtaking panoramic views of the surrounding landscape. At the mountain's summit, visitors can explore the Tianmen Cave, a natural archway carved through the rock, often referred to as the "Heaven's Gate." Tianmen Mountain is also home to the Tianmen Shan National Forest Park, which encompasses diverse ecosystems, rare plant species, and hiking trails, providing opportunities for outdoor adventure and exploration amidst this awe-inspiring natural wonder.
Bronx Community College, University Heights, Bronx
Dramatically sited on the heights overlooking the Harlem River, Harlem Flats, and the New Jersey Palisades beyond, the Gould Memorial Library and the related buildings of the former New York University campus stand as one of the triumphs of late nineteenth-century American architecture. Designed at a time when many institutions of higher learning were expanding their facilities, the library is a monument to two great men—architect Stanford White and chancellor Henry MacCracken.' The Gould Memorial Library is an imposing, classically-inspired structure constructed of yellow Roman brick with limestone and terra-cotta trim.
The use of these materials serves to modulate the building's monumental quality and link it to the surrounding landscape. The restrained exterior stands in vivid contrast to the rich interior with its dramatic flow of spaces and its sumptuous stone and marble detailing. The Gould Memorial Library has long been recognized as among the supreme examples of Stanford White's work. The most fitting comment on the building's architectural importance has come, not from architectural critics or the general public, but from White's peers who in 1919 chose the library as the site for the Stanford White Memorial. Although no longer used as a library, the building retains its original configuration and is a major monument of the former New York University campus.
Description
The stairhall, administrative offices, and central reading room of the Gould Memorial Library form one of the great surviving interiors dating from the period of American architectural history that has come to be known as the American Renaissance. The interior spaces are among the finest designs of Stanford White and reflect his adherence to scientific eclecticism— "the assemblage of pieces from the past...to create harmonious wholes.At this building White combined forms and ideas from the Roman Pantheon and from Renaissance palaces to create an original and highly sophisticated work of art.
The library is entered through an exterior portico of six Corinthian columns and a pair of bronze doors. 7 Beyond the doors the visitor stands in a small vestibule that is flanked by bronze lamp standards. The main stairway rises directly in front and subsidiary staircases leading to the basement chapel are set on either side. The barrel-vaulted side stairways, with their handsome railings, lead to a foyer and hallway set in front of the chapel. From the vestibule one gains a glimpse of the reading room located at the end of the grand staircase. A sense of the polychromatic richness of the interior is established immediately upon entering the building by the use of stained-glass windows and bands of red, yellow, black, and white mosaic tile for the floor. The vestibule ceiling is in the form of a shallow dome and forms the first of a progression of domes that culminates in the dome of the reading room. A handsome revolving door has been placed within the vestibule.
The short vestibule leads directly to the lower landing of the staircase. This area also has a mosaic floor. Heavy wooden doors on either side lead to offices. From .this landing rise the twenty-four Tennessee-marble steps of the barrel-vaulted stair hall. The stairway is modeled after Renaissance prototypes referred to by White in answer to a critical letter of MacCracken's:
I am sure that the staircase as it is designed is all right... I do not see how it will be possible to treat it any other way____Certainly neither the Gold Staircase (of the Ducal Palace) nor the Vatican Staircase look like tunnels, and the New York University one will look far less so, as it is very much more lofty and very much shorter.
The staircase is an extremely successful part of the design, symbolically serving as the stairway to knowledge. It is only upon reaching the top of the stairs, or after ascending the stairway to knowledge, that the dome of the reading room (the crown of the storehouse of knowledge) begins to come into sight.
The stairway is articulated by two pairs of stone pilast.ers--one pair at the bottom and one pair towards the top of the steps. The middle pilasters support bronze torcheres capped by glass globes. The lower two-thirds of the stairway walls are faced with Portland stone. A band embellished with a Vitruvian scroll pattern separates the stone walls from panels of highly-polished, pale-yellow, Cippolini marble. Above these panels is an entablature that supports a coffered barrel vault.
The upper stairway landing is similar in form to the lower landing and vestibule, with a mosaic floor, bronze lamps, and a shallow dome. In the center of the dome is a roundel of green Tiffany stained glass from which hangs a glass globe lamp. The shallow arms of this landing continue the decorative pattern of the stairway-Portland stone walls topped by Cippolini marble panels. Lunettes with round niches that were intended to house portrait busts are located at either end of the landing and above the entrance to the reading room. The original administrative offices of the university are located on either side of the stairway. These elegantly appointed offices, with their wood paneling and fireplaces, remain substantially intact, although they are no longer regularly used.
The entrance to the reading room is through a pair of doors set into a simple eared enframement crowned by a bracketed pediment. The simplicity of the entrance enframement is a foil to the ornate reading room. The reading room, designed to be the major space on the campus, and set at the center of the complex, is the symbol of the intellectual pursuits embodied by the university. Although the scale of the room is extremely grand and it is constructed with the finest materials, the space is not overwhelming. The room has a warm tone created by the muted colors of the stone and marble used and by the human scale of the bookcases and doors that surround the central colonnade.
The most prominent elements of the reading room are the sixteen green Connemara marble column shafts that were imported from the west coast of Ireland and the magnificent coffered dome that covers the entire space. The use of Connemara larble for the columns created a number of problems in the construction of the library.
- From the 1981 NYCLPC Landmark Designation Report
Detail of the upper half of the west window depicting the Last Judgement. The Last Judgement is Fairford's most celebrated window for its dramatic composition and graphic depiction of the horrors of hell in the lower half. The window sadly suffered badly during the great storm of 1703 with the upper half depicting Christ in Judgement and the surrounding company of saints and angels the most seriously affected part.
A substantial amount however still remained until it was unfortunately 'restored' in 1860 by Chance Bros of Smethwick, whose approach was to substitute all the surviving glass in the upper half of the window with a carefully created replica. It is clear that the design is a faithful copy of what was there originally, but none of the surviving material was reused, parts of it being secretly kept by the studio and probably sold (some elements have resurfaced much more recently).
St Mary's at Fairford is justly famous, not only as a most beautiful building architecturally but for the survival of its complete set of late medieval stained glass, a unique survival in an English parish church. No other church has resisted the waves of iconoclasm unleashed by the Reformation and the English Civil War like Fairford has, and as a result we can experience a pre-Reformation iconographic scheme in glass in its entirety. At most churches one is lucky to find mere fragments of the original glazing and even one complete window is an exceptional survival, thus a full set of 28 of them here in a more or less intact state makes Fairford church uniquely precious.
The exterior already promises great things, this is a handsome late 15th century building entirely rebuilt in Perpendicular style and dedicated in 1497. The benefactor was lord of the manor John Tame, a wealthy wool merchant whose son Edmund later continued the family's legacy in donating the glass. The central tower is adorned with much carving including strange figures guarding the corners and a rather archaic looking relief of Christ on the western side. The nave is crowned by a fine clerestorey whilst the aisles below form a gallery of large windows that seem to embrace the entire building without structural interruption aside from the south porch and the chancel projecting at the east end. All around are pinnacles, battlements and gargoyles, the effect is very rich and imposing for a village church.
One enters through the fan-vaulted porch and is initially met by subdued lighting within that takes a moment to adjust to but can immediately appreciate the elegant arcades and the rich glowing colours of the windows. The interior is spacious but the view east is interrupted by the tower whose panelled walls and arches frame only a glimpse of the chancel beyond. The glass was inserted between 1500-1517 and shows marked Renaissance influence, being the work of Flemish glaziers (based in Southwark) under the direction of the King's glazier Barnard Flower. The quality is thus of the highest available and suggests the Tame family had connections at court to secure such glaziers.
Entering the nave one is immediately confronted with the largest and most famous window in the church, the west window with its glorious Last Judgement, best known for its lurid depiction of the horrors of Hell with exotic demons dragging the damned to their doom. Sadly the three windows in the west wall suffered serious storm damage in 1703 and the Last Judgement suffered further during an 1860 restoration that copied rather than restored the glass in its upper half. The nave clerestories contain an intriguing scheme further emphasising the battle of Good versus Evil with a gallery of saintly figures on the south side balanced by a 'rogue's gallery' of persecutors of the faith on the darker north side, above which are fabulous demonic figures leering from the traceries.
The aisle windows form further arrays of figures in canopies with the Evangelists and prophets on the north side and the Apostles and Doctors of the Church on the south. The more narrative windows are mainly located in the eastern half of the church, starting in the north chapel with an Old Testament themed window followed by more on the life of Mary and infancy of Christ. The subject matter is usually confined to one light or a pair of them, so multiple scenes can be portrayed within a single window. The scheme continues in the east window of the chancel with its scenes of the Passion of Christ in the lower register culminating in his crucifixion above, while a smaller window to the south shows his entombment and the harrowing of Hell. The cycle continues in the south chapel where the east window shows scenes of Christ's resurrection and transfiguration whilst two further windows relate further incidents culminating in Pentecost. The final window in the sequence however is of course the Last Judgement at the west end.
The glass has been greatly valued and protected over the centuries from the ravages of history, being removed for protection during the Civil War and World War II. The windows underwent a complete conservation between 1988-2010 by the Barley Studio of York which bravely restored legibility to the windows by sensitive releading and recreating missing pieces with new work (previously these had been filled with plain glass which drew the eye and disturbed the balance of light). The most dramatic intervention was the re-ordering of the westernmost windows of the nave aisles which had been partially filled with jumbled fragments following the storm damage of 1703 but have now been returned to something closer to their original state.
It is important here not to neglect the church's other features since the glass dominates its reputation so much. The chancel also retains its original late medieval woodwork with a fine set of delicate screens dividing it from the chapels either side along with a lovely set of stalls with carved misericords. The tomb of the founder John Tame and his wife can be seen on the north side of the sanctuary with their brasses atop a tomb chest. Throughout the church a fine series of carved angel corbels supports the old oak roofs.
Fairford church is a national treasure and shouldn't be missed by anyone with a love of stained glass and medieval art. It is normally kept open for visitors and deserves more of them.
Arnarstapi is a small fishing village on the southern coast of the Snæfellsnes Peninsula in West Iceland. Historically an important fishing and trading post, it is now best known for its dramatic coastal scenery, basalt cliffs, sea arches, and rich birdlife. The village lies at the foot of Snæfellsjökull and serves as a popular starting point for coastal walks to nearby Hellnar. One of its most recognizable landmarks is the stone sculpture of Bárður Snæfellsás, a figure from Icelandic folklore associated with the peninsula.
Snæfellsnes Peninsula
Often called "Iceland in Miniature," the Snæfellsnes Peninsula is one of the country's most diverse regions, featuring volcanoes, glaciers, lava fields, black-sand beaches, fishing villages, waterfalls, dramatic cliffs, and rugged coastlines. Dominating the peninsula is Snæfellsjökull, the glacier-capped volcano made famous by Jules Verne's novel Journey to the Center of the Earth. The peninsula is widely regarded as one of Iceland’s most scenic destinations due to the variety of landscapes concentrated in a relatively small area.
Redmond, Oregon
Listed 10/30/2013
Reference Number: 13000859
Petersen Rock Garden, which has state-wide significance, is eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places under Criterion C in the areas of Art and Landscape Architecture, as a folk art environment, for its significance as an exceptional work of art that combines architecture, landscape, art, and sculpture in a unified whole. Located approximately eight miles southwest of Redmond, Oregon, the work recalls European and American grotto traditions, juxtaposed with American iconography and vernacular folk art traditions, through the creativity and artistry of Danish immigrant Rasmus Christian Petersen. Petersen, who began constructing the garden after finishing his education in Danish and American culture at Nysted Folk High School in Nebraska and three successful decades of farming, was also influenced by his homestead's setting in central Oregon, with its dramatic views of the Cascade range . Creation of the garden represents the last chapter in Petersen's life. The gardens are all the more remarkable for their unexpectedness in the desert landscape and their lack of precedent in their creator's life. The Period of Significance for the site is 1927, the date of construction of the Petersen's residence, to 1952, the date of Petersen's death. The gardens and property as a whole retain excellent integrity and easily convey the reasons for their significance.
National Register of Historic Places Homepage
Bronx Community College, University Heights, Bronx
Dramatically sited on the heights overlooking the Harlem River, Harlem Flats, and the New Jersey Palisades beyond, the Gould Memorial Library and the related buildings of the former New York University campus stand as one of the triumphs of late nineteenth-century American architecture. Designed at a time when many institutions of higher learning were expanding their facilities, the library is a monument to two great men—architect Stanford White and chancellor Henry MacCracken.' The Gould Memorial Library is an imposing, classically-inspired structure constructed of yellow Roman brick with limestone and terra-cotta trim.
The use of these materials serves to modulate the building's monumental quality and link it to the surrounding landscape. The restrained exterior stands in vivid contrast to the rich interior with its dramatic flow of spaces and its sumptuous stone and marble detailing. The Gould Memorial Library has long been recognized as among the supreme examples of Stanford White's work. The most fitting comment on the building's architectural importance has come, not from architectural critics or the general public, but from White's peers who in 1919 chose the library as the site for the Stanford White Memorial. Although no longer used as a library, the building retains its original configuration and is a major monument of the former New York University campus.
Description
The stairhall, administrative offices, and central reading room of the Gould Memorial Library form one of the great surviving interiors dating from the period of American architectural history that has come to be known as the American Renaissance. The interior spaces are among the finest designs of Stanford White and reflect his adherence to scientific eclecticism— "the assemblage of pieces from the past...to create harmonious wholes.At this building White combined forms and ideas from the Roman Pantheon and from Renaissance palaces to create an original and highly sophisticated work of art.
The library is entered through an exterior portico of six Corinthian columns and a pair of bronze doors. 7 Beyond the doors the visitor stands in a small vestibule that is flanked by bronze lamp standards. The main stairway rises directly in front and subsidiary staircases leading to the basement chapel are set on either side. The barrel-vaulted side stairways, with their handsome railings, lead to a foyer and hallway set in front of the chapel. From the vestibule one gains a glimpse of the reading room located at the end of the grand staircase. A sense of the polychromatic richness of the interior is established immediately upon entering the building by the use of stained-glass windows and bands of red, yellow, black, and white mosaic tile for the floor. The vestibule ceiling is in the form of a shallow dome and forms the first of a progression of domes that culminates in the dome of the reading room. A handsome revolving door has been placed within the vestibule.
The short vestibule leads directly to the lower landing of the staircase. This area also has a mosaic floor. Heavy wooden doors on either side lead to offices. From .this landing rise the twenty-four Tennessee-marble steps of the barrel-vaulted stair hall. The stairway is modeled after Renaissance prototypes referred to by White in answer to a critical letter of MacCracken's:
I am sure that the staircase as it is designed is all right... I do not see how it will be possible to treat it any other way____Certainly neither the Gold Staircase (of the Ducal Palace) nor the Vatican Staircase look like tunnels, and the New York University one will look far less so, as it is very much more lofty and very much shorter.
The staircase is an extremely successful part of the design, symbolically serving as the stairway to knowledge. It is only upon reaching the top of the stairs, or after ascending the stairway to knowledge, that the dome of the reading room (the crown of the storehouse of knowledge) begins to come into sight.
The stairway is articulated by two pairs of stone pilast.ers--one pair at the bottom and one pair towards the top of the steps. The middle pilasters support bronze torcheres capped by glass globes. The lower two-thirds of the stairway walls are faced with Portland stone. A band embellished with a Vitruvian scroll pattern separates the stone walls from panels of highly-polished, pale-yellow, Cippolini marble. Above these panels is an entablature that supports a coffered barrel vault.
The upper stairway landing is similar in form to the lower landing and vestibule, with a mosaic floor, bronze lamps, and a shallow dome. In the center of the dome is a roundel of green Tiffany stained glass from which hangs a glass globe lamp. The shallow arms of this landing continue the decorative pattern of the stairway-Portland stone walls topped by Cippolini marble panels. Lunettes with round niches that were intended to house portrait busts are located at either end of the landing and above the entrance to the reading room. The original administrative offices of the university are located on either side of the stairway. These elegantly appointed offices, with their wood paneling and fireplaces, remain substantially intact, although they are no longer regularly used.
The entrance to the reading room is through a pair of doors set into a simple eared enframement crowned by a bracketed pediment. The simplicity of the entrance enframement is a foil to the ornate reading room. The reading room, designed to be the major space on the campus, and set at the center of the complex, is the symbol of the intellectual pursuits embodied by the university. Although the scale of the room is extremely grand and it is constructed with the finest materials, the space is not overwhelming. The room has a warm tone created by the muted colors of the stone and marble used and by the human scale of the bookcases and doors that surround the central colonnade.
The most prominent elements of the reading room are the sixteen green Connemara marble column shafts that were imported from the west coast of Ireland and the magnificent coffered dome that covers the entire space. The use of Connemara larble for the columns created a number of problems in the construction of the library.
- From the 1981 NYCLPC Landmark Designation Report
One of the many carvings adorning the wall arcading in the north aisle.
There is a danger of running out of superlatives when trying to describe Beverley Minster. It is not only the second finest non-cathedral church in the country but is architecturally a far finer building than most of our cathedrals themselves! It will come as a surprise to many visitors to find this grand edifice simply functions today as a parish church and has never been more than collegiate, a status it lost at the Reformaton. What had added to its mystique and wealth was its status as a place of pilgrimage housing the tomb of St John of Beverley, which drew visitors and revenue until the Reformation brought an end to such fortunes and the shrine was destroyed (though the saint's bones were later rediscovered and reinterred in the nave). That this great church itself survived this period almost intact is little short of a miracle in itself.
There has been a church here since the 8th century but little remains of the earlier buildings aside from the Saxon chair near the altar and the Norman font in the nave. The present Minster's construction spans the entirety of the development of Gothic architecture but forms a surprisingly harmonious whole nevertheless, starting with Early English in the 13h century choir and transepts (both pairs) with their lancet windows in a building phase that stopped at the first bays of the nave. Construction was then continued with the nave in the 14th century but only the traceried windows betray the emergent Decorated style, the design otherwise closely followed the work of the previous century which gives the Minster's interior such a pleasingly unified appearance (the only discernable break in construction within can be seen where the black purbeck-marble ceased to be used for certain elements beyond the eastern bay of the nave). Finally the building was completed more or less by 1420 with the soaring west front with its dramatic twin-towers in Perpendicular style (the east window must have been enlarged at this point too to match the new work at the west end).
The fabric happily survived the Reformation intact aside from the octagonal chapter-house formerly adjoining the north choir aisle which was dismantled to raise money by the sale of its materials while the church's fate was in the balance (a similar fate was contemplated for the rest of the church by its new owners until the town bought it for retention as a parish church for £100). The great swathes of medieval glass alas were mostly lost, though seemingly as much to neglect and storm-damage in the following century than the usual iconoclasm. All that survived of the Minster's original glazing was collected to form the patchwork display now filling the great east window, a colourful kaleidoscope of fragments of figures and scenes. Of the other furnishings the choir stalls are the major ensemble and some of the finest medieval canopied stalls extant with a full set of charming misericords (though most of these alas are not normally on show).
There are suprisingly few monuments of note for such an enormous cathedral-like church, but the one major exception makes up for this, the delightful canopied Percy tomb erected in 1340 to the north of the high altar. The tomb itself is surprisingly plain without any likeness remaining of the deceased, but the richly carved Decorated canopy above is alive with gorgeous detail and figurative embellishments. There are further carvings to enjoy adorning the arcading that runs around the outer perimeter of the interior, especially the north nave aisle which has the most rewarding carved figures of musicians, monsters and people suffering various ailments, many were largely restored in the 19th century but still preserve the medieval spirit of irreverent fun.
To summarise Beverley Minster would be difficult other than simply adding that if one enjoys marvelling at Gothic architecture at its best then it really shouldn't be missed and one should prioritise it over the majority of our cathedrals. It is a real gem and a delight to behold, and is happily normally open and welcoming to visitors (who must all be astonished to find this magnificent edifice is no more than a simple parish church in status!). I thoroughly enjoyed this, my second visit here (despite the best efforts of the poor weather!).
Fonte : Wikipedia
Florence and the Machine (styled as Florence + the Machine) are an English indie rock band that formed in London in 2007, consisting of lead singer Florence Welch, Isabella Summers, and a collaboration of other artists. The band's music received praise across the media, especially from the BBC, which played a large part in their rise to prominence by promoting Florence and the Machine as part of BBC Introducing. At the 2009 Brit Awards they received the Brit Awards "Critics' Choice" award. The band's music is renowned for its dramatic and eccentric production and also Welch's powerful vocal performances.
The band's debut studio album, Lungs, was released on 6 July 2009, and held the number-two position for its first five weeks on the UK Albums Chart. On 17 January 2010, the album reached the top position, after being on the chart for twenty-eight consecutive weeks.As of October 2010, the album had been in the top forty in the United Kingdom for sixty-five consecutive weeks, making it one of the best-selling albums of 2009 and 2010. The group's second studio album, Ceremonials, released in October 2011, entered the charts at number one in the UK and number six in the US. The band's third album, How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful, was released on 2 June 2015. It topped the UK charts, and debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200, their first to do so. The album reached number one in a total of eight countries and the top ten of twenty. Also in 2015, the band was the headlining act at Glastonbury Festival, making Florence Welch the first British female headliner this century.
Florence and the Machine's sound has been described as a combination of various genres, including rock and soul. Lungs won the Brit Award for Best British Album in 2010. Florence and the Machine has been nominated for eight Grammy Awards including Best New Artist and Best Pop Vocal Album. Additionally, the band performed at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards and the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize Concert
Thought I'd posted these already but apparently not! These are from the second of 2 trips to Dollar Glen. The first visit was part of a longer walk in the Ochil Hills and I didn't really have time to stop but thought that I'd like to return with my tripod and wellies! So I did, and these are a few of the results. Castle Campbell is also well worth a visit, but disappointingly I didn't manage to capture its dramatic situation very well with my photos.
SLO_GenLA Table
The SLO_GenLA communal table is a focal point in the lobby of Gensler’s Los Angeles office, and the result of an innovative partnership between Gensler and the Department of Architecture at the College of Architecture and Environmental Design at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo.
In 2011, professors Jim Doerfler and Mark Cabrinha, co-directors of Cal Poly’s Digital Fabrication Lab (“d[Fab]Lab”) reached out to Gensler L.A. design director Shawn Gehle to create a fully-virtualized studio focused on digital fabrication and online collaboration tools. In response, Gehle authored a unique, 10-week seminar that would allow students access to the firm’s design talent and explore form-finding and digital fabrication techniques through the design of a custom furniture piece. The design brief simply outlined a piece that could accommodate standing and sitting space for guests and storage for the firm’s design publications. The piece would need to be site-specific and prominently featured in Gensler’s new downtown Los Angeles office.
Beyond an initial in-person meeting, Cal Poly students and d[Fab]Lab faculty met with Gensler advisors via the online collaboration tool GoToMeeting to conduct weekly seminar discussions and review the team’s progress. In addition to bridging the 200-mile gap between designers in Los Angeles and students and faculty in San Luis Obispo, this method allowed professional consultants and materials specialists to participate easily, while exposing students to the kind of virtual collaboration that is prevalent in professional practice today. Maintaining a focus on a digital workflow, the team’s design and documentation process also was conducted virtually, substituting a 3-D model as the deliverable for fabrication in lieu of a traditional set of 2-D drawings.
Over the course of the seminar, the original concepts of three students were developed and refined using the 3-D modeling software Rhino and T-Splines, and virtually reviewed and critiqued weekly with Gensler’s design staff. Structural engineers at Buro Happold and solid surfacing material provider LG Hausys joined multiple discussions to examine schemes and offer insight on constructability, cost and structural integrity. A final, in-person meeting in Los Angeles focused on the review of physical prototypes and material samples, and enabled the team to address the challenges of forming fiberglass vs. solid surfacing as the table’s predominant surface material.
Inspired by the design and opportunity, LG Hausys become a partner in the project, providing technical expertise and support for their HI-MACS solid surfacing product, which proved to be the ideal material for achieving the table’s draped surface. LG Hausys also introduced the team to the capabilities of R.D. Wing Co. Inc., the Seattle-based fabrication specialists who ultimately constructed and delivered the table’s design.
The SLO_Gen table was recently installed in the main entry of Gensler Los Angeles, where its dramatic profile continues to lure pedestrians in from the street and prompt conversation on its origin.
Link to Project Video:
Project Information
Name
SLO_GenLA Table
Location
Gensler Los Angeles, 500 S. Figueroa, Los Angeles, CA 90027
Contacts
Shawn Gehle, Design Director – Gensler Los Angeles
Follow on twitter: @shawngehle
Mark Cabrinha, Ph.D., RA, Associate Professor, Architecture Department - Cal Poly, SLO
mcabrinh@calpoly.edu
805.756.2855
Project Credits
CLIENT
•Gensler Los Angeles
-Robert Jernigan, Shawn Gehle
TEAM
Design
•Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo
Department of Architecture, College of Architecture and Environmental Design
-Faculty: Jim Doerfler, Mark Cabrinha
-Students: Ben Hait-Campbell, Cory Walker, Kegan Charles Flanderka
•Gensler Los Angeles
-Sabu Song, Shawn Gehle, Richard Hammond, Valentin Lieu
Engineering
•Buro Happold
-Garrett Jones, Gary Lau, Greg Otto, Liz Mahlow,
Fabrication
•R.D. Wing Co., Inc.
-Brandon Wing, Dan Foreman, Vath Sida, Wayne Bart
Materials
•LG Hausys – HI-MACS® Solid Surfacing
Perhaps one of the most fascinating designs for a premium car, the XM has become an icon among car enthusiasts for its dramatic style. Offered as a five-door saloon and estate (called Break), the XM was offered with both petrol and diesel engines, with the top of the range powered by a 24V V6 with 200 PS. This particular XM appears to be in great condition; let's hope it stays that way.
karangasem, bali, indonesia
Besakih is known as the Mother Temple of Bali and is simply the most important temple for the whole of the island. It's actually more like a complex of temples in one very large compound and its known and loved for is its dramatic location on the southern slopes of Sacred Mount Agung. It is known as and accepted as Bali’s Mother Temple for more than a thousand years. Besakih is quite unique as it basically consists of more than 80 individual temples. The main one is Pura Penataran Agung (the Great Temple of State).
A stone within Pura Batu Madeg suggests that the area around Pura Besakih was already regarded a sacred and holy since very ancient times. In Bali, many temples and their meaning cannot be separated from the land they are built on, the nature and the spirits and gods they believe do actually live there.
The priests let us know that during the 8th century, a Hindu monk had revelations to build homes on this holy ground. They say during the process, apparently many of his followers died due to illness and even accidents. Stories like this are the brickstones of legends so it is difficult to get the historic truth. The people called the area "Basuki". A name referring to "Naga Besukian", a dragon deity inhabiting Mount Agung.
Additional temple shrines were constructed and Besakih was established as the main temple complex around 1340. (Ba
li,com)
Mount Lao, or Laoshan (Chinese: 崂山; pinyin: Láo Shān) is a mountain located near the East China Sea on the southeastern coastline of the Shandong Peninsula in China. The mountain is culturally significant due to its long affiliation with Taoism and is often regarded as one of the "cradles of Taoism". It is the highest coastal mountain in China and the second highest mountain in Shandong, with the highest peak (Jufeng) reaching 1,132.7 metres (3,716 ft). The mountain lies about 30 kilometres (19 mi) to the northeast of the downtown area of the City of Qingdao and is protected by the Qingdao Laoshan National Park that covers an area of 446 square kilometers.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Lao
🇬🇧 English
Lao Shan (Laoshan) is a sacred mountain on China’s eastern coast, near Qingdao, famous for its dramatic granite peaks, clear springs, and strong Taoist heritage.
It is considered one of the birthplaces of Taoism, with temples dating back over 2,000 years. Laoshan is renowned for its pure mountain water, believed to have exceptional quality, and for its rare combination of mountain landscapes and direct sea views, which is unusual in China.
The mountain has long inspired poets, philosophers, and martial artists, symbolizing harmony between nature, spirit, and the Dao.
🇨🇳 中文（简体）
崂山（Lao Shan） 位于中国山东省青岛市东部，是中国著名的道教名山之一。
崂山以奇峰怪石、清泉瀑布和临海山景而闻名，是中国少有的“海上第一名山”。这里被认为是道教的重要发源地之一，至今仍保留着大量古老的道观。
崂山的山泉水极为著名，被认为清澈甘甜，富含灵气，长期被用于茶叶和传统养生文化中。
🇭🇷 Hrvatski
Lao Shan (Laoshan) je sveta planina na istočnoj obali Kine, u blizini Qingdaoa, poznata po strmim granitnim vrhovima, čistim izvorima i snažnoj daoističkoj tradiciji.
Smatra se jednim od najvažnijih povijesnih središta taoizma, s hramovima starima više od dvije tisuće godina. Posebnost Lao Shana je rijetka kombinacija planine i mora, gdje se s vrhova pruža pogled izravno na Žuto more.
Planina simbolizira sklad prirode, duhovnosti i dugovječnosti te ima važno mjesto u kineskoj filozofiji i kulturi.
If you were a fan of the 90's TV show"Homicide, life on the streets", this should look familiar. In the series, the exterior was used as the police station. The door on the bottom left is still marked "Baltimore City Police". It was one of my all time favorite TV shows, as apart from being very well written & acted, most of the scenes were real Baltimore neighborhoods.
"In many respects Homicide was before it’s time and on the wrong network, who knows what the cynical writers would have created had the show been produced for HBO during the Bush administration rather than NBC in the happy-go-lucky Clinton years. Some areas of the show have dated more than others, the lack of swearing, nudity or the obscuring of the more grizzly murder victims seem edgeless in today’s era of confrontational television where sustained torture sequences no longer shock audiences. But there are areas where Homicide remains timeless, not just its on-location realistic look, not just the abrasive and unorthodox editing, not just its dramatic restraint – but also in terms of sharp dialogue and sense of humour. Rarely does a Homicide episode go by without a laugh-out-loud moment and the more familiar you are with the characters mannerisms and idiosyncrasies the more endearing they become. The squad room seems like home, the Waterfront bar seems like your watering hole, the fate of these men and women are of the utmost concern – the show is so damn good you might even fancy a trip to Baltimore just to see what it’s really like! So pick up the joint Season One and Two boxset and give the show a go, as Homicide still remains the best American drama of the 1990’s."
Gantry Plaza State Park, Long Island City, Queens, New York City, New York, United States
The Chrysler Building, a stunning statement in the Art Deco style by architect William Van Alen, embodies the romantic essence of the New York City skyscraper. Built in 1928-30 for Walter P. Chrysler of the Chrysler Corporation, it was "dedicated to world commerce and industry."- The tallest building in the world when completed in 1930, it stood proudly on the New York skyline as a personal symbol of Walter Chrysler and the strength of his corporation.
History of Construction
The Chrysler Building had its beginnings in an office building project for William H. Reynolds, a real-estate developer and promoter and former New York State senator. Reynolds had acquired a long-term lease in 1921 on a parcel of property at Lexington Avenue and 42nd Street owned by the Cooper Union tor the Advancement of Science and Art. In 1927 architect William Van Alen was hired to design an office tower to be called the Reynolds Building for the site. Publicized as embodying new principles in skyscraper design,*' the projected building was to be 67 stories high rising 808 feet, and it was "to be surmounted by a glass dome, which when lighted from within, will give the effect of a great jewelled sphere."-' In October, 1928, however, the office building project and the lease on the site were taken over by Walter P. Chrysler, head of the Chrysler Corporation, who was seeking to expand his interests into the real estate field.
Walter Percy Chrysler (1875-1940), one of America's foremost automobile manufacturers, was a self-made man who worked his way up through the mechanical an; manufacturing aspects of the railroad business before joining the Buick Motor Company as works manager in 1912. Because of his success in introducing new processes and efficiencies into the automobile plant, he rose quickly through the administrative ranks of General Motors (which had absorbed Buick) before personality conflicts with William C. Durant, head of General Motors, forced Chrysler to leave. In 1921 he reorganized Willys-Overland Company, and then took over as chairman of the reorganization and management committee of the Maxwell Motor Company, eventually assuming the presidency. This enabled Chrysler to introduce in 1924 the car bearing his name which presented such innovations as four-wheel hydraulic brakes and high compression motor.
Over 50 million dollars worth of cars were sold the first year, and in 1925, the Maxwell Motor Company became the Chrysler Corporation, Dodge Brothers was acquired in 1928 giving the Chrysler Corporation additional manufacturing facilities, a famous line of cars, and putting it in a position to challenge the leadership of Ford and General Motor By 1935, when Chrysler retired from the presidency of the Chrysler Corporation to become chairman of the board, the company was second in the automobile industry ir. volume of production.
It was while Chrysler was aggressively expanding his corporation in 1928 that he took over the office building project from Reynolds. In his autobiography, Chrysler said that he had the building constructed so that his sons would have something to be responsible for. He could not have been unaware, however, that the building would become a personal symbol and further the image of the Chrysler Corporation — even though no corporate funds were used in its financing or construction. To that end Chrysler worked with architect William Van Alen to make the building a powerful and striking design.
William Van Alen (1882-1954) studied at Pratt Institute before beginning his architectural career in the office or Clarence True, a speculative builder. Severs! years later while continuing his studies at the Beaux-Arts Institute 01 Design in the atelier of Donn Barber, Van Alen entered the office of Clinton * Russell as a designer. In 1908 he won the Paris Prize of the Beaux-Arts Institute and entered the Ecole des Beaux-Arts and the Atelier lLaloux. According to architect Francis S. Swales, "
His work at the Ecole indicated that the training was providing him with the mental freedom necessary to think independently, instead of merely the usual school -cargo of elements of architecture and a technique or competition by rules."0 Returning to New York in 1912 he introduced the concept of "garden11 apartments and also designed the Albemarle Building, a skyscraper without cornices. In the 1920s he became known for his innovative shop-front designs and for a series of restaurants for the Child's chain. With the Chrysler Building, Van Alen was able to apply modern principles of design to the skyscraper but at the same time created such a striking image that critic Kenneth Murchison dubbed him "the Ziegfield of his profession.
'In the 1930s he pioneered in prefabricated housing designs although they were never widely produced. Van Alen served for four years in the 1940s as director of sculpture for the Beaux-Arts Institute of Design, and he was a member of the American Institute of Architects and the National Academy of Design.
Work began on the Chrysler Building on October 15, 1928, when Chrysler acquire the lease, with clearance of the site. Construction proceeded rapidly; foundations to a depth of 69 feet were completed early in 1929, and the steel framework was completed by the end of September of that year.
The design of the building, however, was altered from that for Reynolds. Chrysler, in his autobiography, credits himself for suggesting that it be taller than the 1000-foot Eiffel Tower. The design of the crowning dome was also changed, and the addition of a spire, which the architect called a "vertex," made the Chrysler at 1046 feet the tallest building in the world at the time. Kenneth Murchison fancifully depicts Chrysler urging Van Alen to win the race to construct the world's tallest building.
Van Alen himself had personal reasons for achieving this goal, as a former partner, ii. Craig Severance, was constructing the Bank of Manhattan, 40 Wall Street, at the same time with the aim of making it the world's tallest skyscraper. Thinking that the Chrysler Building would be only 925 feet high, Severance added a 50-foot flagpole to his building making it 927 feet. Meanwhile, Van Alen designed the 185-foot spire which would make the Chrysler Building the tallest. The spire was fabricated, then delivered to the building in five sections, and assembled secret at the 65th floor.
In November, 1929, it was finally raised into position by a 20-ton derrick through a fire tower in the center of the building, then riveted i place, the whole operation taking about 90 minutes. This engineering feat capture the popular imagination as well as that of professionals, and it helped to further the progressive image of the Chrysler Building. However, the Chrysler lost its height distinction two years later with the construction of the Empire State Building.
The first tenants moved into the Chrysler Building in April, 1930, even though construction was not completed. Formal opening ceremonies were held on May 27, 1930 in conjunction with the annual meeting of the 42nd Street Property Owners and Merchants Association. A bronze tablet was placed in the lobby of the building "in recongnition of Mr. Chrysler's contribution to civic advancement." The building was considered finished in August, 1930, but curiously, the completion date recorded in the records of the Manhattan Building Department is February 19, 1932.
The Chrysler Building and Art Deco
Waiter P. Chrysler wanted a progressive image and a personal symbol. Van Alen strove* to create such an image using the tenets of modernism as he interpreted them. In so doing he designed a building which has come to be regarded as one of the outstanding examples of Art Deco architecture.
The term. Art Deco, which is also referred to by several different names such as the Style Moderne and Modernistic, is adopted from the Exposition International: des Arts Decoratifs et Industrie]s Modernes--an important European influence or. the American Art Deco sty!e--held in Paris in 1925.
In the period following the first World War, architects in Europe and the united States had begun to simplify traditional design forms and to use -industrial materials in innovative ways in order to characterize the modern age.
The Art Deco style seemed to lend itself particularly well to skyscraper design because the skyscraper, more than any other building type, epitomized progress, innovation, and a new modern age. Although the Art Deco style was short-lived, it coincided with a great building boom at the end of the 1920s in New York. The many-skyscrapers which were erected in the Art Deco style gave New York and its skyline a characteristic and romantic image, popularized in theater and films, which persisted until the next great building boom of the early 1960s. In the Chrysler Building, Van Alen used a variety of materials, techniques, and design forms which are characteristic of Art Deco.
The Chrysler Building rises 77 stories in a series of setbacks which accord with the regulations of the 1916 New York zoning prdinance. As a freestanding tower occupying about half a block, the building is visible from four sides. Like many Art Deco architects. Van Alen believed strongly in designing steel structures so that they would not be imitative of masonry construction.'- Also unlike many earlier skyscrapers, the design of the Chrysler did not follow the formula of a column with ornamental base, bare shaft, and ornamental capital; rather the design was to be of interest throughout the entire height.13 Both the great height of the building and the mandated setbacks aided Van Alen in making this design decision,
The first four stories of the building cover the entire site arid are faced with polished black Shastone granite at the first story and white Georgian marble above. The most striking features of this portion of the building are the two entrances, on Lexington Avenue and 42nd Street. Each entrance rises for h height of three stories in proscenium fashion and is enframed by Shastone granite. Set back within the deep reveals of the entrances are sets of revolving doors beneath intricately patterned metal and glass screens.
The treatment is such as to heighten the dramatic effect of entering the building --a concern of Art Deco design There is a one-story entrance on 43rd Street. Also at first story level are iarge show windows for shops, framed in metal. Windows for offices may be seen at the second, third, and fourth stories. Ornamental spandrels are set at the bases of the second story windows. The exposed metal frames of the entries and windows art of "Nirosta" steel, a kind of rust-resistant, chromium nickel steel, manufactured for the first time in the United States specifically for the Chrysler Building according to a German formula from Krupp. This use of a new. material is in keeping with Art Deco principles.
Above the fourth story, the building is penetrated on the east and west sides by light courts extending to the face of the tower, while on the north and south the structure gradually rises in a series of setbacks. The facing of the walls through the first setback at the sixteenth story is of white brick with contrast! white marble strips creating a basketweave pattern. The use of a variety of colo and textures is characteristic of Art Deco. Windows are set in a regular grid pattern. An. unusual feature of all windows in the building is that they have no reveals; frames are set flush with the walls. This was seen is another means of indicating modernity and progress.
In the next setback, ending at the twenty-fourth floor, there is a vertical emphasis with piers of white brick alternating with vertical window strips. Aluminum spandrels between the windows aid this effect. Spandrels at the twentieth twenty-first, and twenty-second floors are adorned with polished abstract relief ornament. At the corners of the twenty-fourth floor are placed conventionalized pineapples, about nine feet high, of "Nirosta" steel, which had been fabricated < the site.
The next three stories, through the twenty-seventh, form the third setback. Horizontal banding and zigzag motifs in gray and black brick contrast with the verticality of the setback below. The fourth setback, to the thirty-first story marks the emergence of the tower shaft from the lower masses. At the thirty-first floor the corners of the building are extended outward and crowned by huge ornamental Chrysler radiator caps in "Nirosta" steel, spanning about 15 feet.
The- extension was necessary to overcome the optical effect that would otherwise make the tower appear wider at the top than at the base. Also at this floor is a frieze ir. gra; and white brick of stylized racing automobiles with polished steel hub caps. Th ornamental features are overt symbols of the Chrysler Corporation and characteristic of the types of effects created by Art Deco architects.
The building had a number of innovative and desirable features. THe soundproofed office partitions were of steel made in interchangeable sections so that arranges! of any office suite could be changed quickly and conveniently. Under-floor duct systems carried wiring for telephone and electric outlets.
The elevators, specifically at Chrysler's instruction, were capable of speeds of 1000 feet per minute although city codes in effect in 1930 only allowed 700 feet per minute. The building also had three of the longest continuous elevator shafts in the world To enhance public access to the building, an underground arcade led to the IRT subway system. The connection was strongly opposed by the IRT, but Chrysler prevailed and the passageway was built at his expense. In the dome was the private-Cloud Club, which still exists, and, in the very topmost floor, a public observation deck.
On display was Walter P. Chrysler's box of handmade tools, the emblem of his enterprise and personal success. The observatory has been closed for many years.
Conclusion
Critics such as Lewis Mumford who favored the International Style denigrated the Chrysler Building for its "inane romanticism,... meaningless voluptuousness, ... /and/ void symbolism," " but it was these qualities which captured the popular imagination and helped make it one of the most famous buildings in New York. We can appreciate the comments of the editor of Architectural Porum who wrote:
It stands by itself, something apart and alone. It is simply the realization, the fulfillment in metal and masonry, of a one-man dream, a dream of such ambition and such magnitude as to defy the comprehension and the criticism of ordinary men or by ordinary standards.
The Chrysler Building still stands proudly in the New York skyline, its gleaming spire and soaring tower capturing the eye and imagination of the viewer. While it may no longer symbolize the Chrysler Corporation, it still embodies the romantic essence of the Art Deco skyscraper in New York City, with its dramatic effects, elegant materials, and vivid ornamental details. Built as a monument to progress in commerce and industry, it remains as one of New York's finest office buildings and great examples of the Art Deco style.
- From the 1978 NYCLPC Landmark Designation Report
Sa Pa is a mountain town in northern Vietnam, located in Lào Cai Province near the Chinese border. Known for its dramatic terraced rice fields, misty valleys, and ethnic minority cultures, it has become one of the country’s most popular highland destinations. Originally developed as a French hill station during the colonial period, Sa Pa now blends tourism, local life, and mountain scenery, with a busy town centre surrounded by striking natural landscapes.
This unprocessed "raw" image of Saturn's icy, geologically active moon Enceladus was acquired by NASA's Cassini spacecraft during its dramatic Oct. 28, 2015 flyby in which the probe passed about 30 miles (49 kilometers) above the moon's south polar region. via NASA ift.tt/1MxNoLy
Krasnoyarsk Pillars (also known as Stolby) (Russian: Национа́льный парк «Красноя́рские Столбы́») is a Russian national park located 10 km south of the city of Krasnoyarsk, on the northwestern spurs of the Eastern Sayan Mountains. The site is known for its dramatic rock formations. Over 200,000 climbers, hikers, and other visitors are recorded annually. The park covers 47,219 hectares.
Daniel Gottlieb Messerschmidt explored the Stolby between 1720 and 1727. He visited Krasnoyarsk three times during his 7-year exploration of Siberia. Vitus Bering visited it in 1733–1734.
In 1735 the Pillars were seen by the members of the Second Kamchatka Expedition, including naturalists Johann Georg Gmelin and his assistant Stepan Krasheninnikov.
In 1771–1773, Peter Simon Pallas visited the Stolby. He lived about a year in Krasnoyarsk, working on such papers as "Journey in various provinces of the Russian Empire," "Description of plants of the Russian state," and "Russian-Asian zoogeography."
The gold rush started in Siberia in the 1830s. Gold was mined in the Stolby. "Royev Ruchey" (Eng. "Scooped Brook") was so named because of the activities of miners.
In 1833, furs of 67 sables, foxes and 43 to thousands of skins of other animals were obtained in the Stolby region.
In 1870 and 1880s, a Krasnoyarsk teacher named Ivan Savenkov organized school trips to the "Pillars". In 1886, Savenkov published a topographical description of the suburbs of Krasnoyarsk.
From the late 1940s to the beginning of the 21st century, 16 collections of scientific papers about the Pillars were published. The effect of air pollution and recreational using on taiga ecosystems was investigated. Ivan Belyak has authored several books about the area.
Barsana Monastery - Maramures - Romania
Wall decoration in the Church
Barsana monastery, one of the main attractions in Maramures, Romania
When UNESCO designated parts of the Maramures Region in Northern Transylvania a WORLD HERITAGE site, it was aimed at protecting the stylized wooden architecture and its dramatic vernacular. Of particular appeal are the tall spires of orthodox churches that dot the area. One of these is the recently constructed Barsana Monastery complex - actually a convent with sixteen nuns. Created in post-Communist years on the site of a church abandoned in 1790, the complex has become a significant cultural and religious attraction. Its 56 meter-tall (180 feet) spired church is reputedly the tallest wooden structure in Europe.
www.flickr.com/photos/wwwdragos/7614653774/in/set-7215762...
Garden of the Gods is a breathtaking public park in Colorado Springs, Colorado, famous for its dramatic red sandstone rock formations that tower against the backdrop of Pikes Peak and the Rocky Mountains. Designated a National Natural Landmark, the park offers miles of scenic trails for hiking, biking, and horseback riding, as well as opportunities for world-class rock climbing. Its unique geological formations, combined with panoramic mountain views and abundant wildlife, make Garden of the Gods a must-visit destination for nature lovers, adventurers, and travelers exploring the American West.
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The Colorado River is the principal river of the southwestern United States and northwest Mexico. The 1,450-mile (2,330 km) river drains an expansive, arid watershed that encompasses parts of seven U.S. and two Mexican states. Rising in the central Rocky Mountains in the U.S., the river flows generally southwest across the Colorado Plateau before reaching Lake Mead on the Arizona–Nevada line, where it turns south towards the international border. After entering Mexico, the Colorado forms a large delta, emptying into the Gulf of California between Baja California and Sonora.
Known for its dramatic canyons and whitewater rapids, the Colorado is a vital source of water for agricultural and urban areas in the southwestern desert lands of North America.
SLO_GenLA Table
The SLO_GenLA communal table is a focal point in the lobby of Gensler’s Los Angeles office, and the result of an innovative partnership between Gensler and the Department of Architecture at the College of Architecture and Environmental Design at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo.
In 2011, professors Jim Doerfler and Mark Cabrinha, co-directors of Cal Poly’s Digital Fabrication Lab (“d[Fab]Lab”) reached out to Gensler L.A. design director Shawn Gehle to create a fully-virtualized studio focused on digital fabrication and online collaboration tools. In response, Gehle authored a unique, 10-week seminar that would allow students access to the firm’s design talent and explore form-finding and digital fabrication techniques through the design of a custom furniture piece. The design brief simply outlined a piece that could accommodate standing and sitting space for guests and storage for the firm’s design publications. The piece would need to be site-specific and prominently featured in Gensler’s new downtown Los Angeles office.
Beyond an initial in-person meeting, Cal Poly students and d[Fab]Lab faculty met with Gensler advisors via the online collaboration tool GoToMeeting to conduct weekly seminar discussions and review the team’s progress. In addition to bridging the 200-mile gap between designers in Los Angeles and students and faculty in San Luis Obispo, this method allowed professional consultants and materials specialists to participate easily, while exposing students to the kind of virtual collaboration that is prevalent in professional practice today. Maintaining a focus on a digital workflow, the team’s design and documentation process also was conducted virtually, substituting a 3-D model as the deliverable for fabrication in lieu of a traditional set of 2-D drawings.
Over the course of the seminar, the original concepts of three students were developed and refined using the 3-D modeling software Rhino and T-Splines, and virtually reviewed and critiqued weekly with Gensler’s design staff. Structural engineers at Buro Happold and solid surfacing material provider LG Hausys joined multiple discussions to examine schemes and offer insight on constructability, cost and structural integrity. A final, in-person meeting in Los Angeles focused on the review of physical prototypes and material samples, and enabled the team to address the challenges of forming fiberglass vs. solid surfacing as the table’s predominant surface material.
Inspired by the design and opportunity, LG Hausys become a partner in the project, providing technical expertise and support for their HI-MACS solid surfacing product, which proved to be the ideal material for achieving the table’s draped surface. LG Hausys also introduced the team to the capabilities of R.D. Wing Co. Inc., the Seattle-based fabrication specialists who ultimately constructed and delivered the table’s design.
The SLO_Gen table was recently installed in the main entry of Gensler Los Angeles, where its dramatic profile continues to lure pedestrians in from the street and prompt conversation on its origin.
Link to Project Video:
Project Information
Name
SLO_GenLA Table
Location
Gensler Los Angeles, 500 S. Figueroa, Los Angeles, CA 90027
Contacts
Shawn Gehle, Design Director – Gensler Los Angeles
Follow on twitter: @shawngehle
Mark Cabrinha, Ph.D., RA, Associate Professor, Architecture Department - Cal Poly, SLO
mcabrinh@calpoly.edu
805.756.2855
Project Credits
CLIENT
•Gensler Los Angeles
-Robert Jernigan, Shawn Gehle
TEAM
Design
•Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo
Department of Architecture, College of Architecture and Environmental Design
-Faculty: Jim Doerfler, Mark Cabrinha
-Students: Ben Hait-Campbell, Cory Walker, Kegan Charles Flanderka
•Gensler Los Angeles
-Sabu Song, Shawn Gehle, Richard Hammond, Valentin Lieu
Engineering
•Buro Happold
-Garrett Jones, Gary Lau, Greg Otto, Liz Mahlow,
Fabrication
•R.D. Wing Co., Inc.
-Brandon Wing, Dan Foreman, Vath Sida, Wayne Bart
Materials
•LG Hausys – HI-MACS® Solid Surfacing
Corfe Castle is an iconic medieval fortification situated above the village of the same name on the Isle of Purbeck in Dorset, England. Today, its dramatic ruins—nestled in a gap within the Purbeck Hills—stand as a poignant reminder of centuries of turbulent history in southern England .
Built shortly after the Norman Conquest, Corfe Castle is one of the earliest examples of stone fortifications in England. Its strategic location, controlling a narrow gap on the route between Wareham and Swanage, made it a key military stronghold from the outset.
Over the 12th and 13th centuries, the castle underwent significant expansion and modification. In the 17th century, amid the upheavals of the English Civil War, the castle was one of the last Royalist bastions in southern England. Lady Mary Bankes notoriously led its defense against Parliamentarian forces, but by 1645 the castle fell, and Parliament ordered it to be slighted—deliberately rendered unusable as a military fortification .
HMS Surprise was the name of 13 ships of the British Royal Navy starting from 1746 to 1965. The HMS Surprise here, built in 1970 as the HMS Rose, a replica of a 20 gun sixth-rate frigate from 1757 that was infamous for suppressing smuggling in Continental Rhode Island and Connecticut before fighting in New York City and being scuttled at Savannah. Ironically the replica HMS Rose served as a tourist attraction in Rhode Island before becoming a sail training vessel in the 1980s and was commissioned as a vessel of the Connecticut Naval Militia. In 2001 she was sold to 20th Century Fox and refitted to appear like the 1796 HMS Surprise, known for its dramatic "cutting out" operation recapturing the HMS Hermione.from Spanish control at Puerto Cabello. The ship was portrayed as its namesake in the largely fictional 2003 film Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World. The renamed HMS Surprise was sold to the San Diego Maritime Museum, who restored her in 2007. Since then she has acted as a museum ship, though she was also in the 2010 film Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.
Despite her name "HMS", the Surprise is not and has never been a part of the Royal Navy.
Downtown, San Diego, California
Fonte : Wikipedia
Florence and the Machine (styled as Florence + the Machine) are an English indie rock band that formed in London in 2007, consisting of lead singer Florence Welch, Isabella Summers, and a collaboration of other artists. The band's music received praise across the media, especially from the BBC, which played a large part in their rise to prominence by promoting Florence and the Machine as part of BBC Introducing. At the 2009 Brit Awards they received the Brit Awards "Critics' Choice" award. The band's music is renowned for its dramatic and eccentric production and also Welch's powerful vocal performances.
The band's debut studio album, Lungs, was released on 6 July 2009, and held the number-two position for its first five weeks on the UK Albums Chart. On 17 January 2010, the album reached the top position, after being on the chart for twenty-eight consecutive weeks.As of October 2010, the album had been in the top forty in the United Kingdom for sixty-five consecutive weeks, making it one of the best-selling albums of 2009 and 2010. The group's second studio album, Ceremonials, released in October 2011, entered the charts at number one in the UK and number six in the US. The band's third album, How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful, was released on 2 June 2015. It topped the UK charts, and debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200, their first to do so. The album reached number one in a total of eight countries and the top ten of twenty. Also in 2015, the band was the headlining act at Glastonbury Festival, making Florence Welch the first British female headliner this century.
Florence and the Machine's sound has been described as a combination of various genres, including rock and soul. Lungs won the Brit Award for Best British Album in 2010. Florence and the Machine has been nominated for eight Grammy Awards including Best New Artist and Best Pop Vocal Album. Additionally, the band performed at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards and the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize Concert
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Vorder Glärnisch (2,327 m)
Location: Vorder Glärnisch is part of the Schwyzer Alps, in Switzerland, situated near the town of Netstal and visible from various parts of the region.
Key Features:
Vorder Glärnisch is the easternmost peak of the Glärnisch massif.
Its rugged limestone cliffs make it a striking sight when viewed from the Linth Valley.
Despite its dramatic appearance, it is considered more accessible than some of its neighboring peaks, making it a favorite among intermediate hikers.
Hiking and Climbing:
The typical route starts in Glarus or nearby Klöntal.
Trails lead through lush meadows and forests before reaching steeper, rocky terrain.
The summit rewards climbers with panoramic views of Lake Klöntal, the Linth Valley, and the surrounding Glarus Alps.
Significance: Its imposing form often serves as a natural landmark for travelers and a popular subject for photographers in the region.
Rautispitz (2,283 m)
Location: Rautispitz is a prominent peak situated near Netstal and Lake Klöntal, also in the Glarus Alps.
Key Features:
Known for its steep slopes and pointed summit, Rautispitz is a dramatic presence in the landscape.
It is surrounded by pristine alpine meadows and dense forests at lower elevations.
Hiking and Climbing:
The ascent is moderately challenging and often starts near Netstal or through trails from Lake Klöntal.
Popular routes pass through Obersee or Näfels, offering hikers a combination of serene lakeside views and rugged alpine landscapes.
The final approach involves steep paths and some scrambling, requiring proper equipment and good physical condition.
Views from the Summit:
Spectacular vistas of Lake Klöntal, Vorder Glärnisch, and the distant peaks of the Glarus Alps.
On clear days, hikers can also see parts of the Linth Plain and other landmarks in eastern Switzerland.
Significance:
The Rautispitz is a beloved hiking destination and is well-known for its relatively untouched nature, making it a quieter alternative to some of the busier peaks in the region.
Both Vorder Glärnisch and Rautispitz are iconic peaks of the Schwyzer Alps, offering a mix of accessibility and challenge to outdoor enthusiasts, with breathtaking scenery that captures the essence of Switzerland’s alpine beauty.
Famed for its dramatic rapids and canyons, the Colorado is one of the most desirable whitewater rivers in the United States A section of the river above Moab, known as the Colorado "Daily" or "Fisher Towers Section", is the most visited whitewater run in Utah, with more than 77,000 visitors in 2011 alone.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_River
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_Creative_Commons_...
REFORD GARDENS | LES JARDINS DE METIS
Beautiful flowers at Reford Gardens.
Papaver orientale, the Oriental poppy, is a perennial flowering plant native to the Caucasus, northeastern Turkey, and northern Iran.
Oriental poppies grow a mound of leaves that are hairy and finely dissected in spring. They gather energy and bloom in mid-summer. After flowering the foliage dies away entirely, a property that allows their survival in the summer drought of Central Asia. Gardeners can place late-developing plants nearby to fill the developing gap.
Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papaver_orientale
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Visit : www.refordgardens.com/
From Wikipedia:
Elsie Stephen Meighen - born January 22, 1872, Perth, Ontario - and Robert Wilson Reford - born in 1867, Montreal - got married on June 12, 1894.
Elsie Reford was a pioneer of Canadian horticulture, creating one of the largest private gardens in Canada on her estate, Estevan Lodge in eastern Québec. Located in Grand-Métis on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River, her gardens have been open to the public since 1962 and operate under the name Les Jardins de Métis and Reford Gardens.
Born January 22, 1872 at Perth, Ontario, Elsie Reford was the eldest of three children born to Robert Meighen and Elsie Stephen. Coming from modest backgrounds themselves, Elsie’s parents ensured that their children received a good education. After being educated in Montreal, she was sent to finishing school in Dresden and Paris, returning to Montreal fluent in both German and French, and ready to take her place in society.
She married Robert Wilson Reford on June 12, 1894. She gave birth to two sons, Bruce in 1895 and Eric in 1900. Robert and Elsie Reford were, by many accounts, an ideal couple. In 1902, they built a house on Drummond Street in Montreal. They both loved the outdoors and they spend several weeks a year in a log cabin they built at Lac Caribou, south of Rimouski. In the autumn they hunted for caribou, deer, and ducks. They returned in winter to ski and snowshoe. Elsie Reford also liked to ride. She had learned as a girl and spent many hours riding on the slopes of Mount Royal. And of course, there was salmon-fishing – a sport at which she excelled.
In her day, she was known for her civic, social, and political activism. She was engaged in philanthropic activities, particularly for the Montreal Maternity Hospital and she was also the moving force behind the creation of the Women’s Canadian Club of Montreal, the first women club in Canada. She believed it important that the women become involved in debates over the great issues of the day, « something beyond the local gossip of the hour ». Her acquaintance with Lord Grey, the Governor-General of Canada from 1904 to 1911, led to her involvement in organizing, in 1908, Québec City’s tercentennial celebrations. The event was one of many to which she devoted herself in building bridges with French-Canadian community.
During the First World War, she joined her two sons in England and did volunteer work at the War Office, translating documents from German into English. After the war, she was active in the Victorian Order of Nurses, the Montreal Council of Social Agencies, and the National Association of Conservative Women.
In 1925 at the age of 53 years, Elsie Reford was operated for appendicitis and during her convalescence, her doctor counselled against fishing, fearing that she did not have the strength to return to the river.”Why not take up gardening?” he said, thinking this a more suitable pastime for a convalescent woman of a certain age. That is why she began laying out the gardens and supervising their construction. The gardens would take ten years to build, and would extend over more than twenty acres.
Elsie Reford had to overcome many difficulties in bringing her garden to life. First among them were the allergies that sometimes left her bedridden for days on end. The second obstacle was the property itself. Estevan was first and foremost a fishing lodge. The site was chosen because of its proximity to a salmon river and its dramatic views – not for the quality of the soil.
To counter-act nature’s deficiencies, she created soil for each of the plants she had selected, bringing peat and sand from nearby farms. This exchange was fortuitous to the local farmers, suffering through the Great Depression. Then, as now, the gardens provided much-needed work to an area with high unemployment. Elsie Reford’s genius as a gardener was born of the knowledge she developed of the needs of plants. Over the course of her long life, she became an expert plantsman. By the end of her life, Elsie Reford was able to counsel other gardeners, writing in the journals of the Royal Horticultural Society and the North American Lily Society. Elsie Reford was not a landscape architect and had no training of any kind as a garden designer. While she collected and appreciated art, she claimed no talents as an artist.
Elsie Stephen Reford died at her Drummond Street home on November 8, 1967 in her ninety-sixth year.
In 1995, the Reford Gardens ("Jardins de Métis") in Grand-Métis were designated a National Historic Site of Canada, as being an excellent Canadian example of the English-inspired garden.(Wikipedia)
Visit : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elsie_Reford
Visit : www.refordgardens.com
LES JARDINS DE MÉTIS
Créés par Elsie Reford de 1926 à 1958, ces jardins témoignent de façon remarquable de l’art paysager à l’anglaise. Disposés dans un cadre naturel, un ensemble de jardins exhibent fleurs vivaces, arbres et arbustes. Le jardin des pommetiers, les rocailles et l’Allée royale évoquent l’œuvre de cette dame passionnée d’horticulture. Agrémenté d’un ruisseau et de sentiers sinueux, ce site jouit d’un microclimat favorable à la croissance d’espèces uniques au Canada. Les pavots bleus et les lis, privilégiés par Mme Reford, y fleurissent toujours et contribuent , avec d’autres plantes exotiques et indigènes, à l’harmonie de ces lieux.
Created by Elsie Reford between 1926 and 1958, these gardens are an inspired example of the English art of the garden. Woven into a natural setting, a series of gardens display perennials, trees and shrubs. A crab-apple orchard, a rock garden, and the Long Walk are also the legacy of this dedicated horticulturist. A microclimate favours the growth of species found nowhere else in Canada, while the stream and winding paths add to the charm. Elsie Reford’s beloved blue poppies and lilies still bloom and contribute, with other exotic and indigenous plants, to the harmony of the site.
Commission des lieux et monuments historiques du Canada
Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada.
Gouvernement du Canada – Government of Canada
© This photo and all those in my Photostream are protected by copyright. No one may reproduce, copy, transmit or manipulate them without my written permission.
This unprocessed "raw" image of Saturn's icy, geologically active moon Enceladus was acquired by NASA's Cassini spacecraft during its dramatic Oct. 28, 2015 flyby in which the probe passed about 30 miles (49 kilometers) above the moon's south polar region. via NASA ift.tt/1MxNoLy
The Snæfellsnes Peninsula is a region in western Iceland known for its dramatic landscapes. At its western tip, Snæfellsjökull National Park is dominated by Snæfellsjökull Volcano, which is topped by a glacier. Nearby, a trail leads through lava fields to black-pebble Djúpalónssandur Beach. In Stykkishólmur fishing village, the 19th-century wood-frame Norwegian House is a regional museum with a craft shop.
The redness in the sky to the west was now alarming, although I knew the reason, it felt like something supernatural.
Palgrave was just a few miles from Hepworth, and one I hoped to find open, and at just after four in the afternoon, but nearly dar, it was.
It was really very gloomy inside the church, even with the lights on, shots were difficult to take. I was on a mission to snap all I could as soon as possible before the light failed altogether.
Church features a splendid Norman font, modern glass, and the remains of a spiral staircase leading to a room over the south porch, the floor of which has long since vanished. The stairs now a broom cupboard.
Wonderful painted roof, I thought maybe done in the last century, but might be much, much older than that.
-----------------------------------------
2015: I've visited Palgrave church several times since this account first appeared, most recently to take the photographs here. However, I hope I will be forgiven for retaining the original text from 2003, if only for its freshness, and perhaps also for what may be viewed at this distance as its charm.
2003: I arrived at Diss railway station in that gentle sunshine for which we’ll remember the Spring of 2003. Diss is in Norfolk; I had just crossed the border on my train journey from Ipswich, but I was bound for Diss's southern suburb, the Suffolk village of Palgrave. I cycled off from the station. I headed under the railway line, and over the infant Waveney. At this point, I entered Suffolk again, but there were no county signs in either direction. To be honest, it didn’t feel that different, apart from the way that the road surface improved, the schools came off special measures, the police force became efficient, and so on.
The countryside opened out into golden oilseed rape fields under a wide sky. It was good to be home. Soon, I was coming into Palgrave village, which seemed very pleasant indeed.
In medieval times, Palgrave was actually two parishes; the westerly one, Palgrave St John, has been subsumed into this one, and that church has completely disappeared. However, this pretty church is walled neatly into its graveyard at the heart of the village, which spreads neatly around it. As this was my first church of the day, I hoped it would be open; it always puts a crimp in a trip if the first one is a lock-out. I was not disappointed; St Peter is a friendly parish that knows that part of its Christian mission is to welcome strangers and pilgrims.
I stepped through the elaborate arch of the late 15th Century south doorway. An angel and a dragon contended in the spandrels, and there were characterful heads carved in the entrance arch. Inside, a very nice lady was busy with the flowers, and took time out to show me around. All the while, I was conscious that above my head the lovely painted roof of Palgrave. Marian monograms and symbols punctuate the whitewash; once, many small Suffolk churches must have been like this. Perhaps someone can explain to me why this one hasn’t faded like many of the others; I don’t think it has been redone.
The other famous treasure here is the font. It is unlike anything else in Suffolk. Clearly Norman, but much more elaborate than most, its most outstanding features are the faces in each corner. Again, this is a more intimate experience of the faces we normally see as corbels; but Palgrave has these too, stunning medieval characters along the lines of the arcades.
While we are on the subject of treasure, there were two modern features that were obviously loved by the locals. Firstly, Surinder Warboys has her studio nearby at Mellis, and here is one of her windows in the south aisle. The light flooded through it. The lady told me that everybody liked it, but that it was very hard to do a flower arrangement in front of it! I thought that they had done very well. Secondly, up in the chancel is the benefice millennium banner – people from all the parishes came together and produced this amazing patchwork cross. On the back, there are panels depicting the mission of the Church. Apparently, it is shared around the benefice churches for display for a few weeks at a time.
In the place where many churches now display the coat of arms, Palgrave has part of a suit of armour. I have seen an explanation in several books that it was from the parish armoury, which was once stored in the upper room of the porch, as at Mendlesham. This upper room has now gone, and the armoury has, as in most churches, been dispersed. However, I could find no evidence for this story, and it seems to be based on one of Arthur Mee’s fancies. I don't think it is even real armour; rather, it is similar to the mock plate armour behind the Bacon memorial at nearby Redgrave. It seems likely to me that this is also part of an old set of armour associated with a memorial of some kind, which the Victorians swept away. I don’t suppose we’ll ever know.
Back outside again, I took time out to photograph the famous grave of carter John Catchpole, with its relief of a wagon and horses – you can see it in the left-hand column. It seems a modern fashion to decorate headstones with symbols associated with the deceased; nice to know it was happening in the mid-18th century.
I turned, and looked back at the neat tower, the splendid porch with its dramatic niches. You can see that there was once an upper room, but it has now gone.
And it was time for me to be gone, too. Waving cheerily, I headed off in the direction of Thrandeston, all the road back to Ipswich open in front of me in the sunshine.
Simon Knott, August 2003, updated July 2015
Klick Link For Read Online Or Download Death Valley National Park (National Geographic Trails Illustrated Map) Book : bit.ly/2h9eTQP
Synopsis
• Waterproof • Tear-Resistant • Topographic MapDespite its foreboding name and the fact that it is the hottest, lowest, and driest area in North America, Death Valley National Park maintains a great diversity of life in its dramatic terrain of salt-flats, canyons, mountains, valleys, sand dunes, and badlands. National Geographic’s Trails Illustrated map of Death Valley National Park delivers unmatched detail and valuable information to assist you in your visit to this land of extremes. Expertly researched and created in partnership with local land management agencies, this map features key areas of interest including Badwater Basin, Furnace Creek, Scotty’s Castle, Panamint Springs, and Stovepipe Wells.With miles of clearly marked trails that include mileages between intersections, this map will prove invaluable in your exp
We are drawing a line against further mining and burning of coal, one of the biggest cause for climate change and its dramatic impacts. Considering the urgency of the climate issue, we consider it both necessary and appropriate to go one step further – from public protest to civil disobedience.
And there it is! The Point Reyes Lighthouse, in all its dramatic glory, sitting on its precarious little rock perch 290 feet above the Pacific, or 175 feet below the little platform where I was standing when I took this. (That's the platform you could just make out in the fog in this picture I posted yesterday. The platform you see in this picture is a second platform, another 70 feet down the slope.)
This is quite possibly the most dramatic location for a lighthouse I've ever seen, perched at one end of a narrow ridge with the Pacific on either side. According to the internet, National Weather Service records indicate this is the foggiest, windiest spot on the California coast, and based on my short experience, I'd believe it. It's hard to imagine what it must have been like back in the days of the steamships of the late 19th century, trying to tiptoe your way along this rocky coast through the fog to San Francisco. It's hard to imagine what it must have been like for the lighthouse keepers, marching up and down this hill through the storms.
Mount Lao, or Laoshan (Chinese: 崂山; pinyin: Láo Shān) is a mountain located near the East China Sea on the southeastern coastline of the Shandong Peninsula in China. The mountain is culturally significant due to its long affiliation with Taoism and is often regarded as one of the "cradles of Taoism". It is the highest coastal mountain in China and the second highest mountain in Shandong, with the highest peak (Jufeng) reaching 1,132.7 metres (3,716 ft). The mountain lies about 30 kilometres (19 mi) to the northeast of the downtown area of the City of Qingdao and is protected by the Qingdao Laoshan National Park that covers an area of 446 square kilometers.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Lao
🇬🇧 English
Lao Shan (Laoshan) is a sacred mountain on China’s eastern coast, near Qingdao, famous for its dramatic granite peaks, clear springs, and strong Taoist heritage.
It is considered one of the birthplaces of Taoism, with temples dating back over 2,000 years. Laoshan is renowned for its pure mountain water, believed to have exceptional quality, and for its rare combination of mountain landscapes and direct sea views, which is unusual in China.
The mountain has long inspired poets, philosophers, and martial artists, symbolizing harmony between nature, spirit, and the Dao.
🇨🇳 中文（简体）
崂山（Lao Shan） 位于中国山东省青岛市东部，是中国著名的道教名山之一。
崂山以奇峰怪石、清泉瀑布和临海山景而闻名，是中国少有的“海上第一名山”。这里被认为是道教的重要发源地之一，至今仍保留着大量古老的道观。
崂山的山泉水极为著名，被认为清澈甘甜，富含灵气，长期被用于茶叶和传统养生文化中。
🇭🇷 Hrvatski
Lao Shan (Laoshan) je sveta planina na istočnoj obali Kine, u blizini Qingdaoa, poznata po strmim granitnim vrhovima, čistim izvorima i snažnoj daoističkoj tradiciji.
Smatra se jednim od najvažnijih povijesnih središta taoizma, s hramovima starima više od dvije tisuće godina. Posebnost Lao Shana je rijetka kombinacija planine i mora, gdje se s vrhova pruža pogled izravno na Žuto more.
Planina simbolizira sklad prirode, duhovnosti i dugovječnosti te ima važno mjesto u kineskoj filozofiji i kulturi.
REFORD GARDENS | LES JARDINS DE METIS
Beautiful flowers at Reford Gardens.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Visit : www.refordgardens.com/
From Wikipedia:
Elsie Stephen Meighen - born January 22, 1872, Perth, Ontario - and Robert Wilson Reford - born in 1867, Montreal - got married on June 12, 1894.
Elsie Reford was a pioneer of Canadian horticulture, creating one of the largest private gardens in Canada on her estate, Estevan Lodge in eastern Québec. Located in Grand-Métis on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River, her gardens have been open to the public since 1962 and operate under the name Les Jardins de Métis and Reford Gardens.
Born January 22, 1872 at Perth, Ontario, Elsie Reford was the eldest of three children born to Robert Meighen and Elsie Stephen. Coming from modest backgrounds themselves, Elsie’s parents ensured that their children received a good education. After being educated in Montreal, she was sent to finishing school in Dresden and Paris, returning to Montreal fluent in both German and French, and ready to take her place in society.
She married Robert Wilson Reford on June 12, 1894. She gave birth to two sons, Bruce in 1895 and Eric in 1900. Robert and Elsie Reford were, by many accounts, an ideal couple. In 1902, they built a house on Drummond Street in Montreal. They both loved the outdoors and they spend several weeks a year in a log cabin they built at Lac Caribou, south of Rimouski. In the autumn they hunted for caribou, deer, and ducks. They returned in winter to ski and snowshoe. Elsie Reford also liked to ride. She had learned as a girl and spent many hours riding on the slopes of Mount Royal. And of course, there was salmon-fishing – a sport at which she excelled.
In her day, she was known for her civic, social, and political activism. She was engaged in philanthropic activities, particularly for the Montreal Maternity Hospital and she was also the moving force behind the creation of the Women’s Canadian Club of Montreal, the first women club in Canada. She believed it important that the women become involved in debates over the great issues of the day, « something beyond the local gossip of the hour ». Her acquaintance with Lord Grey, the Governor-General of Canada from 1904 to 1911, led to her involvement in organizing, in 1908, Québec City’s tercentennial celebrations. The event was one of many to which she devoted herself in building bridges with French-Canadian community.
During the First World War, she joined her two sons in England and did volunteer work at the War Office, translating documents from German into English. After the war, she was active in the Victorian Order of Nurses, the Montreal Council of Social Agencies, and the National Association of Conservative Women.
In 1925 at the age of 53 years, Elsie Reford was operated for appendicitis and during her convalescence, her doctor counselled against fishing, fearing that she did not have the strength to return to the river.”Why not take up gardening?” he said, thinking this a more suitable pastime for a convalescent woman of a certain age. That is why she began laying out the gardens and supervising their construction. The gardens would take ten years to build, and would extend over more than twenty acres.
Elsie Reford had to overcome many difficulties in bringing her garden to life. First among them were the allergies that sometimes left her bedridden for days on end. The second obstacle was the property itself. Estevan was first and foremost a fishing lodge. The site was chosen because of its proximity to a salmon river and its dramatic views – not for the quality of the soil.
To counter-act nature’s deficiencies, she created soil for each of the plants she had selected, bringing peat and sand from nearby farms. This exchange was fortuitous to the local farmers, suffering through the Great Depression. Then, as now, the gardens provided much-needed work to an area with high unemployment. Elsie Reford’s genius as a gardener was born of the knowledge she developed of the needs of plants. Over the course of her long life, she became an expert plantsman. By the end of her life, Elsie Reford was able to counsel other gardeners, writing in the journals of the Royal Horticultural Society and the North American Lily Society. Elsie Reford was not a landscape architect and had no training of any kind as a garden designer. While she collected and appreciated art, she claimed no talents as an artist.
Elsie Stephen Reford died at her Drummond Street home on November 8, 1967 in her ninety-sixth year.
In 1995, the Reford Gardens ("Jardins de Métis") in Grand-Métis were designated a National Historic Site of Canada, as being an excellent Canadian example of the English-inspired garden.(Wikipedia)
Visit : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elsie_Reford
Visit : www.refordgardens.com
LES JARDINS DE MÉTIS
Créés par Elsie Reford de 1926 à 1958, ces jardins témoignent de façon remarquable de l’art paysager à l’anglaise. Disposés dans un cadre naturel, un ensemble de jardins exhibent fleurs vivaces, arbres et arbustes. Le jardin des pommetiers, les rocailles et l’Allée royale évoquent l’œuvre de cette dame passionnée d’horticulture. Agrémenté d’un ruisseau et de sentiers sinueux, ce site jouit d’un microclimat favorable à la croissance d’espèces uniques au Canada. Les pavots bleus et les lis, privilégiés par Mme Reford, y fleurissent toujours et contribuent , avec d’autres plantes exotiques et indigènes, à l’harmonie de ces lieux.
Created by Elsie Reford between 1926 and 1958, these gardens are an inspired example of the English art of the garden. Woven into a natural setting, a series of gardens display perennials, trees and shrubs. A crab-apple orchard, a rock garden, and the Long Walk are also the legacy of this dedicated horticulturist. A microclimate favours the growth of species found nowhere else in Canada, while the stream and winding paths add to the charm. Elsie Reford’s beloved blue poppies and lilies still bloom and contribute, with other exotic and indigenous plants, to the harmony of the site.
Commission des lieux et monuments historiques du Canada
Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada.
Gouvernement du Canada – Government of Canada
© Copyright
This photo and all those in my Photostream are protected by copyright. No one may reproduce, copy, transmit or manipulate them without my written permission.
REFORD GARDENS | LES JARDINS DE METIS
Gentiana Septemfida Var. Lagodechiana
Beautiful flowers at Reford Gardens.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Visit : www.refordgardens.com/
From Wikipedia:
Elsie Stephen Meighen - born January 22, 1872, Perth, Ontario - and Robert Wilson Reford - born in 1867, Montreal - got married on June 12, 1894.
Elsie Reford was a pioneer of Canadian horticulture, creating one of the largest private gardens in Canada on her estate, Estevan Lodge in eastern Québec. Located in Grand-Métis on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River, her gardens have been open to the public since 1962 and operate under the name Les Jardins de Métis and Reford Gardens.
Born January 22, 1872 at Perth, Ontario, Elsie Reford was the eldest of three children born to Robert Meighen and Elsie Stephen. Coming from modest backgrounds themselves, Elsie’s parents ensured that their children received a good education. After being educated in Montreal, she was sent to finishing school in Dresden and Paris, returning to Montreal fluent in both German and French, and ready to take her place in society.
She married Robert Wilson Reford on June 12, 1894. She gave birth to two sons, Bruce in 1895 and Eric in 1900. Robert and Elsie Reford were, by many accounts, an ideal couple. In 1902, they built a house on Drummond Street in Montreal. They both loved the outdoors and they spend several weeks a year in a log cabin they built at Lac Caribou, south of Rimouski. In the autumn they hunted for caribou, deer, and ducks. They returned in winter to ski and snowshoe. Elsie Reford also liked to ride. She had learned as a girl and spent many hours riding on the slopes of Mount Royal. And of course, there was salmon-fishing – a sport at which she excelled.
In her day, she was known for her civic, social, and political activism. She was engaged in philanthropic activities, particularly for the Montreal Maternity Hospital and she was also the moving force behind the creation of the Women’s Canadian Club of Montreal, the first women club in Canada. She believed it important that the women become involved in debates over the great issues of the day, « something beyond the local gossip of the hour ». Her acquaintance with Lord Grey, the Governor-General of Canada from 1904 to 1911, led to her involvement in organizing, in 1908, Québec City’s tercentennial celebrations. The event was one of many to which she devoted herself in building bridges with French-Canadian community.
During the First World War, she joined her two sons in England and did volunteer work at the War Office, translating documents from German into English. After the war, she was active in the Victorian Order of Nurses, the Montreal Council of Social Agencies, and the National Association of Conservative Women.
In 1925 at the age of 53 years, Elsie Reford was operated for appendicitis and during her convalescence, her doctor counselled against fishing, fearing that she did not have the strength to return to the river.”Why not take up gardening?” he said, thinking this a more suitable pastime for a convalescent woman of a certain age. That is why she began laying out the gardens and supervising their construction. The gardens would take ten years to build, and would extend over more than twenty acres.
Elsie Reford had to overcome many difficulties in bringing her garden to life. First among them were the allergies that sometimes left her bedridden for days on end. The second obstacle was the property itself. Estevan was first and foremost a fishing lodge. The site was chosen because of its proximity to a salmon river and its dramatic views – not for the quality of the soil.
To counter-act nature’s deficiencies, she created soil for each of the plants she had selected, bringing peat and sand from nearby farms. This exchange was fortuitous to the local farmers, suffering through the Great Depression. Then, as now, the gardens provided much-needed work to an area with high unemployment. Elsie Reford’s genius as a gardener was born of the knowledge she developed of the needs of plants. Over the course of her long life, she became an expert plantsman. By the end of her life, Elsie Reford was able to counsel other gardeners, writing in the journals of the Royal Horticultural Society and the North American Lily Society. Elsie Reford was not a landscape architect and had no training of any kind as a garden designer. While she collected and appreciated art, she claimed no talents as an artist.
Elsie Stephen Reford died at her Drummond Street home on November 8, 1967 in her ninety-sixth year.
In 1995, the Reford Gardens ("Jardins de Métis") in Grand-Métis were designated a National Historic Site of Canada, as being an excellent Canadian example of the English-inspired garden.(Wikipedia)
Visit : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elsie_Reford
Visit : www.refordgardens.com
LES JARDINS DE MÉTIS
Créés par Elsie Reford de 1926 à 1958, ces jardins témoignent de façon remarquable de l’art paysager à l’anglaise. Disposés dans un cadre naturel, un ensemble de jardins exhibent fleurs vivaces, arbres et arbustes. Le jardin des pommetiers, les rocailles et l’Allée royale évoquent l’œuvre de cette dame passionnée d’horticulture. Agrémenté d’un ruisseau et de sentiers sinueux, ce site jouit d’un microclimat favorable à la croissance d’espèces uniques au Canada. Les pavots bleus et les lis, privilégiés par Mme Reford, y fleurissent toujours et contribuent , avec d’autres plantes exotiques et indigènes, à l’harmonie de ces lieux.
Created by Elsie Reford between 1926 and 1958, these gardens are an inspired example of the English art of the garden. Woven into a natural setting, a series of gardens display perennials, trees and shrubs. A crab-apple orchard, a rock garden, and the Long Walk are also the legacy of this dedicated horticulturist. A microclimate favours the growth of species found nowhere else in Canada, while the stream and winding paths add to the charm. Elsie Reford’s beloved blue poppies and lilies still bloom and contribute, with other exotic and indigenous plants, to the harmony of the site.
Commission des lieux et monuments historiques du Canada
Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada.
Gouvernement du Canada – Government of Canada
© Copyright
This photo and all those in my Photostream are protected by copyright. No one may reproduce, copy, transmit or manipulate them without my written permission.
1826 Blanca Street, Vancouver, BC.
Statement of Significance
Description of Historic Place:
Fronting on West 2nd Avenue, the Hanning House is a three-storey wood frame house located at the southeast corner of 2nd Avenue and Blanca Street, and remains a largely untouched example of early housing in Vancouver’s West Point Grey neighbourhood.
Heritage Value:
The heritage value of the Hanning House lies in its architectural and contextual significance.
Constructed in 1912, the Hanning House at 1826 Blanca Street was designed by the prominent and early architectural firm of Sharp & Thompson and contributes to the architectural heritage of Point Grey. John Cowdry had the house built for his daughter Mary, who lived in the house with her husband Henry Hanning, a time-keeper for Armstrong Morrison Paving Company on Granville Street.
The architectural values of the Hanning House are found in its massing and detailing, which are typical of the English Arts and Crafts style, with its half timbering and complex roof forms. Features specific to this house include a large wrap-around veranda, a second-storey sleeping porch, and a stone retaining wall. Rather than an imposing entrance on West 2nd Avenue, the front door opens onto Blanca Street with its back to the view, almost like a servant’s entrance. Instead of a front entrance, an original verandah wraps around part of the first floor and overlooks Westmount Park.
The contextual value of the Hanning house lies in it being a very early house for the West Point Grey area. It occupies a fairly prominent corner opposite Westmount Park, and is largely unaltered from its original construction. Adjacent to the subject house is log covered Craftsman-style house, also listed on the Vancouver Heritage Register. The two houses together make a significant contribution to the record of early development in this part of the city. The house was originally located on a double lot that was subdivided to create the adjacent property at 1830 Blanca.
Source: City of Vancouver Heritage Conservation Program
Character-Defining Elements:
Key elements that define the heritage character of the Hanning House’ English Arts and Crafts architectural design include:
- its residential form, expressed by the three-storey elevations facing Blanca Street and West 2nd Avenue
- its half timbering
- the complex roof forms
- the large wraparound veranda
- second storey sleeping porch
- stone retaining wall
- its entrance facing Blanca Street
- its original deep brown paint colouring on the half timbers
- balconies on the second and third storeys
Key elements that define the heritage character of the interior of the Hanning House include:
- the original fireplace tiles
- four Arts and Crafts tiled fireplaces
- the mahogany woodwork
- the unique fir mantel, rescued from the Abbott House on Georgia Street
- its original front doorway
- wood-paneled walls
- leaded glass windows
- built in buffet in the dining room
Key elements that define the location of the Hanning House include:
- its location on a corner lot at West 2nd Avenue and Blanca Street, overlooking Westmount Park in Vancouver’s West Point Grey neighbourhood
- its dramatic views of English Bay and the North Shore mountains
Kirkjufell, or 'Church Mountain', is a distinctly shaped peak found on the north shore of Iceland’s Snæfellsnes Peninsula, only a short distance away from the town of Grundarfjörður. It is often called ‘the most photographed mountain in Iceland’ due to its dramatic formation and perfect coastal location.
Kirkjufell takes its name from its resemblance to a church steeple, sharpened at the top with long curved sides. From other angles, the mountain has been compared to a witch’s hat or even a freshly scooped ice cream.
Malta.
Hop on hop off sightseeing tour of Gozo.
Dwejra, with its dramatic coastal formations and sea spilling over the rocks, is a magical attraction. Here you can swim in the spectacular deep sea of the bay, in the calm shallows of the inland sea or in the foamy waters around the Blue Hole – one of Gozo’s top dive-sites.
Dwejra is also home of the Fungus Rock or, as it is locally known, “Il-Ġebla tal-Ġeneral”, General’s Rock. It is so called in remembrance of the Italian General who centuries ago fell to his death while supervising quarrying in the area. History tells us that a special plant believed to have medicinal and healing properties used to grow on Fungus Rock and because of this the Rock used to be heavily guarded during the era of the Knights of Malta. Anyone caught stealing the crop was sentenced to death or to a life rowing the Knights’ galleys. The crop was picked and brought to the mainland using a primitive system of baskets and pulleys.
Fonte : Wikipedia
Florence and the Machine (styled as Florence + the Machine) are an English indie rock band that formed in London in 2007, consisting of lead singer Florence Welch, Isabella Summers, and a collaboration of other artists. The band's music received praise across the media, especially from the BBC, which played a large part in their rise to prominence by promoting Florence and the Machine as part of BBC Introducing. At the 2009 Brit Awards they received the Brit Awards "Critics' Choice" award. The band's music is renowned for its dramatic and eccentric production and also Welch's powerful vocal performances.
The band's debut studio album, Lungs, was released on 6 July 2009, and held the number-two position for its first five weeks on the UK Albums Chart. On 17 January 2010, the album reached the top position, after being on the chart for twenty-eight consecutive weeks.As of October 2010, the album had been in the top forty in the United Kingdom for sixty-five consecutive weeks, making it one of the best-selling albums of 2009 and 2010. The group's second studio album, Ceremonials, released in October 2011, entered the charts at number one in the UK and number six in the US. The band's third album, How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful, was released on 2 June 2015. It topped the UK charts, and debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200, their first to do so. The album reached number one in a total of eight countries and the top ten of twenty. Also in 2015, the band was the headlining act at Glastonbury Festival, making Florence Welch the first British female headliner this century.
Florence and the Machine's sound has been described as a combination of various genres, including rock and soul. Lungs won the Brit Award for Best British Album in 2010. Florence and the Machine has been nominated for eight Grammy Awards including Best New Artist and Best Pop Vocal Album. Additionally, the band performed at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards and the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize Concert
Detail of the beautiful mid-14th century canopy of the Percy Tomb on the north side of the high altar. The tomb itself has disappeared and the exact identity of its occupant remains unclear, though Lady Eleanor (d.1328) is considered a likely candidate.
beverleyminster.org.uk/visit-us-2/percy-canopy/
There is a danger of running out of superlatives when trying to describe Beverley Minster. It is not only the second finest non-cathedral church in the country but is architecturally a far finer building than most of our cathedrals themselves! It will come as a surprise to many visitors to find this grand edifice simply functions today as a parish church and has never been more than collegiate, a status it lost at the Reformaton. What had added to its mystique and wealth was its status as a place of pilgrimage housing the tomb of St John of Beverley, which drew visitors and revenue until the Reformation brought an end to such fortunes and the shrine was destroyed (though the saint's bones were later rediscovered and reinterred in the nave). That this great church itself survived this period almost intact is little short of a miracle in itself.
There has been a church here since the 8th century but little remains of the earlier buildings aside from the Saxon chair near the altar and the Norman font in the nave. The present Minster's construction spans the entirety of the development of Gothic architecture but forms a surprisingly harmonious whole nevertheless, starting with Early English in the 13h century choir and transepts (both pairs) with their lancet windows in a building phase that stopped at the first bays of the nave. Construction was then continued with the nave in the 14th century but only the traceried windows betray the emergent Decorated style, the design otherwise closely followed the work of the previous century which gives the Minster's interior such a pleasingly unified appearance (the only discernable break in construction within can be seen where the black purbeck-marble ceased to be used for certain elements beyond the eastern bay of the nave). Finally the building was completed more or less by 1420 with the soaring west front with its dramatic twin-towers in Perpendicular style (the east window must have been enlarged at this point too to match the new work at the west end).
The fabric happily survived the Reformation intact aside from the octagonal chapter-house formerly adjoining the north choir aisle which was dismantled to raise money by the sale of its materials while the church's fate was in the balance (a similar fate was contemplated for the rest of the church by its new owners until the town bought it for retention as a parish church for £100). The great swathes of medieval glass alas were mostly lost, though seemingly as much to neglect and storm-damage in the following century than the usual iconoclasm. All that survived of the Minster's original glazing was collected to form the patchwork display now filling the great east window, a colourful kaleidoscope of fragments of figures and scenes. Of the other furnishings the choir stalls are the major ensemble and some of the finest medieval canopied stalls extant with a full set of charming misericords (though most of these alas are not normally on show).
There are suprisingly few monuments of note for such an enormous cathedral-like church, but the one major exception makes up for this, the delightful canopied Percy tomb erected in 1340 to the north of the high altar. The tomb itself is surprisingly plain without any likeness remaining of the deceased, but the richly carved Decorated canopy above is alive with gorgeous detail and figurative embellishments. There are further carvings to enjoy adorning the arcading that runs around the outer perimeter of the interior, especially the north nave aisle which has the most rewarding carved figures of musicians, monsters and people suffering various ailments, many were largely restored in the 19th century but still preserve the medieval spirit of irreverent fun.
To summarise Beverley Minster would be difficult other than simply adding that if one enjoys marvelling at Gothic architecture at its best then it really shouldn't be missed and one should prioritise it over the majority of our cathedrals. It is a real gem and a delight to behold, and is happily normally open and welcoming to visitors (who must all be astonished to find this magnificent edifice is no more than a simple parish church in status!). I thoroughly enjoyed this, my second visit here (despite the best efforts of the poor weather!).
The redness in the sky to the west was now alarming, although I knew the reason, it felt like something supernatural.
Palgrave was just a few miles from Hepworth, and one I hoped to find open, and at just after four in the afternoon, but nearly dar, it was.
It was really very gloomy inside the church, even with the lights on, shots were difficult to take. I was on a mission to snap all I could as soon as possible before the light failed altogether.
Church features a splendid Norman font, modern glass, and the remains of a spiral staircase leading to a room over the south porch, the floor of which has long since vanished. The stairs now a broom cupboard.
Wonderful painted roof, I thought maybe done in the last century, but might be much, much older than that.
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2015: I've visited Palgrave church several times since this account first appeared, most recently to take the photographs here. However, I hope I will be forgiven for retaining the original text from 2003, if only for its freshness, and perhaps also for what may be viewed at this distance as its charm.
2003: I arrived at Diss railway station in that gentle sunshine for which we’ll remember the Spring of 2003. Diss is in Norfolk; I had just crossed the border on my train journey from Ipswich, but I was bound for Diss's southern suburb, the Suffolk village of Palgrave. I cycled off from the station. I headed under the railway line, and over the infant Waveney. At this point, I entered Suffolk again, but there were no county signs in either direction. To be honest, it didn’t feel that different, apart from the way that the road surface improved, the schools came off special measures, the police force became efficient, and so on.
The countryside opened out into golden oilseed rape fields under a wide sky. It was good to be home. Soon, I was coming into Palgrave village, which seemed very pleasant indeed.
In medieval times, Palgrave was actually two parishes; the westerly one, Palgrave St John, has been subsumed into this one, and that church has completely disappeared. However, this pretty church is walled neatly into its graveyard at the heart of the village, which spreads neatly around it. As this was my first church of the day, I hoped it would be open; it always puts a crimp in a trip if the first one is a lock-out. I was not disappointed; St Peter is a friendly parish that knows that part of its Christian mission is to welcome strangers and pilgrims.
I stepped through the elaborate arch of the late 15th Century south doorway. An angel and a dragon contended in the spandrels, and there were characterful heads carved in the entrance arch. Inside, a very nice lady was busy with the flowers, and took time out to show me around. All the while, I was conscious that above my head the lovely painted roof of Palgrave. Marian monograms and symbols punctuate the whitewash; once, many small Suffolk churches must have been like this. Perhaps someone can explain to me why this one hasn’t faded like many of the others; I don’t think it has been redone.
The other famous treasure here is the font. It is unlike anything else in Suffolk. Clearly Norman, but much more elaborate than most, its most outstanding features are the faces in each corner. Again, this is a more intimate experience of the faces we normally see as corbels; but Palgrave has these too, stunning medieval characters along the lines of the arcades.
While we are on the subject of treasure, there were two modern features that were obviously loved by the locals. Firstly, Surinder Warboys has her studio nearby at Mellis, and here is one of her windows in the south aisle. The light flooded through it. The lady told me that everybody liked it, but that it was very hard to do a flower arrangement in front of it! I thought that they had done very well. Secondly, up in the chancel is the benefice millennium banner – people from all the parishes came together and produced this amazing patchwork cross. On the back, there are panels depicting the mission of the Church. Apparently, it is shared around the benefice churches for display for a few weeks at a time.
In the place where many churches now display the coat of arms, Palgrave has part of a suit of armour. I have seen an explanation in several books that it was from the parish armoury, which was once stored in the upper room of the porch, as at Mendlesham. This upper room has now gone, and the armoury has, as in most churches, been dispersed. However, I could find no evidence for this story, and it seems to be based on one of Arthur Mee’s fancies. I don't think it is even real armour; rather, it is similar to the mock plate armour behind the Bacon memorial at nearby Redgrave. It seems likely to me that this is also part of an old set of armour associated with a memorial of some kind, which the Victorians swept away. I don’t suppose we’ll ever know.
Back outside again, I took time out to photograph the famous grave of carter John Catchpole, with its relief of a wagon and horses – you can see it in the left-hand column. It seems a modern fashion to decorate headstones with symbols associated with the deceased; nice to know it was happening in the mid-18th century.
I turned, and looked back at the neat tower, the splendid porch with its dramatic niches. You can see that there was once an upper room, but it has now gone.
And it was time for me to be gone, too. Waving cheerily, I headed off in the direction of Thrandeston, all the road back to Ipswich open in front of me in the sunshine.
Simon Knott, August 2003, updated July 2015
Famed for its dramatic rapids and canyons, the Colorado is one of the most desirable whitewater rivers in the United States. A section of the river above Moab, known as the Colorado "Daily" or "Fisher Towers Section", is the most visited whitewater run in Utah, with more than 77,000 visitors in 2011 alone.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_River
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_Creative_Commons_...
..wow..what a place. Imagine the effort in building this town. Despite being a growing town, Ronda retains much of its historic charm, particularly its old town. It is famous worldwide for its dramatic escarpments and views, and for the deep El Tajo gorge that carries the rio Guadalevín through its centre. The bridge joins the old Moorish town and the newer, El Mercadillo parts of the city. It is, by far in a way, Ronda’s most famous landmark. One of Spain’s most famous Parador hotels sits adjacent to the bridge and is a well worth a visit. The views of the El Tajo gorge are unforgettable. Absolutely unforgettable!!
German postcard by Das Programm von Heute für Film und Theater / Ross Verlag, Berlin. Photo: Tobis / Haenchen. Collection: Miss Mertens.
Sepp Rist (1900-1980) was a top skier, who was spotted for the Mountain films by Arnold Fanck. Later the Athletic German actor with the typical tanned and weathered face played, hunters, foresters and other rugged characters in several Heimat films.
Sepp Rist was born in 1900 in Bad Hindelang in Bavaria. During the First World War, Rist was a stoker on a torpedo boat and later radio telegrapher on the 1st Submarine Chaser-half-flotilla. From 1920 he worked for the Nuremberg police as a radio operator and also worked temporarily at the airport in Fürth. He was also a talented athlete who participated at the 1927 German Ski Championships in Garmisch-Partenkirchen and at other cross-country and jump skiing championships. At a ski race in Gurgl, cameraman Sepp Allgeier spotted him for the film. Rist’s first film part was the male lead in Arnold Fanck's mountain film Stürme über dem Mont Blanc/Storm Over Mont Blanc (Arnold Fanck, 1930) opposite Leni Riefenstahl. Rist plays meteorologist Hannes who works alone at the Mont Blanc weather station gathering data. His only contact with the world below is via Morse code signals. He is joined by a woman friend, who helps him survive a terrible storm over the mountain. Filmed on location in Arosa, Switzerland, Babelsberg Observatory in Potsdam, Germany, and Mont-Blanc in Chamonix, France, Wikipedia writes that Stürme über dem Mont Blanc is notable for its dramatic mountain footage and depictions of a violent snow storm. It was shot as a silent film and was later dubbed in the studio. Stürme über dem Mont Blanc was followed by numerous other films in which Rist always embodied the seasoned Bavarian man image. He reunited with Fanck and Riefenstahl for the German-US drama S.O.S. Eisberg/S.O.S. Iceberg (Arnold Fanck, 1933). S.O.S. Eisberg was a combination of Mountain film and Disaster film, written by Tom Reed based on a story by Arnold Fanck. An Arctic expedition goes in search of a party that was lost the previous year. S.O.S. Eisberg was filmed on location in Umanak, on the west coast of Greenland, in Iceland, and in the Bernina Alps, on the border between Italy and Switzerland. It was filmed simultaneously in German and English, and released by Universal Studios in both Germany and the United States. Rist appeared in both versions. He appeared with Brigitte Horney in the Mountain film Der ewige Traum/The Eternal Dream (Arnold Fanck, 1934). In Die Reiter von Deutsch-Ostafrika/The Riders of German East Africa (Herbert Selpin, 1934), he played a German farmer in German East Africa, who is conscripted into the Schutztruppe (German armed colonial force) at the beginning of the First World War. He had a supporting part as a Gestapo commissioner in the propaganda film Verräter/The Traitor (Karl Ritter, 1936) starring Lída Baarová.
Quite the adventurer in real life, Sepp Rist was most at home filming in far-flung and exotic locations around the world. In Japan, he appeared in Kokumin no chikai/ The sacred goal (Hiromasa Nomura, 1938). During the Second World War, Sepp Rist made the Heimat film Die Geierwally/Vulture-Wally (Hans Steinhoff, 1940) with Heidemarie Hatheyer, and Titanic (Werner Klingler, Herbert Selpin, 1943), which used the sinking of the RMS Titanic as a setting for an attempt to discredit British and American capitalist dealings and glorify the bravery and selflessness of German men. After the war, Sepp Rist frequently appeared in Heimat films, but only in small roles in which he played primarily hunters and foresters. He appeared in the American thriller The Devil Makes Three (Andrew Marton, 1952), set in post-World War II Germany, and starring Gene Kelly and Pier Angeli. More recently, he played in episodes of such television series as the Krimi Der Kommissar/The Commissioner (1969-1970) with Erik Ode, and Königlich Bayerisches Amtsgericht/Royal Bavarian District Court (1970-1971). His final films were the Heimat dramas Schloß Hubertus/ Hubertus Castle (Harald Reinl, 1973) starring Robert Hoffmann, and Der Jäger von Fall/The Hunter from Fall (Harald Reinl, 1974). Sepp Rist was married with actress Carla Rust. In 1980, Sepp Rist died at the age of 80 years. His wife had died three years before him.
Sources: Stephanie d’Heil (Steffi-line - German), Thomas Staedeli (Cyranos – German), Nicole Gagne (AllMovie), Wikipedia (German) and IMDb.
REFORD GARDENS | LES JARDINS DE METIS
Lovely flowers! Beautiful flowers at Reford Gardens.
Visit : www.refordgardens.com/
From Wikipedia:
Elsie Stephen Meighen - born January 22, 1872, Perth, Ontario - and Robert Wilson Reford - born in 1867, Montreal - got married on June 12, 1894.
Elsie Reford was a pioneer of Canadian horticulture, creating one of the largest private gardens in Canada on her estate, Estevan Lodge in eastern Québec. Located in Grand-Métis on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River, her gardens have been open to the public since 1962 and operate under the name Les Jardins de Métis and Reford Gardens.
Born January 22, 1872 at Perth, Ontario, Elsie Reford was the eldest of three children born to Robert Meighen and Elsie Stephen. Coming from modest backgrounds themselves, Elsie’s parents ensured that their children received a good education. After being educated in Montreal, she was sent to finishing school in Dresden and Paris, returning to Montreal fluent in both German and French, and ready to take her place in society.
She married Robert Wilson Reford on June 12, 1894. She gave birth to two sons, Bruce in 1895 and Eric in 1900. Robert and Elsie Reford were, by many accounts, an ideal couple. In 1902, they built a house on Drummond Street in Montreal. They both loved the outdoors and they spend several weeks a year in a log cabin they built at Lac Caribou, south of Rimouski. In the autumn they hunted for caribou, deer, and ducks. They returned in winter to ski and snowshoe. Elsie Reford also liked to ride. She had learned as a girl and spent many hours riding on the slopes of Mount Royal. And of course, there was salmon-fishing – a sport at which she excelled.
In her day, she was known for her civic, social, and political activism. She was engaged in philanthropic activities, particularly for the Montreal Maternity Hospital and she was also the moving force behind the creation of the Women’s Canadian Club of Montreal, the first women club in Canada. She believed it important that the women become involved in debates over the great issues of the day, « something beyond the local gossip of the hour ». Her acquaintance with Lord Grey, the Governor-General of Canada from 1904 to 1911, led to her involvement in organizing, in 1908, Québec City’s tercentennial celebrations. The event was one of many to which she devoted herself in building bridges with French-Canadian community.
During the First World War, she joined her two sons in England and did volunteer work at the War Office, translating documents from German into English. After the war, she was active in the Victorian Order of Nurses, the Montreal Council of Social Agencies, and the National Association of Conservative Women.
In 1925 at the age of 53 years, Elsie Reford was operated for appendicitis and during her convalescence, her doctor counselled against fishing, fearing that she did not have the strength to return to the river.”Why not take up gardening?” he said, thinking this a more suitable pastime for a convalescent woman of a certain age. That is why she began laying out the gardens and supervising their construction. The gardens would take ten years to build, and would extend over more than twenty acres.
Elsie Reford had to overcome many difficulties in bringing her garden to life. First among them were the allergies that sometimes left her bedridden for days on end. The second obstacle was the property itself. Estevan was first and foremost a fishing lodge. The site was chosen because of its proximity to a salmon river and its dramatic views – not for the quality of the soil.
To counter-act nature’s deficiencies, she created soil for each of the plants she had selected, bringing peat and sand from nearby farms. This exchange was fortuitous to the local farmers, suffering through the Great Depression. Then, as now, the gardens provided much-needed work to an area with high unemployment. Elsie Reford’s genius as a gardener was born of the knowledge she developed of the needs of plants. Over the course of her long life, she became an expert plantsman. By the end of her life, Elsie Reford was able to counsel other gardeners, writing in the journals of the Royal Horticultural Society and the North American Lily Society. Elsie Reford was not a landscape architect and had no training of any kind as a garden designer. While she collected and appreciated art, she claimed no talents as an artist.
Elsie Stephen Reford died at her Drummond Street home on November 8, 1967 in her ninety-sixth year.
In 1995, the Reford Gardens ("Jardins de Métis") in Grand-Métis were designated a National Historic Site of Canada, as being an excellent Canadian example of the English-inspired garden.(Wikipedia)
Visit : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elsie_Reford
LES JARDINS DE MÉTIS
Créés par Elsie Reford de 1926 à 1958, ces jardins témoignent de façon remarquable de l’art paysager à l’anglaise. Disposés dans un cadre naturel, un ensemble de jardins exhibent fleurs vivaces, arbres et arbustes. Le jardin des pommetiers, les rocailles et l’Allée royale évoquent l’œuvre de cette dame passionnée d’horticulture. Agrémenté d’un ruisseau et de sentiers sinueux, ce site jouit d’un microclimat favorable à la croissance d’espèces uniques au Canada. Les pavots bleus et les lis, privilégiés par Mme Reford, y fleurissent toujours et contribuent , avec d’autres plantes exotiques et indigènes, à l’harmonie de ces lieux.
Created by Elsie Reford between 1926 and 1958, these gardens are an inspired example of the English art of the garden. Woven into a natural setting, a series of gardens display perennials, trees and shrubs. A crab-apple orchard, a rock garden, and the Long Walk are also the legacy of this dedicated horticulturist. A microclimate favours the growth of species found nowhere else in Canada, while the stream and winding paths add to the charm. Elsie Reford’s beloved blue poppies and lilies still bloom and contribute, with other exotic and indigenous plants, to the harmony of the site.
Commission des lieux et monuments historiques du Canada
Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada.
Gouvernement du Canada – Government of Canada
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This photo shows a beautifully illuminated carnival or festival float at night. The float features a striking, elaborately decorated giant carnival mask or masquerade-style decoration on the right side, adorned with colorful feathers and intricate designs. The entire float is bathed in dramatic blue lighting that creates a magical atmosphere. The structure appears to have a sail-like or tent-like covering and palm trees or similar decorative elements. There are some pumpkins visible on what looks like the edge of the platform, suggesting this might be for a Halloween or autumn-themed celebration. The overall scene captures the theatrical and fantastical nature of parade floats, with its dramatic lighting and ornate decorations creating a festive and somewhat mystical nighttime display.
Italy. Firenze - Florence.
Santa Maria Novella is a church in Florence, Italy, situated just across from the main railway station which shares its name. Chronologically, it is the first great basilica in Florence, and is the city's principal Dominican church.
The church, the adjoining cloister, and chapterhouse contain a store of art treasures and funerary monuments. Especially famous are frescoes by masters of Gothic and early Renaissance. They were financed through the generosity of the most important Florentine families, who ensured themselves of funerary chapels on consecrated ground.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilica_of_Santa_Maria_Novella
Scenes from the life of the Blessed Virgin Mary
This scene was the one that Vasari, in his biography of Ghirlandaio, considered the best in the cycle, due to its dramatic and frantic composition. It is probable that Ghirlandaio was inspired by scenes of ancient Roman bas-reliefs, like that depicted on the arch in the background.
In the foreground are two mothers fighting to save their babies. The left one is escaping a horseman who is attacking her child with a dagger. The other, on the right, is grasping at the hair of a soldier who holds her child. Notable are the vivid colors and the moving rendering of the clothes.
On the ground are the corpses of numerous children, bleeding and with parts of their bodies severed. Behind on the right, the soldiers are attacking the mothers; one of the soldiers is dramatically falling from his horse. In the background, several people are viewing the scene from terraces connecting the two buildings on the sides with the central triumphal arch.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tornabuoni_Chapel#Scenes_from_the_l...