When I look at a building, I see many things. The first obvious things are the ones that meet the eye immediately: the color and texture of the façade, the shape of the windows, the distribution of shapes and volumes and the underlying design that was used to compose and build upon the idea of the structure until it took shape.
The mind runs dry when it sees few examples of variety in the built environment. Luckily I live near a large city, London, that offers more examples of different styles of architecture than one could take in over a long period of time.
What excites me about traveling into London is seeing the overlapping layers of built environment spanning decades and centuries. From the small Victorian style houses with their narrow entry ways, brick walls and chimneys, to the skycrapers that give testament to the wealth and economic power of the City. And somewhere in between are the treasures seen along the way, from the ancient walls of the Tower of London to the graceful, gothic arches and shapes of Westminster Abbey. And of course, the unique and easily identifiable Big Ben and Houses of Parliament with their characteristic facades and stonework easily stand out in one’s memory and mind’s eye.
There are other elements I see here and there, in many different historic towns in England, from Oxford to Bath. I see gothic stone churches and ancient colleges as well as the eighteenth century structures built around the ancient Roman Baths at the city with the same name.
What tends to happen when one drives through the urban or suburban landscape, out to roads and highways, is that the mind subconsciously reacts to the changing cityscape and countryside. The familiar beckons us as well-worn routes from home to work or the children’s school morph into a more outward bound day trip and finally into a mid-length drive to somewhere else. The unfamiliar enters our eyes, sets the tone for the minutes and hours ahead, and carries us into a new setting, sometimes smoothly and continuously, sometime abruptly.
Having lived for many years in a much drier climate in central Spain, I am still amazed by the verdant trees that can be seen everywhere in England, and envelope entire roads in an almost solid green canopy. As one drives through these green tunnels, even though the day might be drab or gray, one’s thoughts are lifted, the head breathes and heavy thoughts drift away.
What I hope to capture in this blog is pictures, observations, sensations of places visited and inhabited. I hope to be able to convey what the eye sees and what may be behind it, on many levels. And I hope to be able to inspire others to comment and share in their ideas and observations as well.
