So this is exciting...for me.

I was cruising on Wikipedia and discovered that Walter Gropius' first building in America is in....Lexington, Ma!  Say what?  How did I not know before today?  I wish I knew someone who really wanted to go!  Maybe I will have a Mommy's day out.

Description from Historic New England's website:

"Walter Gropius, founder of the German design school known as the Bauhaus, was one of the most influential architects of the twentieth century. He designed the Gropius House as his family home when he came to Massachusetts to teach architecture at Harvard's Graduate School of Design. 

Modest in scale, the house was revolutionary in impact. It combined the traditional elements of New England architecture—wood, brick, and fieldstone—with innovative materials rarely used in domestic settings at that time, including glass block, acoustical plaster, chrome banisters, and the latest technology in fixtures. 

In keeping with Bauhaus philosophy, every aspect of the house and its surrounding landscape was planned for maximum efficiency and simplicity of design. The house contains a significant collection of furniture designed by Marcel Breuer and fabricated in the Bauhaus workshops. With the family's possessions still in place, the Gropius House has a sense of immediacy and intimacy."

House Stalking

Sean, B and I were walking through Cambridge one night this winter to a birthday party when suddenly Sean stopped in his tracks almost making me fall into the snow.  I couldn't, for the life of me, figure out why he stopped.  He didn't say anything.  After starring down this driveway for a few moments he started walking again.  After waiting a while for him to explain I asked about it.  He said the driveway at the house he looked at is heated.....wait, what?  It's a man thing, I guess.  I am amazed he noticed out of the corner of is eye.

This weekend we were driving down the same street and he pointed out the house.  I have noticed the house before.  It is a pretty beautiful old house in one of my favorite styles...Mansard.  As I am trying to get a glimpse at the driveway to see what Sean might have seen that would make him know the driveway is heated.  No snow on the driveway after a winter like we have had would be suspicious but our next door neighbor removes every speck of snow from his driveway with a shovel...so my mind wouldn't leap to heated driveway.  Anyway, as I am looking something catches my eye.  Do you see it?  The very modern building behind the very old house? 

So now I am obsessed.  I want to know everything.  Is it an odd extension of the Mansard?  Could they fit a modern house behind the house in front?  Who are these people?  Were the designers worried about putting such a modern house in such an old neighborhood?  Were they less worried about it because it is practically invisible?  I have been trying to figure out how I can see more of it.  It would be really stalkerish of my to walk back there and check it out.  So I googled it.  (ha)  After some searching I found it on Zillow!  

It is a separate house built on the lot behind the Mansard.  It is huge.  It has a waterfall in the backyard.  And, yes, the driveway is heated.My thirst for knowledge about this house is not fully quenched yet.  I want to know more.  I'll keep stalking...online.

Architectural Inspiration

I recently watched Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time.  I can't tell you if the movie was good or not b/c I wasn't paying attention to the storyline...I couldn't stop looking at all the architecture.  (You thought I was going to say Jake Gyllenhaal...didn't you?) Architecture from that part of the world always stops me in my tracks.  Granted most of that movie was probably CGI but it's based on something real.  I tried to find info on the set design for the movie but ended up just looking at pictures of Persian/Iranian architecture just to have a look and I feel compelled to share a few of my favorites.  It is so inspiring.  I love America but when I see this and then visit my local strip mall I feel a little sad about American architecture.  

I always justify modern architecture by saying, "But it's so intelligent..the beauty is in the technology and intelligence."  But this architecture just proves you can have both.  It's also for geeks and nerds because of the geometry and mathematics that drive it.  Yay!!  

Sheikh Lotf Allah Mosque.  

via essential-architecture.com

This took over 15 years to build.  15 years.  This is just a close up of a large building...but 15 years... in the 1600s.  That is some hard work.    Look at the detail!

The Jorjir Portal.  

via cartage.org

The Taj Mahal.  

via astheticsense.com

21 years to build.  This is one of my favorite buildings in the world.  Not only is it beautiful but it has a great story.  Although it is in India, it has a lot of Islamic and Persian influences in its design.   The shape of the dome is my favorite shape.

A bridge.

via essential-architecture.com

I love me a beautiful arcade but this bridge should put all arcades to shame.  Something about the pointed arch is both graceful and strong.