On Monumental Architecture

I just started writing one of those 'moment of insight' blog posts where I rather elegantly summed up issues of monumental architecture in three simple bullet points. And then I realized, The answer was already on the wall (literally, it is framed on my wall in perhaps the nerdiest element of my adult life). Late night readers, what I am have to share with you is the Vitruvian Triad.

Firmitas
Utilitas
Venustas

It's all there. It even works quite elegantly for architecture in the last 100 years or so. I thought I had a really great idea (Don't worry, I saved the draft of my last post, which was titled "three elements of monumental architecture"), until I realized it had already been done (Damn, isn't that just like academia?). That still counts as an insight, though, right?

Upon reflection (I have a lot of time for that these days, having finished a degree I don't want to use and being under-employed), This is what I really wanted to talk about in the flop that was my senior thesis-- issues of monumentality and cultural meaning in modern architecture. I ended up doing a project on churches (so predictable) and designing a building because I painted myself into that corner (I've since managed to escape that room, or at least take a long break from those walls).

So maybe I'll keep ruminating on these thoughts for a while longer- I've decided to take the GRE before the summer's over- It's time to move on from that whole 'my life is not going anywhere' phase...

Something to ponder: It's Modern, It's Monumental, and I think I'm in love with it:


(Image: Louis I. Kahn's Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, TX 1960)