Kannik

Philosophy Tuesday I was having this conversation with someone recently about “positive biases,” which reminded me of this post from years ago.  So many years ago that it was before these regular Tuesday posts, and a…

#Mindfulness Moment: While we often view biases as only influencing us to do harmful/hurtful things, there's also positive biases that influence us to do helpful/nice things towards certain groups. Yet they're still biases & when hidden can still lead us astray. :)

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Architecture Monday Mäntylä was designed and built around the same time as the Kentuk Knob house I posted about a few weeks ago.  Though about the same size, this one was intended to of the more “affordable&#822…

#Architecture Moment: Another FLW building tonight, but in a different vein -- what I like to call "what amazing things you can do with humble concrete block". :)

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Philosophy Tuesday Sometimes it can be worth asking, “What are the actual stakes here?”  Worth asking it in a way to help us get present and mindful and to ground ourselves to what’s so: Do I need to solve this right…

#Mindfulness Moment: For both our own power and peace, it can be useful to take a moment to assess what are the (actual) stakes :)

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Architecture Monday Something a bit different tonight.  This looks like a “simple” restoration plus addition, but it’s not quite that.  That old bit?  It’s a reconstruction.  And a reconstruction based almost entirely…

#Architecture Moment: Let's go on a fascinating journey through the 100+ year history of this building that while it seems it ended up where it started (with a bit of polish and a new glass topper) but is instead one of many changes and a near complete rebuild. :)

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Philosophy Tuesday “It was this idea that you’re not a person who has integrity, you’re a person who strives to be in integrity. Sometimes you’re out of integrity, and sometimes you’re i…

#Mindfulness Moment: Astronauts talking about philosophy? Heck yeah! :) Specifically about integrity:

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Architecture Monday This is not a house by Tadao Ando, but it very much is in the same vein!  Concrete, glass, sculptural, with a delightful interplay of rooms and circulation. It also adds a bunch of courtyards and z…

#Architecture Moment: This isn't a house by Tadao Ando, and it is not in Japan (it's in Puerto Vallarta) but it is very much in the same vein, including an amazing quality of light. Plus I kinda dig the (what appears to be?) charred wood front gate! :)

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Philosophy Tuesday Sometimes, when we’re at kung fu/tai chi practice or I’m teaching a class, someone will say something to the effect of “ugh, that didn’t feel right” or “geez, that felt totally unconnected.” To whi…

#Mindfulness Moment: Look out, it's kung fu / tai chi storytelling time! You know where it will lead... :D

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Architecture Monday Nearby to Fallingwater there is another FLW house, known as Kentuck Knob after the knoll upon which it is built. There’s a lot of “Writian” elements here — the strong horizo…

#Architecture Moment: Kentuck Knob. Funny name perhaps. Sweet FLW design (with one hilarious exception!)

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Coaster Wednesday When this year started, I didn’t plan on it being “the year of the coaster” for me… but it seems that’s how it’s turned out!  I recently hit up Six Flags Magic Mountain plus spent a lovely time at …

What, yet another trip with yet more roller coaster riding? Yep! So here's another geeking-out coaster post. :)

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Philosophy Tuesday “To give up like that, to detach yourself like that, is not even really an option to begin with.  In some strange way, our existence, our agency, our presence and impact in this world, is not…

#Mindfulness Moment: An adapted passage from the moving and amazing video essay by @tomvanderlinden.bsky.social, about living, our place in it, and the courageous choice we all get to make. It's more than well worth the watch!

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Architecture Monday When one is traveling, one does not miss a chance to visit great train stations! Washington DC Union station, in all it’s civic, Beaux-Arts glory!  By D. H. Burnham & Company. I love the …

#Architecture Moment: And also #Trains Moment, for when one is traveling, one should never miss a chance to visit the awesomeness that is grand train stations. :)

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Philosophy Tuesday There’s another application we can make about the 80% rule – not just in when we’re creating or making things, but also for our everyday lives.  Which is to apply that 80% rule to our own, sometime…

#Mindfulness Moment: Musing about expanding the 80% rule from just creative/making endeavours to the broader whole of living (and our self-judgements) :)

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Architecture Monday The REACH at the Kennedy Center caught my attention when I was there.  Love the expanse of lawn/green roof, and the way it both curves up to meet the buildings and how the buildings curve down to m…

#Architecture Moment: Some shots of the REACH and how the great lawn/green roof meets the buildings and vice versa. With a bonus cool interior that reminds me of something I designed while in arch school (always a surprise that :)

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Certainly, he who is in a position to make you believe absurdity

is in a position to make you unjust.

Once one faculty of your soul is dominated,

all the other faculties must be equally dominated.

— Voltaire, Questions sur les miracles

#Mindfulness Moment:

Certainement qui est en droit de vous rendre absurde

est en droit de vous rendre injuste.

Une faculté de votre âme étant une fois tyrannisée,

toutes les autres facultés doivent l’être également.

Architecture Monday As hinted last week, I did indeed recently visit Falling Water.  One cannot travel nearby and not visit what is perhaps the most famous house in North America (and one of the most famous around the…

#Architecture Moment: So, yeah, I did indeed visit Fallingwater! I hadn't visited it since '93, when I was just a youngin in architecture school. Back then, I wondered if it could live up to the hype. Now, I wondered if it would live up to my memory. Yep. :)

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A 4-panel painting on the wall at the house known as Fallingwater, depicting four large felines: a jaguar, a lynx, a tiger, and a lion.

If your art of big cats includes lynxes... then you clearly must have great sophistication and taste. :)

(photo taken at Fallingwater)

Philosophy Tuesday That’s the cruelty of probability.  It feels like a game of chance, but for the one who dies, it’s not a one in 330 shot.  It’s 100%. And this is the weird, beautiful, thing about…

#Mindfulness Moment: As an architect, who deals with a lot of life safety things every day, I can't help but love @hankgreen.bsky.social 's vid "No One Knows When They Don't Die". :)

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(Fun side note: One year at uni, Douglas Cardinal's son was in my studio. He also used a lot of curvy forms, but both generated them very differently but also originated them a different conceptual starting point resulting in a distinct sculptural form and the spaces within. Was very cool to see.)

Architecture Monday Some photos I took of the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, looking all the like a geologic landform naturally carved by the winds and the water flows of time standing stoically i…

#Architecture Moment: I recently got to visit and check out the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian. Like a landform carved by the eons, it's a lovely iteration of the "patented" Cardinal curves with very much its own identity. :)

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Coaster Wednesday I got to ride a whack-tonne of coasters on my trip, and in the continued spirit of geeking out and excited sharing, here are my highlights! The Beast (at night) I intended the Beast to be the very …

If you want to read more roller coaster excitement sharing, I've got another post for you! :D Going over the highlight coasters of all of them I rode during my recent vacation.

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Philosophy Tuesday We, in general, don’t like being wrong.*  But we dislike being hoodwinked more.  So much so that in those cases shame spirals are super close at hand, often leading to doubling down or to being dis…

#Mindfulness Moment: Being wrong is bad enough, but being hoodwinked can lead to shame-spiraling-deleterious behavior. We can instead grant some space by getting that often we've (or others) been conned by professionals. (And yes, this seems quite topical...)

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Architecture Monday Brutalism – as with all art, some people like it, and some don’t.  Also like all art, some of it is done well and stands the test of time, and others not so much.  And sometimes it’s a mixed bag. T…

#Architecture Moment: Is it a bold or is it a risky move, posting about a brutalist building? :P

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Coaster Wednesday Though it wasn’t a direct intent when I planned my trip, I have now, delightfully, gotten to ride on all four of the remaining Arrow suspended coasters in North America.  (Unfortunately, I never go…

If you want to read an experience sharing, geek-out, excited appreciation post about suspended roller coasters, well, I've got you covered! ;)

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Philosophy Tuesday A new understanding, interpretation, discovery, or insight Does not automatically invalidate or undermine A previous understanding, interpretation, discovery, or insight ~~~~~ It could be a deepeni…

#Mindfulness Moment: Told in semi-prose form tonight. :)

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Architecture Monday I love trains, and I love grand train stations… so let’s glance over the great Cincinnati Union Terminal building in all its art deco glory! (That I also recently got to visit!) Entry f…

#Architecture Monday: Back from a trip! Looking at buildings I visited along the way, starting with the great Art Deco mammoth that is Cincinnati Union Terminal! :)

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Philosophy Tuesday If your “innovation” requires exploiting people, or harming others, or needs ‘guardrails off’ for it to succeed, then you don’t have an “innovation”. We long ago invented abusive predat…

#Mindfulness Moment: (Over post length limit here so will link to the whole thing...first paragraph is gist though)

If your “innovation” requires exploiting people, or harming others, or needs ‘guardrails off’ for it to succeed, then you don’t have an “innovation.”

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Architecture Monday A window to the world in this observation hut.  Built as part of a rural realignment towards ecotourism, made of local materials and a ruggedness that reflects the landscape around it. I love all t…

#Architecture Moment: A nice observation hut. Great wood construction. Sweet and elegant cantilevers. Oh, and a stunning view. :)

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Philosophy Tuesday You may have seen some stuff recently about the AI exec* who made a claim about creativity, specifically in their case claiming that that majority of the people making music don’t enjoy most of the…

#Mindfulness Moment: Taking a bad AI exec take (which one of many, you might ask?) to dive into how art is fundamental to humanity and how the long & difficult act of making art (or doing other things) is actually one of our most empowering & greatest delights:

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Architecture Monday You all know I love a good adaptive reuse… and this one is extra fantastic.  For starters, it was undertaken – by the architects! – to preserve an old pumping station that was slated for demolition…

#Architecture Moment: A great bit of adaptive reuse + new addition that not only makes a project viable, but adds a whole tonne of new things to the community (including housing) while also preserving an industrial bit of its history. Real damn fine work!

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