biblical proportions...

thomas ustick walter was one of america's most important architect's of the early to mid 1800's, and played a major role in the founding of the AIA (american institute of architects). walter designed the iconic u.s. capitol dome, as well as the 1843 girard school for orphans - which is largely considered his greatest achievement, and was the most expensive building project in america before the civil war.

most of walter's designs are in a slightly over the top greek revival style, and indeed many of his works of the mid 1800's are hybrid masterpieces of early american and greek designs.

while doing research on walter's work, i came across some very strange architectural drawings he did as teaching aids for a sunday school class he taught for much of his life.

this image of solomon's temple, was based entirely on descriptions from the bible, and compares the scale of the temple with two popular and well known buildings of the time. it's a wonderfully odd and modern looking building that seems totally out of character with most of walter's work, reminding me a bit of some early 20th century italian architectural experiments - the overbearing towers of sant'elia and the austerity of terragni.

plastic palace alice...

two pics of plastic houses from a 1970 issue of the danish magazine mobilia. the first, a french plastic star shaped house with six points, made by dubigeon, normandie division plastique. the second, a summer cottage designed by eric clements that looks to be a model or prototype. cousins of the plastic monsanto house of the future and descendents of various cabin sized utopian housing projects... the first an extension of monsanto's technology, the second a precursor of gaetano pesce's plastic aesthetics...