Skip to content

Strange Systems

Exploring the overlap of virtual and physical

Menu
  • About this site
Menu

The Unbearable Lightness of Building

Posted on January 3, 2008July 5, 2021 by namho
Dismantling the P&O Building, London (via Daily Mail)
Dismantling the P&O Building, London (via Daily Mail)

Amazing photograph of the P&O Building in London getting dismantled bottom up. It reveals how the whole building is actually supported by the structural utility core, and that volume does not equate to weight. [Daily Mail via BLDGBLOG]

The angle and composition of the photo reminds me of two painting, one by René Magritte and another by M.C. Escher exploring similar themes of volume and mass.

Lightness
Lightness

It also reminds me of how Buckminster Fuller – architect, engineer, innovator, inventor – was always concerned about how much a building weighed. He went on to construct the world’s first geodesic dome building in 1949, which was a building that could sustain its own weight with no practical limits. He gave practical meaning to the phase “less is more” when he said in 1980:

For the first time in history it is now possible to take care of everybody at a higher standard of living than any have ever known. Only ten years ago the ‘more with less’ technology reached the point where this could be done. All humanity now has the option to become enduringly successful.

We see Bucky Fuller’s influence live on in sustainable architecture projects, best know of which is Habitat for Humanity.

A weight of a building, we now know, has more somber consequences in the aftermath of 9/11.

Recent Posts

  • Four Strategies for Going Mobile
  • Mobile storytelling: an evolving story
  • Desperately seeking good kimchi in Seattle
  • iPad as disruptive innovation in education
  • Up close with Ashoka founder Bill Drayton

Recent Comments

  • Maya Bailey on Sugar on Eee PC
  • Chris Motorcycle merchandise on Hanoi and its love of motorcycles
  • Tilly Holmes on Hanoi and its love of motorcycles
  • sj on ChangeON conference presentation
  • Aaron Stewart on Personalization and Mobile Phones

Archives

  • January 2012
  • November 2011
  • September 2011
  • January 2011
  • June 2010
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • September 2009
  • August 2009
  • July 2009
  • June 2009
  • May 2009
  • March 2009
  • January 2009
  • November 2008
  • September 2008
  • August 2008
  • July 2008
  • June 2008
  • May 2008
  • April 2008
  • March 2008
  • February 2008
  • January 2008
  • December 2007
  • October 2007
  • September 2007
  • August 2007
  • July 2007

Categories

  • ~everything else
  • architecture
  • book review
  • design
  • hanoi / sustainable future
  • internet culture
  • korea / tourist at home
  • mobile technology
  • sleepless in seattle
  • social change
  • sustainability
  • urbanism
  • user experience
  • web 2.0
  • web design

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org
©2023 Strange Systems | Built using WordPress and Responsive Blogily theme by Superb