The beauty of building with what you have rather than what you are told you need. Tom Ruby (@bgcts) First and foremost, a cordwood dwelling is accessible to anyone with wood and arms to cut and lift it. It is simple. Not easy, simple. If you have wood and mud and ash you can build a home. There's a very old cordwood cabin in Copper Harbor. For us, we peppers 2 summers to do this so that it'd last. We tested last summer by building a chicken coop. Took lessons and incorporated them into this build. We learned that Poplar debark very easily when cut down (and the bark dried rock hard if you cut and flatten it. Can be used for roof shingles. Maple is difficult to debark. Oak easier than maple but only when freshly cut. We made a 10" ruler and sorted the logs with a hand saw and then cut with chain saw. Takes discipline to make plumb cuts. We built a rig to put the logs on to help with plumb cuts. Saved all sawdust for use in mortar. Poplar dries much lighter than oak and maple making it good to use, but we have oak and Maple and Walnut in there as well. Bought inexpensive Poplar framing wood from Amish to frame the cabin for load bearing and are putting cordwood inside the 4x10 framing wood. You can buy portland/type S for mortar but that defeats our purpose of using local materials. Ag line is $12/ton from our local quarry so that is a great filler. We saved wood stove ash over the winter and have more than enough. Clay below the topsoil comes from our hillside. As for mortar discipline, we learned last summer that if too wet it will crack and pull away from the wood. But even that is repairable with pointing and relayering. This time we have a more peanut butter consistency and are leaving space inside the ends of the logs for touching up after it dries. We have a good natural reaction cycle happening with the mortar so that's good. This is an accessible process. It is very forgiving. And it allows for varying anesthetics from lots of big logs with small fillers to all small dowels. All work. I have several books on the process and there are cordwood homes around the world. As https://bitter.st/wrathofgnon said 2 years ago, "just use your local mud or make some." He was right. — https://bitter.st/bgcts/status/2094061953173860709#m

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Siedlung Westhausen was the last of the social housing developments of the 1922 New Frankfurt project. Finished in 1931 it had 1116 rental apartments. Unlike similar projects in the post-war era it was built completely in brick, which means it lasts for generations, which is not the case with reinforced concrete. The buildings look largely the same but the neighborhood itself has mellowed somewhat. Today many residents own their homes. I think a relatively simple refurbishment of the exteriors would skyrocket attractiveness and prices of the area. In true modernist fashion the streets were initially named A, B, C, etc.

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Sakamoto Hachi.

Society of Medalists (1930-1995) was created to promote and cultivate medallic art and sculpture to the general public. They created and had minted 134 medals during their time. All are today considered collectors items. We need these kind of organizations today more than ever.

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Built in 2008, The Aurelian Neo-Humanistic Academy is a cultural center and neoclassical building located in the Forum of the Arts within the hamlet of Solomeo, Italy. Neoclassical style.

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Swedish newspaper survey from 2019 finds that the difference in price in Stockholm between an apartment in a beautiful pre-20th century and a similar apartment at the same location in an ugly 1960s building is about 40%. Beauty pays. https://www.svd.se/a/JowV4X/sa-far-du-ett-rum-pa-kopet-i-innerstaden

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Opens today, the Mishima and Kawabata photo exhibition at Noevir Ginza Gallery, Tokyo. Until October last.

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Still loving this meme.

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In Japan you will often see cafes and small shops with a small triangle shaped entrance cut into the front of the shop. The purpose is to soften the abrupt difference between shop interior and outside street and give customers a sheltered spot to sort out their umbrellas etc. It looks instantly welcoming and intimate. Here is a cozy cafe in Tokyo. The two chairs outside are for customers to wait their turn outside if the cafe is full. This is a tiny example of #GoodUrbanism on narrow streets and making the most of otherwise bland straight shop fronts.

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The falconers working at Kanazawa station have a good sense of style. Since 2015 they carry out 2-3 hour patrols twice a month to keep pigeons from roosting on railway buildings. The hawks (Harris Hawks?) don't actually take any pigeons just patrol to keep them away.

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That should be late 17th c. The result of tweeting outside in a subtropical summer noon.

A simple heuristic for determining good architecture: would you have your wedding photos taken in front of it? Tokyo Station is one of the most handsome buildings in Japan.

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