Park City

Apologize for the later-than-typical delivery. I was in Park City, hence the delay.

Such a gorgeous place. I had never been there, and I was so fortunate to stay at a friend of a friend's overlooking the mountains.

Something that we kept noticing about this incredible mountain/lake view was how often it changed over a couple of days.

When it's sunny, it makes the lake look blue. Sometimes the lake reflects the sun or moon, sometimes not. At night, you see all the twinkling lights of the other buildings around the lake. When it snows or is foggy, it again transforms radically.

It was a beautiful trip; it reset my palette and mind, and I got some quality time with my daughter and my friend.

This week, I was mostly present on my trip, but I did carve out some time to read about architecture.

What Buildings Say About Us

These are my notes and ideas from Chapter 3, "In What Style Shall We Build?" from The Architecture of Happiness by Alain de Botton (If this is a little dry for you, I'm sorry. I nerd out on this kind of thing, and I think the conclusion is worth it!).

Last 500 years of Western architecture. Before widespread printing, cities had architectural unity because builders only knew regional styles. Once literature about types of buildings arrived, architects started sampling from everywhere, creating a "carnival of architecture" - essentially the original Pinterest problem.

An influx of styles caused major tension over what style of architecture was the greatest or most appropriate.

Rise of Engineers. During the Industrial Revolution, engineers (with their focus on function) gained prominence over architects (focused on beauty). Engineers dealt in certainty (applied math), while architects debated more subjective aesthetics (what is most beautiful?).

During this time, the public became totally enamored with engineers due to their incredible achievements in things like bridges, aqueducts, and railway hangars. The construction industry has also started to shift more towards new building methods favored by engineers - i.e. concrete, steel, plate glass.

Modernism - Pure Function - Le Corbusier declared that pure function creates beauty, saying airplane turbines were more beautiful than cathedrals. Modernism tried to solve style debates by claiming that science could objectively determine what buildings should look like.

Modernism also had strong aesthetic preferences that told a story; they just didn't admit it. The story told by modernism is not about an idealized past but an equally idealized hyper-functional future. They value aesthetics just as strongly, just different aesthetics.

What this says about us:

Buildings Speak - John Ruskin argues that we want buildings to shelter us but also speak to us about values and ideals. Architecture is never neutral - it's always saying something about how we should live.

To describe a building as beautiful is to describe an attraction to the sort of life this structure is promoting through it's roof, door handles, window frames & furnishing.

Beauty = Our Idea of a Good Life - When you call a building beautiful, you express attraction to the life it promotes through its detail. Your aesthetic preferences reveal deeper values about what makes a good life.

my thoughts:

I have always felt in my core that each choice in design matters and reflects what you value. An account I really like, @thewarkitchen on Twitter, often tweets photos with the phrase "Every little thing is an opportunity for unlimited artistic expression."

The small things communicate your values. Doorknobs, hardware, tile, light fixtures, etc.

Little eccentricities that really convey personal style.

After discovering Rene Girard's Memetic Theory, I've been paying much more attention to desire. To summarize it: human desire always imitates; it does not come from within but from observing and copying the desires of others, which drives social dynamics and competition.

I was on the Park City trip with my daughter, my friend & his daughter. It was fascinating watching how whatever one of the young gals had, the other immediately wanted. Juice, ice cream, a book, a game. The goalposts move every 30 seconds when you're 6.

Desire is like that; almost like a bug that we catch.

In the age of comparison (social media), I think it's more important than ever before to think about what you value as opposed to what you want.

Your home and what you put in it should ideally be less about keeping up with the Joneses and more about what matters to you.

Certainly made me think.