Some solstice gnomon pictures are up. These are pictures of the shadow of the TransAmerica Pyramid on Columbus Avenue and later, Hotaling Place. Pictures are from the 22nd, and orange marks are observations from the 21st.

So there are words and sort-of words.

Brooklyn Bridge Hard to Topple, see cryptome, via newthings.

So the observations take place, beginning 11:55am PDT and continuing through 12:20pm on Columbus Avenue, noon in the middle of the street. Paint orange circles indicating the tip of the TransAmeica Pyramid.

Technique is to stand in shadow, approximately two feet. At the penumbra, where the shadow of observer’s head emerges from the shadow of the tip, mark. Verify previous observations, and another observer questions whether they line up.

1pm, stand opposite fourth support of the pyramid, its center. Other observer photographs position and verifies pyramid shadow extends up the side of 500 Washington buildings. 1:10 to 1:20pm, make two observations on Hotaling.

Columbus Avenue is a good bet for observing the gnomon represented by the TransAmerica Pyramid during the winter months. Say 10am.

Here’s to three square miles of Berkeley and Oakland hills after the fire, complete in one page.

When there’s a post to Trenches, watch out. Lenedra Carroll in The Architecture of All Abundance writes,

“He is wise who sees action in inaction and inaction in action,” the dream voice [an owl’s] had said.

and

Remember that you are an artist.
Know that you are more than the things that happen to you.
Always make space for magic to happen.

If an architect makes space, and anybody can be an architect, Carroll is a good, intuitive place to start. Now on to professionalism, even when it’s at the earliest stages.

Olympic Stadium concept. For whatever reason, the local museum looks more like a box.

Merriam-Webster defines gnomon as the pin of sundial. A tall building such as the TransAmerica Pyramid can serve this purpose, provided there is a marker of some kind on the ground indicating the shadow measurement at a specific time of day. If the shadow aligns with the marker, the time of day should match the previous time of day when the marker was set. Because the TransAmerica Pyramid is so tall, the behavior of the “instrument” is particularly dynamic compared to an ordinary sundial from the vantage of the observer. All bets are off in foggy weather and during an earthquake.

ΓΝΩΜΩΝ. A page in French on the web says Thales measured the height of the Great Pyramid at Giza by comparing shadows at the same time of day.

Consider a pyramid, height h unknown. However the length of its shadow, l, is known for a certain time of day, as is the shadow l’ and height, h’ of a reference such as a 6’ man.

h   h'

- = --

l   l'



    h'l

h = ---

     l'

Example: l = 962’, h’ = 6’ and l’ = 12’. Solving for h = 481’ = 6 x 962 / 12.

At an opening in Berkeley, C., a plein-air painter, says they rebuild "to the lot line" in the Oakland Hills. No manners. Of course he means to the setback, as reference shows the possibility of good manners to the lot line.

Another word from close, oh so close to home.

A word about internship from afar, oh so far away.

Via boing boing, tents or not.

Three churches among others(?), same architect, Charles Geddes. There was a good article in a recent newspaper, but can’t find it.

• Noe Valley Ministry, San Francisco, 1888
• Westminster Presbyterian Church (St. Procopius Church), Berkeley, 1879
• Community United Methodist Church, Half Moon Bay, 1872

See Witold Riedel for two articles on earth structures, one of which is a drawing with eight variations and the other article gives links to Nader Khalili.

Morning News sends a lead to Matt's possessions obsession by way of drawings and photographs and clever navigation.

Caterina brings us an article on Christopher Alexander. Agree that Alexander favors, shall we say, the shingle style, that is, a homey, crafty solution. He seems to hate modern solutions, but what if they're perfectly good? Toph uses PatternLanguage.com as a resource, but it nags him to register or something. It does have some fun stuff though.

Detroit. Remember Detroit? Detroit iron? Detroit anything?

Working. Draw a building. Crash the computer.

Stop work. Walk the grand all-American pit bull terrier by the crashing waves.

Working. Continue on the building. Get deeply involved in window placement.

Stop work. Walk. Look at the horizon all yellow, orange, red, purple, dark blue and black.