Wednesday, January 11, 2012

{building} art

I should be in class right now, but thanks to the admin who showed up over 30 minutes late to our meeting regarding some fellowship application paperwork, I had to skip class :( Skipping grad courses makes me nervous, especially since this prof is new and there is not book for the course....

Anyways, as I walk from the bus stop to my building (~30% of my commute is spent walking) I pass by this fantastic building called Anderson Hall. Last night I noticed that one of the upper stories was lit up, revealing what appears to be a beautiful gothic-style hall. I'm not in the college of Forestry (clearly), so I'm going to try to explore the space without too many people noticing I'm there. I don't even know what the space is currently used for, so that complicates things a bit.

anderson hall {pre-giant-bus-stop now residing near it}

As I was looking up the building online, I stumbled across the UW's Digital Collections, full of historical photos and many original architectural drawings. Look at this incredible drawing I found of the Space Needle:


And the pictures come with interesting descriptions, including this about the Space Needle:
Set on the only section of the fair grounds that was not owned by the city, the site did not have the height restrictions of other exhibits/pavillions at the fair. The lot, 37-by-37 m, was purchased by private investors for $75,000 and is still privately owned.

and this was supposed to the be a bank at the World's Fair:


What a cool building! I haven't actually determined if this structure was ever built, but I'm think that it probably was not constructed, mainly because I can't find any info on it....but there is going to be some exhibitions this coming year to celebrate the 50 yr anniversary of the World's Fair, so maybe I can find out more later! (also, I've always secretly wanted a circular house...)

even the floor plan is something I would frame!



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