Images from the book Fantastic Ornament

I am sharing today some beautiful illustrations from the book Fantastic Ornament 100 Designs and Motifs, by Michel Lienard. They are my screen shots from the preview, except the last one that I´ve downloaded from Google images. Enjoy!

My pictures from the Mission of San Juan Capistrano, California

The story begins in 1775, when Mission San Juan Capistrano was first founded by Father Lasuen, on October 30th. But just a few weeks after the party of padres and soldiers arrived, they received word of the revolt occurring in San Diego. The founding padres, and soldiers decided to leave San Juan Capistrano, and go back to San Diego to help there. Once things had settled in San Diego, Father Serra personally led a party to re-found Mission San Juan Capistrano on All Saint’s Day, November 1, 1776.

Mission San Juan Capistrano, became the seventh of twenty-one missions to be founded in Alta California. Like the previous six missions, San Juan Capistrano was established to expand the territorial boundaries of Spain, and to spread Christianity to the Native peoples of California. Unlike the British colonies on the East Coast of North America, who brought people from their homeland to form colonies, the Spanish believed they could transform the Native peoples into good Spanish citizens. (.....)

After 1812, the Mission began to decline. Many factors were involved in the Missions decline including the earthquake in December of 1812 which caused the Great Stone Church to collapse, the decline in birth rate, the increasing mortality rate of the population due to disease, the inability of Spanish government to adequately protect and supply the Missions with needed goods.

By 1821, Mexico won its independence from Spain, which made Alta California a territory of Mexico. Under new governmental direction, the Mission faced continued decline. By 1834, the Mexican government decided to end the mission system entirely. Soon after the decree of secularization, or the ending of the missions, the land holdings of Mission San Juan Capistrano were divided and sold to 20 prominent California families. By 1845, Governor Pio Pico even sold the Mission itself. The Mission was sold at auction to John Forster, Governor Pio Pico’s brother-in-law for $710, when it was valued to be worth more than $54,000. For the next 20 years the Mission was a private ranch property of the Forster family.

Mission San Juan Capistrano, like California, saw yet another government take over California, when the United States won the Mexican American War in 1848. As part of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, California and other western territories were ceded to the United States. With the Gold Rush beginning, and millions of Americans moving to California, Mission San Juan Capistrano would see another great change.

Only a few years after acquiring the territory of California, the United States declared it a state 1850. Many California dioceses and parishioners petitioned the government to have mission buildings and lands returned to the church. People were saddened at the state of the missions. Some mission buildings had been turned into stores, bars, inns, or even stables. Most were falling apart and not maintained.

President Abraham Lincoln responded to the petitioners by giving back the missions to the Catholic Church. By the 1870s and early 1900s, artists, photographers, and visionaries took interest in the abandoned missions. Many wealthy individuals formed groups to campaign for restoration. The Landmarks Club, led by Charles Lummis and resident padre Father John O’Sullivan were Mission San Juan Capistrano’s greatest proponents of preservation. Throughout the 1910s-1940s a great amount of preservation work ensued.

The Mission continues efforts in preservation, with the help of donations each year. Although the Mission is owned by the Catholic Church, it is run by a non-profit organization. This means, Mission San Juan Capistrano does not receive any funding from the Catholic Church, State, or Federal Government for operation or preservation. It depends entirely on the generous contributions of visitors and benefactors. (...)

Source: 

http://www.missionsjc.com/preservation/history.php

My dark landscapes. Mis paisajes oscuros

Burnt trees. Lancaster, CA

Seashore lighting. Long Beach

Vertical structures. Lancaster

El lenguaje complejo del arquitecto

Architect´s bingo card. Por Bob Borson

Estaba leyendo un post de Bob Borson sobre las palabras que usan los arquitectos, en su sitio Life of an Architect , y no pude más que reír ante la tarjeta ¨Bingo¨ de arquitectos. Vamos a traducir:

Yuxtaposición, grilla escocesa, jerarquía (una palabra que tanto uso para trabajar con fractales), simetría, claridad, tectonicidad, textura, biomímica, curvilinear, aventanamiento, partido, articulación, masividad, diagrama, pilotes, cáscara, procesión, truncado, forma, emerger, folly: -no encuentro una traducción adecuada en nuestro idioma, es una obra de arquitectura sin sentido-, uniformidad, balance.

El post me hizo reflexionar sobre anécdotas de mi vida, y no siempre profesional. El lenguaje se va incorporando y enriqueciendo con neologismos, casi sin darnos cuenta, y no importa con quién hablemos, nos fluyen las palabras con las que intentamos describir un edificio o una idea. El planteo de Bob es cierto: los clientes no entienden el léxico y cuando pensamos que nos lucimos, pues no, el cliente se retira, enmudece o corta. O hace preguntas para disimular su desconocimiento.

Esta semana, por ejemplo, me llamó un constructor para realizar un plano de hardscape o construcción del paisaje. Para poder pasar mis honorarios, le pregunté si además necesitaba una tabla con los nombres científicos de las especies. Ante el silencio, me dí cuenta de mi error, y traté de llevar la conversación por caminos más conocidos.

Otro problema del cual siento ¨mea culpa¨ es la respuesta via email, las explicaciones técnicas. 

Siendo investigadora formada, y llevando tantos años en obra, solucionando problemas, mis respuestas son muy precisas, estrictas, más bien como reportes. Una vez un cliente me dijo que mis emails sonaban ¨agresivos¨, sin serlo. Desconcertada, le redirigí mi email a mi esposo, -arquitecto-, y le pregunté qué pensaba, dónde estaría la cuestión. Y me respondió, que en la modalidad estadounidense, primero debiera ¨deshacerme¨ en saludos, amabilidades, luego escribir con más naturalidad (domesticidad) y no parecer un abogado; el final del texto debe ser igualmente florido y con extensos agradecimientos, saludos y buenos deseos. He de practicar este año para mejorar mi comunicación virtual.

Una ¨desestructura¨ (mi neologismo) de palabras que hice con una muestra de Piet Mondrian en NY

Otra de mis ¨desestructuras¨.

Volviendo al teléfono, algunos -un 50% diría- señores mexicanos me han cortado, sencillamente porque no reconocen que una mujer de explicaciones técnicas; en general preguntan por mi esposo, siento la frustración si ¨él¨ no se encuentra y soy afortunada si logro continuar la conversación; el mes pasado, no obstante decir que era su socia, un señor pregunta ¨pero Ud sirve el café o atiende el teléfono?.¨

Daré otros ejemplos de palabras, algunas también mencionadas en las divertidas tarjetas de Bob, y si Ud lector es arquitecto, será bienvenido a agregar otras:

Formal, conglomerado y aglomerado (en fractalidad hay diferencias, la traducción general al inglés sería clusters), tensores, cerchas, secuencia, orden, ambientalismo, medio ambiente, miembros estructurales, transición, mallas, grillas, gestos, geotérmico, miesiano, corbusierano, Corbu, racionalismo, sustentable, retórica, complejidad, cantilever, fundación, bases corridas, integración, configuración, fondo y figura, contextualismo, espacialidad, mancha de aceite, conectores, grafos, sistema, tejido urbano, historicismo,  edificios inteligentes, etc.....

Conclusión: nada mejor que un dibujo claro y sencillo para expresarnos con quienes no son nuestros colegas. Al respecto, estoy haciendo una colección de ilustraciones arquitectónicas en Pinterest, de las cuales extraigo ¨A Hill with a Hole¨, posteada previamente por Endless forms most beautiful en Flickr. El trabajo pertenece a los artistas rusos contemporáneos Brodsky y Utkin.

Homeless in the Central Park of Huntington Beach (!)

This picture was downloaded to my National Geographic account, here

http://yourshot.nationalgeographic.com/profile/285029/#

The Library and Central Park of Huntington Beach, Southern California, is one of my favorite places.

I've been there many times, buying books and taking pictures everywhere, in different seasons.

Sometimes we go for a walk with my husband, like anybody else in Huntington Beach, because this is not a park for tourists, but for the neighbors, and we are proud of its beauty and peace.

Today, I went alone, and decided to venture away from the walkways to take different pictures from the ducks and landscape. I wanted to focus in textures and fallen Eucalyptus. 

The first things that caught my attention were pretty worn out clothes hanging from the trees. That was unusual because there are no seats around, and people were away from this spot.

Then, I walked to the new circle of pine trees and went to the woods in the area surrounding the lagoon. A jade green pond was bright and beautiful with moss and I got closer to take pictures of it. I was surprised to see the blue and the red of someone's belongings, plus a sign and a big picture frame. That was a nice composition for my shot, the first one I have here.

But when I looked up, I saw in astonishment that more colorful things were everywhere, clothes, toilette paper, bottles, plastics, etc. as you can notice in the following pic, though I wouldn't dare to go farther, just in case. Music was being played from a radio, coming from this spot. A hidden place for homeless.

I've felt somehow nervous, evaluating my situation. A lady alone, inside the woods, if something happened, who could hear me? I went back to the library and on my way I managed to take more pictures, there are narrow paths that lead to areas enclosed by nature, and every time I could see covers, toilette papers, bags, remains of human habitat. In another wood, children were playing seek and hide with plastic guns, pure fun, unaware of the homeless protected by the wet and dense trees. And of course, the worn out clothes were still hanging on the Eucalyptus after my long walk.

Here I am sharing my pictures, even graffiti I've found on the trees. I've spoken to the person in charge of the Library security and he said, I know, and this is not one person, there are four over there, another two....etc. Now I was upset. So, did you know it already?

The security guard said as they are not inside the Library area, the problem belongs to the police department, and that when they are called, they make a few tickets, get rid of the homeless and then, they immediately come back to their settlements. And there is still more, people living in their RVs at the parking lots under the trees. Though there were complaints, they would stay the whole day, it doesn't matter if the park is closed at night.

And I insisted, don't you think it's dangerous? (He totally agreed with me). Who could hear if something happens in the density of the trees? I am not against the homeless, but when they are on the streets, you can watch their behavior, they are exposed.

In Huntington Beach Central Park there is no way they could be exposed, not them, not anybody who would venture to come across with them. What happens after the park is closed? Who knows. Maybe they are just poor people, it doesn't mean they are dangerous. But maybe not.

I have to confess it took me by surprise. Huntington Beach is a very safe city, not to be compared with any other in Los Angeles County. I remember once, two kids were about to fight in the corner of my house, there were a few more surrounding them. A neighbor called the police and there were police cars and a helicopter in minutes. Just for a kids fight!

The Security guard suggested me to contact the police as a citizen, do not send them emails or do not call them, speak to them directly, show them the pictures and please do us this favor. If the citizens complain, they will have more power than us public employees.

I've not contacted the police yet, but I'll do, and most probably I will update this post.

If you reader, are living in Huntington Beach, and like to walk in the park with your family, please be aware of this situation and help us to denounce it. Let's keep this city as safe as always and let's help the homeless to live in better places than the lagoon surroundings.

Your comment is very welcome!.

The colors of Los Angeles Harbor. San Pedro, California

All pictures by Myriam B. Mahiques, taken in September 2013.

A homeless sleeping among colorful urban fixtures

The red, the white, the blue.