Diversionary Daily

Council House

Doing some further reading after yesterday's pondering on architectural heritage, I've seen a few people citing the 1960s era Council House (designed by Howlett and Bailey) as one of the ugliest buildings in the city.

I couldn't disagree more. In fact I'd rank it among the most beautiful and distinctive buildings in the CBD.

There's some interesting thoughts on what defines heritage in the comments on the last post — why not offer your thoughts?

Posted on Friday, June 30, 2006 | Photos | 3 Comments

Heritage

There's an interesting debate brewing here in Perth about architecture and exactly what constitues heritage. From this morning's paper:

"East Perth train station, a perennial inclusion in lists of Perth's eyesores, has been earmarked for heritage protection by the Town of Vincent."

Now I've made snide remarks about that station — it's spectacularly brutalist, only slightly softened by the use of bricks rather than featureless concrete — but it remains a striking example of the architecture of its style and time. While I can't say it's an aesthetic that I like, that doesn't stop it being an historical artefact.

It's just a very large, prominent one.

The chief executive of the council in question puts it like this:

"Heritage is not just straight forward old buildings. It encompasses the aesthetic, social, scientific and architectural categories. It is obviously very thought-provoking and different people will have different opinions."

How are heritage and aesthetics related? Should an "ugly" but historically important object or building be protected? What do you think?

Posted on Thursday, June 29, 2006 | Photos | 4 Comments

1915

It's hard to make out in the photo, but the windows are half bricked-up on the inside.

I think they look a little like eyes.

Posted on Wednesday, June 28, 2006 | Photos | 2 Comments

Looking Up

From somewhere in Fremantle.

It's amazing what you miss when you just look straight ahead. A bit like Powazek's look behind you approach to photography.

Posted on Tuesday, June 27, 2006 | Photos | 1 Comments

Word of the Day

I've been looking around at some new camera lenses, and in my reading came across a word I hadn't heard before: bokeh.

From my handy Oxford dictionary:

the visual quality of the out-of-focus areas of a photographic image, especially as rendered by a particular lens : a quick, visual survey of the foreground and background bokeh of a variety of lenses.
ORIGIN from Japanese.

So there you go: bokeh. Today's Diversionary word of the day.

Posted on Monday, June 26, 2006 | Photos | 3 Comments

Power Curve

From somewhere in Northbridge.

Posted on Sunday, June 25, 2006 | Photos | 1 Comments

Scarfed

It's that time of year again. When it gets cold enough in the mornings to warrant wearing a scarf to work, which makes me feel like a real, actual, pretentious designer.

And I promise to post a photo of something of that than leaves before this site turns into "Sticks, Twigs and Leaves of Every Colour, Daily".

It's just that I went for a walk last weekend and the colours were everywhere. I couldn't help myself.

Posted on Thursday, June 22, 2006 | Photos | 4 Comments

Focus

I'm easily distracted by pretty colours.

Posted on Wednesday, June 21, 2006 | Photos | 1 Comments

A Word of Advice

I came across a post on a design blog that posed the question “If you were to do it all again, what would you do differently?” to a range of designers of note. Their answers made for fairly interesting reading.

It got me thinking — if I could go back in time and give myself some advice, what would it be? Not just in terms of design or work, but in general.

I had a long list of earnest advice here, but on re-reading I decided that a long, long list could be better summed up in four words.

Fifteen letters and a set of parentheses.

Live a little (more).

Play, planning, risks, stress, work, holidays, getting a haircut... I think those would be great words to live by. It's not a clear-cut mantra to live by, just a reminder to check priorities.

What about you? If you could go back and give yourself some advice, what would it be? Long or short, funny or poetic, I'd love to know what you'd say.

Posted on Sunday, June 18, 2006 | Life | 6 Comments

It Crept Up On Me

Once again June 15 (and with it my birthday) kinda snuck up on me and today came around and I hadn't organised anything and may have slightly neglected to remind a few people of my impending ageing.

Mea culpa.

So, yeah. A year older, a year wiser. I'm sure about the first bit at least.

There's a flashback-like overview of the past 12 months' worth of posts after the jump...

Continue reading "It Crept Up On Me"

Posted on Thursday, June 15, 2006 | Life | 10 Comments

And It Was All Yellow

We're finally getting a good showing of autumn colour, albeit in winter (maybe it's just the first time I've stopped to notice it?).

Posted on Monday, June 12, 2006 | Photos | No Comments Yet

Avoiding the Question

The observant ones among us may have noticed that I haven't actually answered many of the questions you asked me, but I will get to them. They're good questions, deserving of thoughtful answers. And as we've already covered, lately I've been otherwise engaged at work, so my thoughtful writing time has been slightly limited.

One thing I can do with very little thought (and probably in my sleep) is buy silly domain names. Behold my latest acquisition, which will no doubt one day help answer Jesse and Lucinda's question, and probably also a prosecution case against me.

Posted on Friday, June 9, 2006 | Chairs | 2 Comments

Wired (Reprise)

I've previously mentioned that having a coffee place across the road from the office is bad, haven't I?

In other (slightly related) news, I have reliable reports that this may well be the winter that sees Italian hot chocolate catch on in cafés here in Perth. Once I get more details I'll pass them on.

Posted on Thursday, June 8, 2006 | Work | 4 Comments

In Other Words

It's getting a little redundant to say that I've been busy at work, so I've decided that if I do have to lower myself to that level of dull-excuse-for-not-posting again, I'm going to run with one of the synonyms offered by the handy dictionary on my new laptop (more on that bit later):

occupied, engaged; rushed off one's feet, hard-pressed, swamped, up to one's neck; on the job, absorbed, engrossed, immersed, preoccupied; informal: (as) busy as a bee, on the go, hard at it.

So, there we go. I've been occupied.

My question for you is: say I'm busy and can't think of anything intersting to write. Would you prefer:

1. a photo with no wordage at all; or
2. a photo with some semi-creative wording involving one of the above alternatives to "busy"? (I'll even cross them off as I use them — this post counts for 'occupied').

Inquiring/lazy minds want to know. Cast your vote now.

Posted on Monday, June 5, 2006 | Work | 7 Comments

Further Confusing the Issue

There appears to be some discussion whether my last dune photo could have been lunar or not, based mostly on the distinctly blue sky.

So here's one in black and white to further complicate things.

And it's a tall image, just to mess with my site's design.

Posted on Saturday, June 3, 2006 | Photos | 1 Comments

Up close

I'm busy at work (again) so here's a photo instead of a wordy post about chairs, music or music at work.

I guess that means I need to write a post about chairs at work.

Sadly I sit in a nondescript leather executive chair, and not an Aeron or Mirra. But I can dream...

Posted on Friday, June 2, 2006 | Chairs , Work | No Comments Yet