Archived entries for
HAL 9000, c. 1961
An IBM computer in 1961 sings “Daisy.” (Decrement the letters on IBM by one move each to get HAL. Both Arthur C. Clarke and Stanley Kubrick repeatedly denied the connection, but it seems an odd coincidence.)
[via Boing Boing Gadgets]
Lebbeus Woods on Light & Dark
Lebbeus Woods posted a short piece about light (and dark) and architecture:
I had long thought that architecture measures light. Light flows everywhere in space but can only be perceived when it is reflected from an object—a mountain, a cloud, a building. A building is a special case because of its regular geometry. A rectangular wall shapes light and gives it a rational form, taking it out of a seeming chaos and making it comprehensible, thus useful. I think of architecture as an instrument—such as a ruler or a telescope—something we use to understand the world and create knowledge. I also believe that architecture is an instrument that enables our actions—such as a hammer, or a violin. Architecture is instrumental, active, and only incidentally symbolic or representational, that is, passively present.
