Month: July 2016
Pompeii’s Most Famous House, the Villa of Mysteries, is at Risk of Collapse
© ElfQrin [CC BY-SA 4.0], via Wikimedia Commons
One of Pompeii’s most precious gems, the Villa of Mysteries, is now at risk of collapse due to seismic activity in the Bay of Naples, as well as vibrations from a nearby train line transporting tourists. That’s the conclusion of a recent study conducted by Italy’s National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA). The news comes only a few months after the reopening of the house, whose stunning frescoes had just been restored.
As The Telegraph reports, the high-tech study showed that “in addition to the vibrations from the Vesuvius light railway commuter trains, which ferry tourists to Pompeii from Naples, the protective structure around the villa, built in armored cement, wood and steel 50 years ago is threatened by its own weight and water ingress.”
© User:MatthiasKabel [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons
Buried under 9 meters (30 feet) of ash from the eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79, the Villa of Mysteries has a floor space of 3,700 square meters (40,000 square feet) and 60 rooms. It functioned at various times as both a farm house and as what Romans called an otium, a luxury home in the countryside where owners would greet guests and organize sumptuous parties.
© User:MatthiasKabel [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons
The villa features an atrium and a tablinum similar to Roman urban houses. But it is distinguished by its external porticoes, gardens, living quarters and dining rooms, which are organized to take advantage of the scenery. Built just outside Pompeii’s Herculaneum Gate, the villa stands on a hillside and faces the sea, a location typical of the first constructions in the Bay of Naples between the third and second centuries BC, which developed far from the coastline to avoid building on swamps and protect its inhabitants from piracy.[1]
© User:MatthiasKabel [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons
Although the architecture of the building was fairly simple, the walls were adorned with frescoes of the Second Style, which were characterized by their depictions of architectural features such as columns and overhanging pediments. The most spectacular fresco can be found in the dining room, where life-size figures are depicted in what is probably an initiation ritual for the cult of Dionysus.
© User:MatthiasKabel [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons
When the excavation of the villa began in 1909, the frescoes and structures were immediately exposed to damage. As Jarrett A. Lobell writes in an account of the recent restoration for Archaeology, “Five months after the Villa of the Mysteries was first uncovered, it still had no roof to protect it. Moisture began to infiltrate and weaken the walls and damage the frescoes, harmful salts from the wet ground left white splotches on the paintings, and the sun began to fade the fragile pigments.”
© Miguel Hermoso Cuesta [CC BY-SA 4.0], via Wikimedia Commons
The Villa of Mysteries was covered by a modern shell later in the 20th century, but the structure was built at various times using many materials, resulting in a lack of structural consistency. In addition, misguided techniques of conservation from the era had damaged the villa itself, not only removing the frescoes, rebuilding walls, and then rehanging the frescoes, but also filling the cracks with wax, which sealed moisture inside the walls and weakened the structures.
© User:MatthiasKabel [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons
After a beam supporting the protective shell over the peristyle collapsed in 2012, conservators became wary about the building’s security. The ENEA subsequently evaluated the building’s structural integrity, and the report was unequivocal: while some of the rooms’ cement structures are highly vulnerable to seismic activity, the main structural problems concern the heavy wooden beams supporting the roof. The conservation team cleaned and preserved the frescoes with lasers, and assessed the decay of the walls using ultrasound and thermal imaging. But now the house’s modern shell needs to be reconsidered, after the ENEA team used drones to comprehensively examine the roof from above for the first time.
© Lord Pheasant [Copyrighted free use or Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
Hopefully, the Villa of Mysteries will remain. The Villa of Gladiators collapsed in 2010, and others followed in the year after. Under these circumstances, the EU threatened to cut Italy’s funding if the country did not spend €105 million on maintenance and restoration projects in Pompeii by the end of the year. As of now, Italian Cultural Minister Enrico Franceschini needs to keep up with EU requirements, and we expect the Villa of Mysteries to be at the top of his list.
© Lure [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons
Story via The Telegraph and Archaeology Magazine.
References:
- Carol C Mattusch ed., Pompeii and the Roman Villa: Art and Culture around the Bay of Naples (New York; London: Thames & Hudson, 2008)
New images revealed of Renzo Piano’s 565 Broome Soho tower in New York
Renzo Piano Building Workshop has released new images of its 30-storey Soho Tower in New York, which will be the firm’s first residential project in Manhattan. (more…)
Vigneux-Sur-Seine Housing / Margot-Duclot architectes associés
© 11H45
- Architects: Margot-Duclot architectes associés
- Location: Vigneux-sur-Seine, France
- Client: Immobilière 3F
- Area: 4870.0 sqm
- Project Year: 2016
- Photographs: 11H45
- Project Manager: Emmanuel Dequidt
- Interior Design: Margot-Duclot architectes associés
- Landscape Architect: ERA paysagistes
- General Construction Company: BAGOT SAS
- General Contractor: Margot-Duclot architectes associés
- Residence: 892 sqm
- Cost: €10.8m excluding VAT
© 11H45
From the architect. The project on the city-block E2 appears as a singular and unique object; It signals the idea of a renewal of the main entry point to this neighborhood. This is why the architects chose to experiment with the implementation of two quality materials that are both complementary and opposites: brick for its domestic thickness and for its strong reference to the ground and to neighboring red brick façades; lacquered metal used for the lightness of this material and because it discretely hints at the comfort of the housing units and the use of balconies, while still avoiding their exposure to viewers from the street.
© 11H45
The project’s architecture integrates three scales of perception: • An urban perception of the neighborhood: this is manifested in the dynamic and skewed views from the Avenue de la Concorde, and from the new streets in the neighborhood. It mainly refers to the contours and profile of the coping and to the line of acroteria, to the relations between diverse buildings and to the unusual hues and textures of the façades. It translates the first perception of the neighborhood for people arriving from the avenue Henri Barbusse: it surprises and incites people to come and have a look around.
© 11H45
Plan
© 11H45
• A finer architectural reading: the perception at the pedestrian level underscores the importance of the treatment in brick on the ground floor, the implementation of materials, the style of the façades composed of semi-transparencies and opacities, and the porosity of the block and its green spaces. It makes it possible to qualify the domestic nature of the housing units in relation to the street.
© 11H45
Diagram
© 11H45
• To these scales are added the expression of two programs: one addresses the collective housing and imposes its urban presence, the other, the Residence, will express a program rather more like a large family house, in a reference to the avenue Charon. This interlocking of scales guided the architects’ architectural strategies and the volumetric choices.
© 11H45
When Was Your Soul Born?
They say you can easily recognize an old soul. He has learned a lot from the past lives, so in this one he approaches everything with wisdom and a greater sense of knowledge. Of course, he will also retain some characteristics of the era he was born into.
Maybe you are irresistible, fun, easy going, if the roaring ’20s are your time, or you are passionate, fierce and courageous, as the medieval heroes were.
Take just now this fun, quick quiz to find out when your soul was born!
When Was Your Soul Born?
//cdn.playbuzz.com/widget/feed.js
Leave us a comment below to tell us what you’ve got!
The post When Was Your Soul Born? appeared first on Change your thoughts.
New York City – New York – USA (by grahamvphoto)
New York City – New York – USA (by grahamvphoto)
byungwookann: Constantly… Konica Hexanon…
3 Healthy and Inexpensive Ways to Cope with Anxiety
Anxiety has been a huge part of my life. As someone who suffers from social anxiety, I struggle with feelings of anxiousness on almost a daily basis. These feelings of anxiety are often accompanied stress, feeling overwhelmed, and occasionally depression.
After struggling with an anxiety disorder for years, I have learned some effective ways of coping with my anxiety. As a college student, I don’t really have the money to invest in therapy or medication,but I have found ways to cope with my anxiety that are both effective and inexpensive.
1. Journaling
One of my favorite ways to cope with anxiety is to write in my journal. It is an effective way to vent your feelings out and let go of them at the same time.
Journaling will also help you get to know yourself better. Writing in your journal will help you learn more about your thought patterns and can even help you change negative ways of thinking.
What should you write in your journal? You should write about situations that make you feel anxious. You should also write about how you feel about these situations. You can rank how you are feeling on a scale from 1-10 if you find that helpful.
Writing down these things about your anxiety will help you identify why certain situations make you anxious and help you realize which patterns of thought trigger your anxiety.
If a journal sounds like too much work, check out Dr. Gazipura’s awareness log. It’s basically everything we’ve been talking about in one convenient place. It is a worksheet that makes it easy to describe situations that make you anxious and figure out your negative thought patterns in these situations. Keep in mind that this worksheet if for people who specifically have social anxiety, so it may not work as well for you as it has for me. But I think it’s worth mentioning nonetheless.
While journaling, you can also give yourself positive self-talk in written form. This is a great way to reinforce positive feelings toward yourself.
For example, if I am having trouble accepting myself I might write something like “although I am not perfect, I completely accept myself. I know that I am worthy of acceptance and love.”
I find it easier to give myself positive self-talk in the form of writing because it is easier to grasp when I see it written down. After you finish writing our your positive self-talk, it would be even more helpful if you read it out loud to yourself.
For more about how journaling can help with anxiety, check out this helpful article on Psychology Today’s website.
See Also: 5 Tricks How to Overcome Anxiety and Fears
2. Meditation
Another way you can cope with anxiety is through meditation. I started practicing meditation a few months ago, and it has worked wonders for me.
It has helped me change the way I think and has helped me with some of the physical symptoms of my anxiety. For example, I often feel jittery or my heart will pound before entering a social situation, but if I meditate my jitters tend to disappear and my heart rate usually slows down.
Most of our anxiety is drawn from future worries. We are scared about the speech we are about to give or the plane we are about to board. Meditation helps us refocus our minds on the present moment, therefore relieving us of our anxious feelings.
Meditation helps us pull our attention away from our anxious thoughts and brings us back into the present.
See Also: How to get rid of stress and anxiety in 10 minutes?
3. Talking it Out
The best way to cope with anxiety is to simply talk it out with a close friend or family member.
This has proven to be most effective in my life. When I am feeling overwhelmed I like to call or text friends that understand what I’m going through and will listen to me.
Talking to a close friend or family member is a lot like journaling, just with a person on the other end. The people closest to you are deeply about you and their words of encouragement are often all you need to get out of an anxiety funk.
Being vulnerable is a huge risk and is extremely scary. But making yourself vulnerable is often the biggest step towards relieving your anxiety. You have to be able to accept the way you feel before you are able to change it. Talking about your anxiety is arguably the best way to do this.
It is important to note that you should not be simply venting about your symptoms or how much anxiety sucks, you should be talking about the anxiety itself. Doing your best to flesh out why you might feel this way and what patterns of thinking are causing your anxiety.
Being open about your anxiety is terrifying, and it takes great courage. Remember that there is no reason to be ashamed of your anxiety, it does not define you as a person. You are so much more than your anxiety.
It’s time to have the courage to be vulnerable.
The post 3 Healthy and Inexpensive Ways to Cope with Anxiety appeared first on Dumb Little Man.
Campana brothers use palm fibre to give hairy texture to São Paulo house
Brazilian designers Fernando and Humberto Campana have built a house in São Paulo that is covered in palm fibre to give it a hairy exterior (+ slideshow). (more…)
Latest Garden Bridge alternative features four leaf-shaped “stepping stones”
British architect Crispin Wride has released his own concept for a Garden Bridge in London, which he claims is more cost-efficient than Thomas Heatherwick’s proposal and the alternative suggested by Allies and Morrison. (more…)
Sig Nordal 