Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

James Taite @jamestaite.bsky.social · 15h

can't stop won't stop uh oh lizard stop

sandstone label stop carved as a lizard-like creepy crawly

Reposted by James Taite

Sharon @sharonk.bsky.social · 16h

if i ever get enough money i'm going to give environmental defense canada a gundam in order to enact zoning reform

environmentaldefence.ca/report/mid-r...

Mid-Rise Manual

The Mid-rise Manual is a lawmakers guide to unlocking mid-rise - by making it legal, practical and cost-effective to build.

environmentaldefence.ca

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James Taite @jamestaite.bsky.social · 23h

view from the office

Gothic revival tower backlit by the rising sun

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Reposted by James Taite

Ted McCormick @tedmccormick.bsky.social · 1d

A striking thing about articles I’ve read claiming to “study the effects” of generative AI on student writing skills and consumption of information is that (1) they nearly always find the effects are negative and (2) most “conclusions” are still written assuming that we must use AI, for some reason.

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James Taite @jamestaite.bsky.social · 1d

LARMIER A flat, Square, massive Member of the Cornice, between the Cymatium, and the Ovolo, and jets out farthest, being so call’d from its Use, which is to disperse the Water, and cause it to fall at a Distance from the Wall, drop by drop, or as it were, by Tears, Larme in French signifying a Tear.

portion of cornice of a classical building, including larmier and cymatium, in the process of being cut from Wallace sandstone; standing upright though it's orientation in the building would be horizontal

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James Taite @jamestaite.bsky.social · 1d

Ffs can you hear yourself? don’t even entertain this as a hypothetical

“If they gave you a lot of money would you submit to your aggressor?”

The only purpose it serves is to normalize

Polling Canada @canadianpolling.bsky.social · 1d

"If the US offered all Canadians full US citizenship and a full conversion of the Canadian dollar/personal assets into US dollars, I would vote to become part of the US"

⚫️ Disagree: 67%
🟡 Neutral: 17%
🟢 Agree: 16%

Read it here: open.substack.com/pub/canadian...

Canadians Firmly Reject Idea of American Statehood

Support for American statehood remains low across all age groups, even in more conservative provinces like Alberta

open.substack.com

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Reposted by James Taite

Canadian Paintings @canadianpaintings.bsky.social · 11d

The Auction
D.P. Brown
1975

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Reposted by James Taite

bianca wylie @biancawylie.com · 2d

"What is needed now is not more big ideas or breakthrough products. It is repair. Design as repair means paying attention to what is already in motion." - @ronbronson.com

blog.ronbronson.com/design-as-re...

Design As Repair - Ron Bronson | Ron Bronson

Note: These are the prepared remarks I wrote for my talk at IxDA Oslo. In the end, I spoke more extemporaneously, but I thought at least I could

blog.ronbronson.com

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James Taite @jamestaite.bsky.social · 2d

Benjamin Brown House, Forfar, ON, ca. 1849

yer typical late-Georgian vernacular, distinguished by the mushroom-cap lintels masquerading as semi-elliptical arches, notional voussoirs incised

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Reposted by James Taite

Will Wiles @willwiles.bsky.social · 3d

Pevsner said that the destruction of Soane's Bank of England was the greatest architectural crime of the 20th century. A century later the Bank is putting the perpetrators up for parole. I consider the evidence.

Apollo @apollo-magazine.com · 3d

Sir John Soane described the Bank of England building he designed as ‘the pride and boast of my life’, but in 1925 his masterpiece was demolished to make way for Herbert Baker’s bigger but more boring vision, writes @willwiles.bsky.social

The man who broke the Bank of England – and built it back up again

It is a century since most of Sir John Soane’s structure was demolished to make way for Herbert Baker’s bigger but more boring vision, writes Will Wiles

buff.ly

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Reposted by James Taite

Alexandra Lange @langealexandra.bsky.social · 3d

Loved reading this @timothyaschuler.bsky.social piece about the Erie Canal’s first 200 years … and what’s next (bridges! trails! art!) www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

The Long Comeback of the Erie Canal

One of America’s first major public works projects is marking its 200th anniversary — and seeking a path to the future.

www.bloomberg.com

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Reposted by James Taite

Places Journal @placesjournal.bsky.social · 3d

A mapping workshop with refugees from Homs, Syria, asked participants to draw their neighborhoods from memory, bridging gaps between houses to generate a shared image of a city destroyed by war. To rebuild justly, residents will need to understand this pluralist city as others have lived within it.

Memory Maps of Homs, Syria

A mapping workshop with refugees from Homs, Syria, illuminates the complexity of rebuilding after war.

placesjournal.org

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Reposted by James Taite

Dr James Alexander Cameron @drjacameron.stainedglassattitudes.com · 3d

A welcome surprise in my last-minute cathedral guiding was the new visitor centre at Lincoln Cathedral, with exhibition pentice on the back of the Wren library and cloister linking to the 1840s Deanery building by Simpson and Brown, completed in the Pandemic and opened in Spring 2021. Tremendous!

Limestone-clad front of window reveal standards linking the Wren Library of the N cloister walk to the 1840s deanery building which now houses the main cathedral café

New gift shop immediately inside the W face of new building, with tapering trusses supporting a glazed skylight toward the N transept

"Cloister" between the Wren library and Old Deanery, with pierced metal cladding to exhibition pentice. Cathedral behind with NE transept gable and the chapter house under heavy scaffolding.

The pentice exhibition against the outer wall of the Wren Library, showing the panels of the 2nd quarter of the 12thc frieze from the W front, some original panels, and some limestone copies of are still kept in-situ

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Reposted by James Taite

Michael Burchert @michaelburchert.bsky.social · 4d

Building with concrete fragments, new challenges for stone masons? @jamestaite.bsky.social
slaattomorsboel, Kopenhagen
www.instagram.com/p/C7j8JOwsEX...

corner modell of split concrete fragments forming insulated floor and walls

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James Taite @jamestaite.bsky.social · 3d

For sure Michael; if demo is absolutely necessary we should be making every effort to repurpose the material, including concrete

Not exactly the same, but this is a concrete lintel original to a stone structure we dismantled & rebuilt, salvaged for reuse in the same location; chalk marks the rebar

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Reposted by James Taite

Louise @selkies.bsky.social · 5d

Unfortunately Canadians are also yanks when it comes down to it

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Reposted by James Taite

David Brace @davidbrace2.bsky.social · 7d

For the "Walking Distance" series: "The budget freeze passed unanimously", oil on canvas, 12x12", 2023 (private collection)

A realistic painting of a yellow & black striped bike lane bollard, broken & laid atop a concrete jersey barrier, the morning light casting strong shadows. The pavement is broken & crumbling.

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Reposted by James Taite

Mr. Joshua @pantspants.bsky.social · 19d

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James Taite @jamestaite.bsky.social · 7d

Cool cool that image of the feminine and the pastoral picturesque in contrast to the orthogonal and urban makes good reference to Hippodamus of Miletus and Roman castra but it really doesn’t adequately account for the 19thc rural landscape as shaped by N. American survey grid particularly the Jeffer

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James Taite @jamestaite.bsky.social · 7d

view from the office

Looking through scaffold netting at a distant skyline of towers and steep roofs

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James Taite @jamestaite.bsky.social · 7d

pointed arch and corbel-table

looking through scaffold and scaffold tarps upon which the image of a gothic revival building is printed

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James Taite @jamestaite.bsky.social · 7d

Corbel table of pointed arches with cusps

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Reposted by James Taite

Jake_Vig @jakevig.bsky.social · 8d

This is not the world Iggy Pop rolled around in broken glass and then continued singing for.

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James Taite @jamestaite.bsky.social · 8d

Oh shit I don’t know much about anything other than stone but that reveal with the rhythm of the mullions is a beaut. Love the organization of the facade, esp the green glass (but I’m a guy who once spent most of an afternoon staring at Lever House).

Congrats Nick & take a well-earned bow 🥳

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Reposted by James Taite

Cross-laminated & Skinned her 👻 🦇 🎃 @nickhasthoughts.com · 8d

material palette worked out I think

close up in purple brick facade with windows accompanied by limestone accents that alternate side from floor to floor. Multi-level glazing with a steel and wood canopy adjacent to brick. Trees and greenery with hardscape in foreground.

variegated limestone clafding with 2” shadow reveals and slot windows. Blue curtain wall above with alternating vertical spandrel panels and frit that flip flops each floor. A shadow implying a bent facade is cast over the limestone wall. unfinished landscape is in foreground.

stone pavers and steps lead up to glass building. Clear glass extends up to the first horizontal mullion to allow a sightline through the building. reflective blue glass is above. The facade is kinked. You can see the inside as well as daylight through the building on the entry side.

View across entry. Large wood and steel canopy above. Limestone and glazing, with balconies ascending the tower on the left. balconies have wood soffits to tie in with the wood canopy.

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