Architecture, It's nice to be here.

There is just something nice about architecture when it invites you in.  There are times when I see something in a building that makes me think of something else or makes me wonder how it works. Without any conscious effort I am invited into the architecture, invited to imagine about it, to walk through it, to go a little bit closer to it. 

Berlin Philharmonie by Hans Scharoun

It would be hard to walk through this lobby without stopping to stare at the stained glass wall.  It softly dominates the space.  It invites you to compare it to the familiar windows of a Church when you were 8, and then all the sudden you are caught trying to figure out exactly what kind of pattern they are in...

Scharoun took the ability of architecture to engage people to an experience seriously when he put together the main symphony hall.  He noticed that people naturally gather around musicians, and people will even press up behind the musicians to get closer to them.  In 1962 Scharoun was the first architect in the world to design a full scale symphony hall in a way that allowed people to interact with musicians the way they do naturally (from all around). 

Well Placed Board by Unknown (probably the pond cleaning guy)

It is strange that something so simple spurs: What's on the other side?  Who left this here?  Is that really safe?  Can I make it across without falling?  I used to make bridges like this when I was little....

Debis-Haus am Potsdamer Platz by Renzo Piano

Yeah, He could have done it with one big column...  but then there wouldn't have been a space to take a picture of, or someone in the reflection taking a picture back.

The way the building ended over the pond created a really nice space, and They provided stepping stones for everyone.

The cool part of this wasn't that a lone stepping stone is just asking to be waded out to.  The cool part is once you get there, there is a view straight up through a void in the stairwell hanging above.  Finding something there, special, only for the person who kicks of their shoes creates something intimate, special, rewarding, cool.