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Picture this scenario:  You are at a party and a person wearing dark rimmed glasses clad in tailored black clothes  sits down and starts talking to you.  They open their mouth and out pours “The spatial quality of this habitation is a little reminiscent of Gropius with a marriage of Corbu, but only due to the ribbon windows juxtaposed to that Breuer chair”.   At that moment, all you can do is smile and nod.   Then think up an excuse to get away from that person.

This situation is not uncommon.  Conversing with architects and designers can be informative and interesting, it just takes that one person to kill the conversation.  But don’t be glum, there is a way to understand what they are saying without going too far.  Here are a few definitions to help you:

Palladio: A Renaissance architect that used classical principles in his designs.  (i.e.: symmetry, columns, greco roman design).  Example:  The columns create a  palladian effect on the facade of that structure.

Juxtapose: to be right next to.  (For some reason architects like to use that word).  Example: The arched entry is juxtaposed to the non arched entry.

Celebrate: To bring attention to.  (Using a verb in different context makes things pop!) Example: The trees planted along the sidewalk celebrate the path to the back door.

Corbu: A famous architect born Charles Eduoard Jeannerct then changed his name to Le Corbusier.  Corbu or Le Corb, or Corb is how many architects refer to him.  (After years of studying him, architects start to know his work  on a relaxed basis so they can refer to him by shortened names).   He was pivotal to the International Style.  Example: see the introduction.

International Style: A design style in the 1920s and 30s.  It is the birth of modern architecture.  (It just sounds cool if you refer to it).  If you want to know more about it, read the book “The International Style” by Henry-Russell Hitchcock and Philip Johnson.

Hopefully this will enlighten you to the complex world of architecture.  There will be more words to come…