Category Archives: Design

Hanukkah Pop-up

A different kind of card

Lisa suggested that I try a pop-up card this year, and I thought that would be fun. A few frustrating hours later, I finally figured out the technique – how to make different planes stand up and then fold into a flat closed card. A 3D scene from a flat card – a little bit of magic!

“Ah lichtige Hanukkah”, in Yiddish, means “A bright Hanukkah (to you)”.

The latkes that are puzzling Our Cat are the traditional Hanukkah potato pancakes fried in oil. I think he’d prefer tuna.

Happy Hanukkah!

You can get a little more Hanukkah history, including the meaning of the candles and of the oil the latkes are cooked in, in my 2009 Hanukkah card.

RM Schindler’s Rose Harris House 1942, Analysis continued – part 4 of 5

Some more thoughts

Space

As usual, Schindler creates a world with three roof/ceiling planes (Figure 1). Here the planes are 6’-8”, 8’-0” and 8’-8” high. The first two heights are typical, appearing in most of Schindler’s houses, particularly in his later Schindler Frame Houses. The third 8’-8” plane is unusually low, reflecting the modest budget and small size of the house.

The steps in the ceiling never occur over a wall,  but are offset about 2’-8”. Almost every room has a step in the ceiling. Even the bathroom has a ceiling step, although the room is so small that it would be difficult to see (Fig 2). The steps make the spaces within each room more dynamic and imply spaces that flow through the walls, somewhat like the Erlik house but without the high glass. The ceilings step up to the rear, but also on a diagonal towards the living room southwest corner, making the living room the tallest (8’-8”) space (Fig 3).

Happy Thanksgiving

Vegetarians and a cat, what could be funnier?

Cats look into and comment on everything by right, like a superior officer. This year Our Cat reviews our Thanksgiving meal, before finding something more to his liking.

Happy Thanksgiving to my US readers.

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