This time it’s all in glass
Yesterday, I showed you a very modern Spirit House. Just after spotting that one, I discovered another contemporary version down the street. It belongs to a new condo development.
This Spirit House is ultra modern. Forget the marble, except for the base of course. Let’s just build the whole structure out of glass. And let’s not do Apple store glass panels. Lets use curved glass that is likely much harder to get to look right. The glass on this Spirit House are so transparent, they almost disappear. In the photos above, it’s almost impossible to even see the glass. [note] That could also be because I’m a lousy photographer.[/note] The golden figure under the glass seems exposed, but is protected from inclement rainy weather.
I’ve noticed that a lot of the new malls and condos seem to have Spirit Houses that are very contemporary in design. I have a feeling that the young architects who are designing many of these buildings are looking for ways to translate the traditional designs that have existed for hundreds of years into more immediate designs using modern materials and design languages.
I think this trend towards more modern Spirit House design is a good thing. It’s nice to see designers try new things with new materials and technologies. What’s interesting and important however, is that modern life has not eliminated the Spirit House. It seems like the idea of having a Spirit House in any building, new or old, lives on. That’s great news. Using new techniques to describe old objects makes my collection of Spirit House images all the more interesting.
Finally, it should be pointed out that in a modernist sort of way, even the Spirit guys are arranged in what I would call a designed fashion. No ad hoc’ism here. And check out the Fanta. No old bottles – just a modern can!
Would love to see it at night. I think I see many modern lights that would help show it well.
I totally agree. I am thinking of the lighting systems that make the glass glow. So you don’t actually see the lights, but rather just see the glass glowing in the night like the picture in this link https://shrtm.nu/BFCU.
C’mon. We did this in 1974
That’s true, we did. But good old ideas can still be good new ideas as well.
Molded plexiglass, of many years ago, could fulfil all sorts of needs, and although sometimes an object was fairly heavy, it looked extremely light. I received a gift, again, many years ago, that was a beautiful wave of design, a tray handmade, or hand-torched(?), to keep on my dresser. Still beautiful, I use it to this day, for jewellery or pens and pencils.
The molded glass roof of the Spirit House must have taken a lot of work and skill, and appears to be there and not there – a bit ethereal. Does that help make it spiritual? In any case, beautifully made.
You’re right that it looks light. But it probably weighs a ton, as the glass is very thick. I’m not sure if the structure is more ethereal because it’s made of glass. However, I suspect the Spirits have much better views of the non ethereal world. Mind you, I also imagine that they occasionally wish they had some curtains or blind to block that view out.