The Fredösphere

Lynn's got the good links today:  KISS bars of soap, and the monstrous, seductive architectural fancies of Étienne-Louis Boullée.

I really like what Charles T. Downey and the gang are doing at Ionarts, and I've been looking for an excuse to link to them for a while.  I still feel guilty that I didn't see this kind attention soon enough to respond to it in a timely way -- sheesh, he practically begged me to get into a mutual linkathon with him, and I blew it.  More recently, he mentioned me in a post about dragging the young'uns to classical concerts.

Sadly, now I come to denounce the object of Downey's most recent post:  Notre-Dame-du-Haut, a freakazoid chapel designed by Le Corbusier.  (And, before I continue, let me note Downey does not exactly say he admires this building, although the existence of the post implies the building has a certain claim on our attention.)

Is there any word that describes this building better than "revolting"?  The curves are an early expression of the kind of arbitrary forms that Gehry has built his career on, but what really repels is the array of randomly sized and positioned windows (which you can see here and here).  What does this wall resemble except a pockmarked face?  Folks, we have deep, hard-wired instincts to backpedal furiously when we encounter this pattern -- so why did Le Corbusier put it on his chapel?  Am I the only one who sees this?  Tell me I'm not crazy.

One is supposed to mellow as one ages, and really, I've mostly learned not to go ballistic like this anymore -- but this building gets my goat cheese like none other on the planet.

It's okay, Fred.  Here, sit down, take a deep breath, and calm yourself with one of these.