Zibaldone 7

How does a building meet the ground?  Or maybe the building seems like it never meets the ground.  Buildings are constructed in various ways to show how the building meets the ground or not.  Our class discussion at Harvard touched on how H.H. Richardson constructed his buildings to meet the ground.  The stone or brick would extend from the building to create the sense that it was holding the building up.  At the MIT Chapel not to far from Harvard the building seems to not meet the ground.  There is a canal around the building, and then the building sits on small structural bricks.  This makes the building almost seem like it is floating above the water.  From the inside you can look out, but only down into the water, which reflects the light inside.  Buildings can also dig into the ground to meet the ground in a different way, like Larsen Hall at Harvard.  Buildings meet the ground in the way that the architect wants them to and designs for.