Journal Index

Frank Projects

Common sense principals of Architecture

  1. We build in order to dwell and to dwell is to dwell among neighbors who have as great of an interests in how we build as we have ourselves. A town is a home where strangers settle side by side and enjoy a shared sense of belonging. It’s streets are public spaces and its facades of its buildings stand in a personal relationship to all who pass them by.
  2. Genius is as rare among architects as it is among the rest of us.
    Three most important social virtues: Modesty, Humility and the ability to act as though other are more important than yourself.
  3. Buildings should fit together in a public space that is accessible and friendly to all of us. This is most easily achieved is there is a share repertory of details. Materials that blend and do not come apart visually at the joints, and proportions that could be emulated by each new addition to the townscape.

“Definition of happiness: the number of pleasant ideas passing through the mind at any given time.”

— from Charles Darwin’s notebook shortly after his marriage to Emma Wedgwood — February 1829.

Washington, DC:  Queen Margrethe of Denmark during a state dinner in her honor at the White House, February 20. February 20, 1991.

  Psalm 51:9-12   Create in me a clear heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation

It is our belief that the state is the servant of the citizen and not his master. - President Kennedy,  1962 State of the Union Address
Without someone taking things too far, you have no idea where things can really go.  -- NK
Lead by inspiration – not intimidation.
Why of course the people don't want war. ... That is understood. But after all it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship ...Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country."   --  Hermann Goerring, at the Neuremburg trials, 1946
sources:  http://quotes.prolix.nu/Authors/?Hermann_Goering
               http://www.wisdomquotes.com/002083.html

Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.  --Scott Adams, cartoonist  (1957- )
Three people can keep a secret if two of them are dead. --  Benjamin Franklin
We are content to live in a world of our own, until we need someone to love us. -- NK
Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president or any other public official, save exactly to the degree in which he himself stands by the country. It is patriotic to support him insofar as he efficiently serves the country. It is unpatriotic not to oppose him to the exact extent that by inefficiency or otherwise he fails in his duty to stand by the country. In either event, it is unpatriotic not to tell the truth, whether about the president or anyone else.  -- Theodore Roosevelt
All parts should go together without forcing. You must remember that the parts you are reassembling were disassembled by you. Therefore, if you can't get them together again, there must be a reason. By all means, do not use a hammer.  -- IBM maintenance manual, 1925
Great architecture contains a hint of what is to follow and the memory of what has just past. -- NK
Most Christian religious denominations are engaged in competition for the interpretation of the Bible.  -- Wayne Meeks, Yale University
A rising tide lifts all boats.
Democracy is built on people having as much information as they can. -- Corinne Adams Robinson D' 66
Secrets are appealing for all of the wrong reasons. Knowledge is power, and having a secret gives a person power over another.  They allow the "enlightened" to look down on the "ignorant."
A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in. -- Greek Proverb
Lead by inspiration – not intimidation.
A government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have...The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases.  -Thomas Jefferson
Lands End, (Cornwall) was the inspiration for this hymn written by John Wesley 

Lo, on a narrow neck of land,
'Midst two unbounded seas I stand,
Secure, insensible!
A point of time, a moments' space,
Removes me to that heavenly place,
Or shuts me up in hell!

Double Dutch -- Jump Rope
Dutch Door -- Split Barn Door
Dutch Treat
Dutch Hoe

 

Sol lucet omnibus.  - The sun shines for everyone
Vinum et musica laetificant cor.  - Wine and music gladden the heart
Amor vincit omnia  - Love conquers all
Aut disce aut discede -  Ether learn or leave
Nosce te ipsum -  Know thy self
Donec eris felix, multos numerabis amicos - As long as you are fortunate, you will have many friends
Obesa cantavit -  The fat lady has sung.
Non omnia moriar - Not all of me will die - Horace
Respice, adspice, prospice - Examine the past, the present, the future.
Tempora mutantur, nos et mutamur in illis- Time changes and we change with it.
Non illegitimi carborundum est - Don't let the bastards grind you down.
Tempus fugit - Time is fleeting
Epistula non erubescit - A letter doesn't blush. - Cicero
Suos cuique mos - Everyone has his customs

Books to read

Word of Kahlil Gibran from The Prophet  Source

Death
Than Almitra spoke, saying, "We would ask now of Death."
And he said:
You would know the secret of death.
But how shall you find it unless you seek it in the heart of life?
The owl whose night-bound eyes are blind unto the day cannot unveil the mystery of light.
If you would indeed behold the spirit of death, open your heart wide unto the body of life.
For life and death are one, even as the river and the sea are one.
In the depth of your hopes and desires lies your silent knowledge of the beyond;
And like seeds dreaming beneath the snow your heart dreams of spring.
Trust the dreams, for in them is hidden the gate to eternity.
Your fear of death is but the trembling of the shepherd when he stands before the king whose hand is to be laid upon him in honour.
Is the sheered not joyful beneath his trembling, that he shall wear the mark of the king?
Yet is he not more mindful of his trembling?
For what is it to die but to stand naked in the wind and to melt into the sun?
And what is to cease breathing, but to free the breath from its restless tides, that it may rise and expand and seek God unencumbered?
Only when you drink form the river of silence shall you indeed sing.
And when you have reached the mountain top, then you shall begin to climb.
And when the earth shall claim your limbs, then shall you truly dance.
           

Black Elk: Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux   [Source]
Grandfather, Great Spirit, once more behold me on earth and lean to hear my feeble voice. You lived first, and you are older than all need, older than all prayer.
All things belong to you -- the two-legged, the four-legged, the wings of the air, and all green things that live.
You have set the powers of the four quarters of the earth to cross each other. You have made me cross the good road and road of difficulties, and where they cross, the place is holy. Day in, day out, forevermore, you are the life of things.
Hey! Lean to hear my feeble voice. At the center of the sacred hoop You have said that I should make the tree to bloom. With tears running, O Great Spirit, my Grandfather, With running eyes I must say The tree has never bloomed.
Here I stand, and the tree is withered. Again, I recall the great vision you gave me.
It may be that some little root of the sacred tree still lives. Nourish it then That it may leaf And bloom And fill with singing birds!
Hear me, that the people may once again Find the good road And the shielding tree.

 

http://www.replacements.com/webquote/FRGDAC.htm

DANISH CROWN (STERLING) by FRIGAST SILVER, Sterling
Raadvad
Frigast Sterling Denmark