ARCHITECTURE

Architecture, or human created structures is this weeks theme for Thematic Photography.    Architecture is really all round us, and even the blandest shop fronts, for example, can carry amazing architecture above, where old houses have been converted at ground level, but the remaining floors are as originally intended.    Even if it is only the exterior which has remained!   Sometimes, where big, Victorian rooms have been divided, it has been done without regard to the original decorations.   My dentist, for example, practices in a lovely old Victorian house, but the rooms have been divided into very much smaller rooms, and the lovely plaster work round the tops of the original walls suddenly ends at where an interior wall has been put in.   Looks a bit odd when you are lying back looking at the ceiling while he prods your teeth!


Anyway, here are my shots of architecture, or man-made creations!

Portuguese pavements are usually beautifully decorated with tiles, which makes walking along quite an experience!

I love the patterns made my the repetition of windows and balconies.   These are in Barcelona

Even drinking fountains are beautifully built and decorated.   This is in Nerja, Spain.

The Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao is quite spectacular.   The shapes of the roofs and walls change as you walk round the outside, so that first of all it looks compact and solid, and then from another angle looks as though it would fly away!

The Watts Chapel in Surrey was like nothing I had ever seen!

So I will just quote from the official info!

"Landscape, art and remembrance are beautifully blended together in this Grade I listed building. Visitors are drawn to the bright red brick of this Arts & Crafts masterpiece. Up close, the extraordinary design and decoration both fascinate and overwhelm all who venture up the winding yew tree paths.
Mary Watts was the artistic force behind the creation of Watts Chapel, and she dedicated it to 'the loving memory of all who find rest near its walls, and for the comfort and help of those to whom the sorrow of separation remains.' G F and Mary Watts both rest in Watts Cemetery, as do many other people who have played a role in the Artists' Village over the years.
In 1895 Mary began to run evening Terracotta Classes at Limnerslease, the Wattses' nearby residence and studio. At these classes Mary would teach local villagers how to model tiles from local terracotta clay with the beautiful and symbolic patterns that she had designed to decorate the walls of the Chapel."

Do go over to Carmi at written inc. to see what others have posted, and of course, post your own!