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Showing posts from October, 2018

Pan Am, White City, and Midway

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After reading through Kasson and then looking through the videos and the guided map, the Pan-American Exposition seems to be a blend of both White City and Midway. Both White City and Pan-Am have very beautiful and old world architectural design. The images of White City screams classical Roman Empire style of architecture to me. Especially this image: Meanwhile the Pan American's architectural style reminds me of Renaissance era buildings, that's the first comparison that pops into my head when looking at the pictures and videos. And then there are the videos of the acts that went on at the Pan-Am, they seem very similar to what was happening at Midway, the carnival, almost circus like feel to them. (By the way the illustrations of the faces of the men who had gone to see the belly dancers in the Kasson article was hilarious). But Pan-Am also had this massive arena, where it looks like they staged battle reenactments, which was fascinating to look at in the vide

Olmstead's Natural Beauty, Delaware Park

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Delaware Park is a very beautiful and picturesque park, it is a very peaceful and enjoyable place to walk through. And from one casual stroll alone I can immediately understand exactly what Olmstead was going for with the concept of his parks. Even today years after the park was designed it stills manages to retain a surprisingly peaceful atmosphere despite the fact that it now has a freeway running through it. One can see the exit signs just behind the trees, and yet the park retains it sense tranquility. Beyond that there are signs of Olmstead's manufactured natural beauty everywhere you look. Curving and winding footpaths, hand picked trees that generally do not grow in the same area located right next to each other, a very handcrafted feel to the over all area in general. Large swaths of open space and and trees growing along the side of paths is certainly not truly natural. This is my favorite picture, kinda feels like it captures what Olmstead was going