Architecture
Buildings and the ideas set in stone.
Brutalism isn’t named after being brutal
The architectural style people love to hate takes its name from the French for “raw concrete”.
The arch that hangs upside down
Hang a chain from two points, photograph it, flip the picture, and you have the ideal shape for an arch.
The golden ratio is less magic than you’ve heard
φ ≈ 1.618 really does appear in sunflowers and pentagons. Most claims about the Parthenon, the Mona Lisa and “perfect beauty” are myths.
The spandrel: a by-product that looks like a purpose
Not every feature of a living thing was ‘designed’ for a job. Two biologists borrowed a word from cathedral builders to make the point, and then architects argued about whether they had the cathedral right.
Venice stands on an upside-down forest
Under the palaces of Venice are millions of wooden stakes driven into the mud of the lagoon, some of them for more than a thousand years.
You can’t see the Great Wall from the Moon
The famous claim was made in 1754, two centuries before anyone went to space. China’s first astronaut said he couldn’t see it.