"I asked the brick what it wanted to
be and it said, "I want to be an arch."
— Louis I. Khan
Every day on my way to work, I drive
past a house (see Figure 1A) that has
bugged me since it went up. The second
floor has two big picture windows flanking
an arched opening. While the
detailing and finishes are way above
average, the place just looks wrong. The
problem is with the arch.
No element in the architectural
repertoire is more elegant than the arch.
Used alone, an arch makes a universally
understood formal statement about
what is important. Used in repetition,
the arch creates a wonderful rhythm.
Unfortunately, no element is so