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why is this column there?

erdico13

This is one of the most terrible exteriors I have ever seen, but that's just an opinion. Something I particularly dislike about it are the three columns and the way they are positioned. Especially the one in the middle. Could anyone explain why that column is where it is?

 
Aug 5, 15 6:36 pm
chigurh

Nobody can answer this question without looking at the framing up in the gable.  Could be load bearing, maybe decorative... cut a hole in that soffit and take a look.

Aug 5, 15 6:42 pm  · 
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Good_Knight

quick!  42 Automatic Ego points and a free tomato slicer for whoever gives the most and best free advice!!!  Act now!  Don't delay!

Aug 5, 15 6:45 pm  · 
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citizen

The real question is "Where is the missing column that should be to the left of the door?"

Law and Order: Forensic Architecture Unit would find that, after the four evenly spaced original posts were removed for the remodel, the perp discovered he had only 3 replacements.   Rather than place the third one in the center, he offset it to one side of the door.

Dunh-DUNH!

Aug 5, 15 6:50 pm  · 
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boy in a well

akchually pushes up glasses it woulda been a snudge funnier in the center. has architecture lost all its humor? tsk tsk.

Aug 5, 15 7:18 pm  · 
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My guess: the porch was a later addition, midway through construction they realized spanning that far would require a too-deep (and too $$) beam, so they threw a column in at the end of 12', then thanked their lucky stars that it didn't end up in the middle of the front door.

Aug 5, 15 7:31 pm  · 
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citizen

A snudge?  A new unit of measurement appears!

Aug 5, 15 7:40 pm  · 
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midlander

The better question is why they offset the column to the approach side to the right of the door instead of the left, where it wouldnt be in the way. I suspect the orginal designer was just sloppy and careless.

Aug 5, 15 8:13 pm  · 
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null pointer

What Donna said.

Aug 5, 15 8:37 pm  · 
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Well-

My wife and I went on a short trip out of town and left the kids at home. We figured nothing bad would happen because they're all in high school...

Aug 5, 15 8:45 pm  · 
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They should have used 4 columns. That way, it would balance the look of the opening. It was definitely an after-thought not a thought out design.

Aug 5, 15 9:34 pm  · 
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Carrera

Do you think we’ll need one stick of dynamite or two?

Aug 5, 15 9:59 pm  · 
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1/2 gal. of gasoline would do the trick.

Aug 5, 15 10:01 pm  · 
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JeromeS

because it was originally was supposed to be a double gable terminating over the "middle column" but with cost overruns caused by the "Garden State Brick Face and Stucco" facade and project delays due sourcing the gianormous double hung the project was left unfinished...

Aug 5, 15 10:06 pm  · 
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no_form
It's breaking symmetry. Don't you read Greg Lynn? C'mon.
Aug 6, 15 12:46 am  · 
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Carrera

Miles, you're probably right, we need to conserve the dynamite.

Aug 6, 15 12:55 am  · 
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I'd just say forget closing the natural gas valve and leave a lit candle.

Aug 6, 15 12:57 am  · 
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Volunteer

It only needed three columns to hold up the porch. The owner thought about adding a forth for symmetry but that would be (gasp!) - DECORATION. He was afraid the ghost of Adolf Loos would start rattling chains around the house in the wee hours.

Aug 6, 15 7:17 am  · 
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go do it

It is there to lean up against after coming home from the bar looking for your house key at 2:00 Am. It is either that or a type of plumb bob to compare the door jamb to the column for being plumb. 

Aug 6, 15 10:56 am  · 
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JLC-1

because arizona, that's why.

Aug 6, 15 10:59 am  · 
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Isn't this a reflection of Venturi's philosophy?
 

Aug 6, 15 1:14 pm  · 
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awaiting_deletion

accidental post-modernism

Aug 6, 15 8:00 pm  · 
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JBeaumont

I think it's a test -  like those Magic Eye hidden image things that 15% of the population can't see.  There are four columns.  You need deep focus...

Aug 6, 15 8:03 pm  · 
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go do it

ODN I see what you did there accidental post- modernism

Aug 7, 15 11:45 am  · 
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awaiting_deletion

accidentally

Aug 7, 15 2:54 pm  · 
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snooker-doodle-dandy

I would say it is to balance out the landscape planter....

Aug 9, 15 2:54 pm  · 
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awaiting_deletion

actually its so that the day you leave your wife angry for bangin' the landscaper and you slam the door as you leave you do not run into a column.

post-modern dead tech house  (Pacino on infedlitey and architecture)

Aug 9, 15 3:05 pm  · 
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behold;

Value engineering

 

Over and OUT

Peter N

Aug 10, 15 8:24 am  · 
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gruen

I do not see a problem. Obviously, architects are not needed when the general public is much more highly talented and why don't architects give the public what it wants anyways.

Aug 10, 15 8:24 am  · 
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An interior decorator was the architect. Did the landscaping, too.

Aug 10, 15 11:26 am  · 
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