I’m working on a humanities discussion question and need support to help me understand better.

How many ways can a building be great? After reading Chapter 6 Architecture in The Humanities through the Arts, compile a list of different ways that a building or structure attains greatness. What other qualities would you add to those characteristics described in the text? Which of the values do you feel is most significant when you evaluate the significance of a structure?

Choose a favorite building, preferably one that we all know from San Diego and/or a structure that is World famous (and you have experienced first-hand). Share your architectural preference on the discussion board and tell why you find that specific structure particularly appealing.

An example of one of my favorite buildings [one that is not in San Diego but Lichfield, England] follows . . .

Some of you may know that I am particularly fond of Gothic architecture. One of my favorite buildings, a structure for which I have traveled great distances to experience [and a church I doubt that any of you would know] is Lichfield Cathedral in Central England. It is an elegant structure offering a spacious, open interior, reddish-brown stone exterior with an ornate façade, and is crowned by three soaring spires that can be seen for miles.

The one aspect I find most charming is that the design is flawed. We usually think of buildings in terms of straight lines and perfect geometric shapes, but the floor plan, while traditionally constructed in the nave, juts off to the left [north] on the eastern side of the crossing. One might not notice unless you look up at the quire vaulting and see how it has been strangely adjusted to fit the crooked floor plan. Maybe perfection is overrated.