The Rabbit Hole 🕳🐇 issue no.50

beauty of analog, manifestos as magic spells, perfect days

・゜゜・・ﾟ☆ .・゜ ✧・゜゜・・ﾟ☆・゜゜・・ﾟ☆ .・゜ ✧・゜゜・・ﾟ☆・゜゜・・ﾟ☆

back to school

Dear reader,

Can you believe it’s already August? For much of the summer, i’ve been hunkering down in a liminal space of metabolization and integration. Choosing solitude, deep focus, and communing with a handful of kindred spirits, over travel and social circuits. While running The Commons has taken up much of my daytime energy, my mornings and evenings have been bookmarked by writing (finally got this behemoth out) and creating The Rabbit Holes coffee table book. (BTW, thank you so much to 180 of you who pre-ordered, i’ve been working around the clock to put the final touches on the book and they will be ready for shipping in Sept 🙏)

In a couple weeks, i’ll be off to graduate school at the GSD, where i’ll be sense-making the questions that have animated me in the last few years: How does “The Church” and “Town Square” show up in our physical lives? Where does a fourth place fit within the current ontology of place-making? What is the future of moral, spiritual, and soul infrastructure in our pluralistic society? I’ll still be running The Commons, but working on movement building, strategic projects, and exploring what’s next for us as an institution.

This is probably a good moment to mention that this newsletter will probably evolve to reflect a more studious and explorative chapter in the months to come. I will continue to curate what brings my soul alive, regardless of a more scholastic environment. However, the content and visuals here will inevitably be colored by the colossal of inputs i’ll be receiving in this new chapter. I have no idea what will emerge, but I appreciate you for joining me on this journey ambiently 🙏 Please do let me know if you:

• have any Boston recs and tips to survive the cold

• have intros to people who share my interests in Boston

• feedback on rabbit holes and where you’d like to see me take it in this new chapter

Much love,

Patricia

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Without further ado, here are the visuals, words, poetry, and art so far that stirred my soul for the month of July:

1. 💻 Open this issue in your web browser (not phone) at a time where you have at least 30 mins to read.

2. ☕ Grab hot tea or coffee

3. 👚 Change into something comfortable and ideally sit against some fluffy pillows, with your computer on your lap at a 45 degree angle

4. Light a candle 🕯️

5. 💨 Take 5 breaths and listen to this meditation

6. Meditate on a question you have and run it by this iching reader

7. 🎵 Press play for music. Listen while you read this issue.

・゜゜・・ﾟ☆ .・゜ ✧・゜゜・・ﾟ☆・゜゜・・ﾟ☆ .・゜ ✧・゜゜・・ﾟ☆・゜゜・・ﾟ☆

— unknown

As I Was Moving Ahead Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty, dir. Jonas Mekas, 2000.

Cozy nooks

Medieval Tavern in Riga, Latvia.

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[artist] Song Dahae

DAHAE SONG IS A SOUTH KOREAN, TORONTO BASED INTERDISCIPLINARY ARTIST. A SELF-DECLARED VISUAL PHILOSOPHER, DAHAE USES VARIOUS MEDIUMS TO PUSH AND PULL TIME. TO PAINT THE WAY A TREE GROWS, DAHAE EXTERNALIZES THE INTERNAL AND MATERIALIZES THE IMMATERIAL TO MEDIATE AND BRING TOGETHER DISPARATE REALMS.

DAHAE’S ART OBJECTS ARE THE ARTIFACTS FROM A PLACE NONEXISTENT, THE DOCUMENTATION OF A WORLD UNSEEN, SERVING AS AN IMPETUS TO LOOK INWARDS AND TO CONTEMPLATE THIS VERY MOMENT THAT IS FOREVER FLEETING US.

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[architecture] walkable curved rooftop floats over gn architects' child activity center in china

The ‘Flying Carpet’ project by GN Architects reimagines a children’s activity center in Qingdao, integrating urbanization with imaginative play. Inspired by the countryside, the design features a unique rolled-up ground that forms a walkable rooftop, blending nature with play. The 1,000 sqm roof, constructed from viscose stone, provides a seamless finish while sophisticated drainage and concealed equipment preserve the center’s clean aesthetic.

The architecture includes multifunctional spaces filled with natural light, creating a minimalist environment that invites children to explore. The design focuses on clarity and simplicity, following a minimal, playful concept termed ‘Pop architecture.’ The goal was to create an environment that transports children to a new world, fostering their imagination.

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[photographer] BIRDEE

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[architecture] weihai hospital

Conceived by GLA Design, Weihai Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine integrates modern architecture with traditional elements. Situated within a coastal pine forest in Weihai‘s East New Town, the 8,000 sqm healthcare facility occupies a site formerly housing bungalows, preserving the natural surroundings while introducing a contemporary interpretation of northern Chinese courtyards.

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[architecture] The Apple Store: A Decade of Reinventing the Retail Experience

In 2001, Apple released its retail store manifesto , in which it announced its goal to convince people that "Mac provides a simpler, richer, more user-friendly computing experience for the masses," even though retail stores were unpopular among technology companies at the time. This vision shaped Apple's unique retail approach, creating an environment for its stores that goes beyond traditional shopping .

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[treehouse] Studio / Bunkhouse

Bainbridge Island, Washington

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[Artist] Kim Sooja

I am drawn to this process that starts with the needle meeting the fabric or object, leading to the issues of human network created by the act of sewing, wherein the notions of movement and envelopment of the bottari (fabric bundles) extend conceptually, beyond the human world and into the universe with nature and light. In attempting to provide an overarching definition to your work, one might describe it as a “journey from point to infinity.”

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[hotel] Piaule Catskill - A Landscape Hotel in Catskill, New York

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Oodi Helsinki Central Library

an amazing third space:

• 1st floor: food hall, pop-up stalls, youth space

• 2nd floor: workshops, learning, interaction: recording studios, 3d printers, group kitchen, etc.

• 3rd floor: book haven, reading nooks

[essay] Tokyo Notes - Public Commons

So Sam’s focus on sento public bath houses is heartening and got me thinking more and more about “shared city commons.” He made a great point at his talk: the old neighborhoods that these developments replace had a kind of “porousness” to them that allowed easy flow / engagement from city folk. Monolithic blockages, these new developments have none of that. There are no relationships being formed, no histories being made. Sento, in comparison, are remarkable, small-scale operations, run by families, price-regulated by a governing body, available to all socio-economic strata of society. They are nothing if not relationships formed over decades. They’re miraculous. Public bathing is not unique to Japan, of course, but the tenor, the architectural style of, and art / tile / design within these commons are.

[architecture] Harudot Coffee Shop

In the beachside town of Chonburi, Thailand, a slithering, twin-gabled building takes shape in a grove of trees. Home to a coffee shop called Harudot, the design is the fruit of a collaboration between a coffee roaster and a landlord who sells exotic plants.