In Muslim cities no building can be higher than the minarets from which the Muezzin calls the faithful to prayer. Message? There is nothing higher than the call to prayer. That's pretty straight forward.

I have often reflected on our temples to the Almighty Dollar. I'm talking about the big marble bank buildings with columns and broad marble floors. A real hike to the teller's window. Don't they pretty much serve the same function as the temples of old?   The first goal, post elementary function, is to make you feel small. The BANK is mighty. You are not. The High Priests of Finance, who inhabit the hall of grandeur are wiser than you. They have secret knowledge. They understand money: you do not! Trust them with your souls, er I mean, finances! Of course no where is this written out. It operates on a subliminal level. The unspoken language, much like those temples of old.

Have you ever looked at a gigantic bridge and thought, "Man, I couldn't even afford to buy one cable in a thing like this. Where'd the money come from?" Or how about just one of those monstrosities in Las Vegas? You know, the ones they spend a few years building and then blow it up a few years late to make room for the next one? I think "I only donated $40 to that outfit. That's not even what I paid for the dinner and tip! How do they do this? Some folks are losing an awful lot of money here." I imagine that maybe what Pharaohs' contemporaries thought when they saw the pyramids. That is definitely "design for effect" as opposed to "design for function". Or maybe not! Maybe that was the whole point.

How about ornamentation? How about music as a reflection of architecture? Rococo? Baroque? Both words describe musical periods and architectural style. Where does folk fit in or does it?