Here I’m journaling some misconceptions of mine that I may continue to indulge even if they’re “my babies” i.e. I made them up. Actually, in both cases, I think I’m not alone in holding them.
Firstly: somewhere I picked up the notion that the Oval Office in the White House was shaped that way because that’s the cross-section of the human skull: an oval. The office of the chief executive is figuratively the brains of the USG, or is at least the seat of an important gland.
“Not so” says Gemini:
George Washington had other memes in mind when he elected to go for that oval shape. Though the "brains of the operation" idea is an interesting metaphor, the architectural intent was focused on the democratization of social space rather than biological resemblance.
Secondly: the dome at Auroville, called the Matrimandi, is reminiscent of a geodesic sphere, like Spaceship Earth at EPCOT,
But on closer inspection I think we need to put the Matrimandi outside the category of “geodesic sphere” to keep our concepts more precise. EPCOT’s is one, Auroville’s isn’t. No big deal. They’re both meant to inspire a global sense of kinship.
