Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays and a fantastic New Year!
Buone Feste e un Nuovo Anno meraviglioso!
Frohe Festtage und schoenen rutsch ins neue Jahr!
שנה טובה

Klaus Buergle

was born in 1926 in Stuttgart. he started to illustrate for magazines in the beginning of the 50's focusing on technical and scientific illustrations. His work became famous in the late 50’s and 60’s when he produced hyper technical images of futuristic world for science fiction books and magazines. his drawings show what people thought about our time in the last century reflecting the collective optimism that the society had for space and technology at that time. other works in retro-futurismus.de or in achtung poster

Koyaanisqatsi

life in turmoil, life out of balance, life disintegrating or a way of life that calls for another way of living' (referring to the modern life). the film consists primarily of photography of cities and many natural landscapes across the US showing different aspects of the relationship between humans, nature, and technology. the film was followed by two others - Powaqqatsi (1988) and Nagoyqatsi (2002) creating the Qatsi trilogy. definitely something to see in Copenhagen, today.

Copper houses

so yesterday i went to celebrate the anniversary of the Bauhaus school in Dessau. the famous building of the school first opened its gates in 4th dec. 1926 and was in use as a school for design until 1933, when he was shut down after the National Socialist came to power in Germany. the german architect Walter Grupios (1883–1969) was the founder and the first director of the school that was founded in 1919, originally in Weimar. Grupios was also the designer of an experimental and innovative housing solution made of copper.
in the beginning of the 30's he was hired to refine the existing models developed by the Eberswalde based firm Aron Hirsch and Son, a global player in the copper and brass industry. In 1932 he presented two prototypes displaying the slogan 'Sun, Air, and Housing for All!'. various domestic firms were interested, as well developers and planners in the US and the USSR. in 1932 the Hirsch company went bankrupt and the collaboration with Grupios was ended. but with the National Socialist in power, a new market for the copper houses arose - the Jewish emigrants to Palestine. in August 1933 the company put out a special catalogue, with models designed specifically for the Palestine market, called 'Haifa', 'Jerusalem', 'Tel Aviv' and 'Sharon'. the largest model, with a living space of 280 m2 was called 'Lebanon'. a branch of the German Copper House Company was opened in Haifa and at least fourteen houses found their way to the British Mandate of Palestine. when the National Socialists began to rearm, copper came to be in short supply, and its export was forbidden. it is said that the last copper house delivered was immediately melted down on arrival in Tel Aviv and that the value of copper was higher then the houses themselves.
the exterior walls and roofs of the houses were made of copper, insulation was provided by aluminum foil and asbestos (very healthy...), the framing was of wood. their interior walls were sheet metal ornamented with intricate patterns (perfect to hang your Chagall on...). they had nothing to do with the radiant, white modernism of the Bauhaus or the White City of Tel Aviv, on the contrary, they were almost black.
the exhibition Heimatcontainer - Deutsche Fertighaeuser in Israel runs in the meisterhaus Schlemmer in Dessau until 7th March 2010.
source: Housing.com

I need an explanation

once it was a humble theatre in the heart of Tel Aviv, originally designed by the architect Oskar Kaufmann in 1935, with a facade that reminded somehow of another theatre built by him before in Berlin - The Volksbühne. today, thanks to the design of the architect Ram Karmi, it will become a huge concrete block shadowing its surroundings. a closed box that looks more like a bunker rather then a public space. the plaster covering these unproportional walls is made so bad that even the quartz particles, that suppose to give them a glittery touch, won't help...
thanks to Tel Aviv Fever

56 Leonard Street New York

is the address of a new 56-storey residential tower in Tribeca, New York City, designed by the top swiss architects Herzog & De Meuron. the tower will house 145 high-end apartments, each with its own unique floor plan and outdoor space, piled one above the other randomly. 'houses stacked in the sky' as the architects describe. they propose a new alternative to the iconic American skyscraper designing a pixelated vertical layers of customized spaces, the video shows this concept perfectly. i'm also sure that the apartments will be amazing however i think the building is a bit too noisy. the 3D development of Manhattan creates pixelated surfaces even if the single 'components' have simple geometry or rational design. that's its strength. the building would probably work better in another context, flat and sober. the video is great though! source ArchDaily
p.s. and the crisis?

Unité d'habitation

is the name of a modernist housing solution developed by Le Corbusier, with the collaboration of the painter-architect Nadir Afonso. the concept was to create a 'universal' building, which could be built everywhere with the same design principles: the 'free' ground floor on columns, duplex apartments, corridors 'streets', service floors for the inhabitants and a 'living roof'. the planning and the design followed the 'Modulor'- Le Corbusier's idea of a perfect ratio of scale. these principals formed the basis of several housing developments designed by Le Corbusier throughout Europe (between 1947 - 1965). one of them in Berlin (1957).
in 1953 the Senate of Berlin organized an international building exhibition - 'Interbau'. well known architects as Oscar Neimeyer, Arne Jacobson, Alvar Aalto, Pierre Vogo, Walter Gropius and Le Corbusier were invited to participate in the event. because of the huge size of the building, Le Corbusier built his Unité d'habitation in an area close to the Olympic stadium and not in the district of the exhibition - Hansa. the building contains a total of 530 apartments, mostly one bed-room apartments. the regulations of social housing at that time forced Le Corbusier (who tried to oppose) to change some of the basic design features; the use of the roof as a communal space (famous in the Unité d'habitation in Marseilles) was not allowed and the the 'Modulor' ratio was stretched (Germans are taller...).

Kill Macaluso

(a topic in common with the movie Divorzio all'Italiana)seems very contemporaryAcademy Award in 1968.

East - West, North - South

officially called the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a single party (political...) state created in 1948 with the support of USSR while the south got the support of the USA. an attempt to invade the south led to the Korean war in 1950 which was also the first armed confrontation of the cold war. actually North and South Korea have never signed a formal peace treaty so technically they are still at war. In 2002 the US labeled North Korea part of an 'axis of evil' together with Iran and Iraq mainly because of its nuclear ambitions (you can guess what the girl in the poster is dreaming of...). the North Korean economy is completely nationalized, which means that food rations, housing, health care, and education is offered from the state for free. taxes has been abolished since 1974! (so maybe it is the Capital of Paradise...) however your monthly salary will probably be around 47$. the media in DPRK is one of the most strictly controlled in the world. the information is tightly controlled both into and out of the country. tourist must be accompanied by one or two tour guides (some nice trip diary can be found in the blog The forbidden railway: Vienna - Pyongyang). your cell phone will be sealed at the entry (even if technically there is no reception anyway). only news that favours the regime is permitted, while news that covers the economic and political problems in the country, or criticisms of the regime from abroad, is not allowed. the media upholds the personality cult of Kim Jong-il, regularly reporting on his daily activities. Both North and South Korea signed the June 15th North-South Joint Deceleration (2000) in which both sides made promises to seek out a peaceful reunification but there are still many steps ahead.

Oscar Niemeyer

for his upcoming 102nd birthday and for the election of Rio de Janeiro to host the Olympic games on 2016, i dedicate few lines to Oscar Ribeiro de Almeida Niemeyer Soares Filho (born Dec. 1907 in Rio). he graduated as architect engineer in 1934. although he had some financial difficulties at that time, he decided to work for free (some things never change...) in the architecture studio of Lucio Costa and Carlos Leao. Niemeyer was involved in two important projects commissioned to the office, the new headquarters for the Ministry of Education and Public Health in Rio and the Brazilian pavilion at the New York's world fair (1939). both projects had all the elements of what was to become recognized as the Brazilian modernism. in 1940 he was commissioned to design a series of buildings in a new suburb of Belo Horizonte called 'Pampulha'. the church of São Francisco de Assis in Pampulha provoked some controversy and the conservative church authorities refused to consecrate it until 1959 (because of its unusual form and some art work inside). in 1947, his worldwide recognition was confirmed when Niemeyer was invited to be part of the international team (Board of Design) working on the design of the UN headquarters in New York. Niemeyer's proposal was approved by the Board of Design, but he eventually gave in to pressure by Le Corbusier and they submitted a common proposal. during the late 40's and the 50's he continued to design projects in Brazil and South America until he was requested in 1958 by the new elected president of Brazil to design the new capital of the country. Niemeyer organized a competition for the masterplan of Brasilia and the winning project was of his old master Lucio Costa. Niemeyer however would design the buildings that became a UNESCO world heritage site. in 1966, following the military coup and the dictatorship, Niemeyer went to exile in Paris. Niemeyer that was a member of the Communist party (Fidel Castro once said that Niemeyer and he were the last communists of this planet) lost commissions and his office in Rio was raided. in the mid 80's, with the return on democracy, Niemeyer returns to Brazil. he was involved in the design of new buildings in Brasilia and in other cities around the country. in 1996 (age of 89...) he design what many consider his greatest work: the Niteroi Contemporary Art Museum. in the last years, he is still involved in the design of new projects and art works around the world. unbelievable.

Gregori Saavedra

is freelance creative director, designer, illustrator, copywriter and art director based in Barcelona. i saw some of his works last year at Illustrative 2008 in Zurich (i was so impressed that i uploaded immediately one of his images on my desktop...) but unfortunately this year he is not showing in Berlin. once you learn his website (it took me few minutes...) you can enjoy his illustrations, graphic design and video works. definitely worth a visit.

Cristobal Leon - Luis

LUIS from diluvio on Vimeo.

Cristobal Leon is an animator-video artist. he was born in Santiago de Chile (1980) where he also studied Design and Art at PUC. He created with two other artists, Niles Atallah and Joaquin Cucina an online exhibition space for their video works - Diluvio Gallery. in Illustartive 2009 in Berlin they show this amazing video work - Luis (it reminds me of some locations in kreuzberg...). other videos in the online gallery.

Russell Cobb

is an artist that participated in Illustrative last year in Zurich. this year he is not in taking part but i like his works. Cobb is an illustrator based in the UK. he studied in London and in Switzerland and he has featured in many publications. except for the drawings, i personally like also the colours combinations and the text style.

Karl Friedrich Schinkel

back to illustrative 2009, this year it takes place in Elisabethkirche and the adjacent Villa Elisabeth. i'm not sure about the second, but Elisabethkirche was designed by Schinkel and was completed at 1835 (the Villa was completed at 1907 and was a community house of the believers).

so Karl Friedrich Schinkel (1781 – 1841) was born in Brandenburg and became one of the most prominent German architects. after his first trip to Italy in 1805, he worked as a painter and as a scene painter at the theatre (famous for the background of the 'Königin der Nacht' in Mozart's opera The Magic Flute, which is even quoted in modern productions). in 1810 he realized that he would never be good enough in painting and he decided to became an architect (today nobody would suggest it...). after Napoleon's defeat, Schinkel was supervising the Prussian Building Commission and he was responsible for reshaping Berlin into a representative capital for Prussia. he also oversaw projects in the expanded Prussian territories.

Schinkel's early style was neoclassicism with strong references to ancient Greece rather then the Roman empire (which was identified with the occupier of Prussia - Napoleon). his most famous buildings from that period are the Neue Wache, Schauspielhaus and the Altes Museum in Berlin. later Schinkel started to embrace neo-gothic style as seen in Friedrichswerderkirche(1824–1831) and in a proposal for the Berliner Dom. his most innovative building was the Bauakademie which seemed to point the way to a clean-lined 'modernist' architecture. 

back to Elisabethkirche, the church was heavily damaged after the II world war and it was rebuilt in 1999. today, together with the beautiful Villa next to it, it's considered as a prime spot for cultural events.

Roman Bittner

is a german illustrator, born in Berlin (1971). in 1996 he founded his own graphic design studio - Apfel Zet. in his series 'Ancient Cities of Tomorrow', Bittner constructs an axonometric urban imaginary with references to early mid-twentieth century geraman and american architecture. his works are full of details, colours and in a way, they somehow remind me of a computer game. in Illustartive 2009 in Berlin, Bittner uses laser engraving to create his urban visions with a delicate lace frame.

Asmara

is the capital of Eritrea, a country between Ethiopia, Sudan and the red see. what makes Asmara so unique is the well preserved Italian foot print in the architecture and the urban planing.
Asmara was occupied by Italy in 1889 but only between the late 20's and the end of the 30's the face of the city was changed completely. the new organization of the 'Terre d'Oltremare' during the Fascist regime created a massive development of infrastructure and urban centers in the colony. most of the buildings were designed with a new architectonic style, the 'Razionalismo Italiano', which was parallel to the modernism or the international style in the rest of europe.
the 'Razionalismo Italiano' was inspired by the movement 'Futurismo' (developed in the beginning of the 20's), abstract Mediterranean architecture and the research for a modern Italian identity. the most important architects of the 'Razionalismo Italiano' in the Italian colonies were part of 'Gruppo dei sette' (the 7 group) which was founded in 1926 in Milan and was guided by Giuseppe Tarragni.
Asmara was nominated Piccola Roma (Little Rome) and still nowadays big part of the buildings are of Italian origin and many shops still have Italian names.

A neighbourhood building

somewhere in south east China, in the province of Fujian, the Hakka people (which originally immigrated from northern China in the 17th century) developed a particular architectural buildings called Tulou, literally meaning earthen structures. these houses, designed to be easily defensible, were often round in shape and internally divided into many compartments for food storage, living quarters, ancestral temple, armoury etc. the largest houses covered over 40,000 m². the external wall is typically 1m thick and the entire building could be up to four stories high. some say the houses were built completely according to the Feng Shui theories and that the round shape of the walls was not only for defensive reasons, but also to avoid corners - the favorite place of the bad spirits.

Hannes Meyer

two days before the finissage of the exhibition 'Bauhaus' at Martin Grupious Bau in Berlin, which was too crowded to let you see all the numerous exhibits, one architect was never-the-less quite notable (among the other famous names) - Hannes Meyer. Meyer (1889 - 1954) was born in Basel, Switzerland. in 1926 he designed together with Hans Wittwer his two most famous projects, for the Basel Petersschule (in the pic.) and for the Geneva League of Nations Building. both were never built. Walter Grupius appointed Meyer head of the Bauhaus architecture department when it was finally established in April 1927. Meyer brought his radical functionalist viewpoint he named die neue baulehre (the new way to build), suggesting that architecture has only organizational task with no relationship to aesthetics, that buildings should be low cost and that design should fulfill social needs. Meyer became the second director of the Bauhaus school from 1928 to 1930 until he was fired due to his radical Communist opinions. he responded to his dismissal by taking seven students and a secretary to Moscow, forming a group they called the 'Left Column'. after 1936 Meyer returned to Geneva for three years and then emigrated to Mexico City to work for the Mexican government. he returned to Switzerland in 1949.

Divorzio all'Italiana

with a classic pattern of the the lack of a divorce law (which will come only in 1970) and the anachronistic article of the penal code that regulates 'crimes of honor' (which will be abolished only twenty years later). something to think about in these days when the Italian juridical system is in action again...
the film won the Academy Award for best story and screenplay and was nominated for best actor in leading role (Marcello Mastroianni) and best director.

Cristina's World

i always liked this painting. the bare landscape, the detailed grass, the light and the seemingly young skinny woman lying on the ground looking up toward something that we don't actually know. a mystery...
Cristina's World is a tempera work by US painter Andrew Wyeth, one of the best-known American paintings of the middle 20th century and i just discovered that the story behind it is quite tragic!
the woman of the painting is Christina Olson (1893 - 1968) who had an undiagnosed muscular deterioration that paralyzed her lower body. Wyeth was inspired to create the painting when through a window within the house, he saw her crawling across a field. although the woman in the painting appears young, Olson was 55 at the time Wyeth created the work.
currently on display at the MoMA in New York, as a part of their permanent collection.
thanks Wikipedia!

Edward Hopper

(1882 - 1967) was a prominent American realist painter and printmaker. most popularly known for his oil paintings. in both his urban and rural scenes, he describes his personal vision of modern American life. he was born in Nyack, north to New York City and he studied art at New York Institute of Art and Design. during the late 20's he travelled few times to Paris where he wanted to study the emerging art scene. however, it seems he was unaffected by the new currents in art, stating that he didn’t remember having heard of Picasso'. unlike many of his contemporaries who imitated the abstract cubist experiments, Hopper was attracted to realist art. he started to paint urban and architectural scenes, many of them in New York and Paris. however, he did some outdoor watercolors on visits to New England. by 1923, Hopper finally received some recognition of his work and he was very productive through the 30's and early 40's, producing some of his most important works. he continued to draw some other major works during the 50's and the 60's despite his health conditions.
Hopper's influence on the art world and pop culture is undeniable. his cinematic compositions and dramatic use of light and dark has made him a favorite among filmmakers. he inspired also musicians as Tom Waits who titled one of his songs Nightawake at the Diner (1975), after the painting. In 1993, Madonna named her world tour 'Girlie Show' after his painting with the same title. he also influenced writers and animators. most of his work are exposed at the Whitney Museum of American Art and MoMA in New York.

Banksy

ignoring the rhetorical comments in the book Banksy Wall and Piece Book, that try to explain his works (hopefully written by the publisher 'political analysts' and not by him), Banksy is a satirical graffiti artist which is considered completely 'invisible', infect there is uncertainty about his identity, his personal life and his biographical details. PEOPLE SAY he was born in Yate neer Bristol in 1974 and he became involved in art during the 80's (the golden years...). his early work was inspired by local artists and became part of the Bristol underground using mainly free-hand graffiti combined with stencil elements. later, around 2000, Banksy turned to use almost only stencils, often with images and slogans, after realizing the time advantages of working with this technique. however except for his outdoor works, he also paints pictures for indoors.
Banksy use a wide range of subjects, from animals (monkeys and the famous Banksy rat) to soldiers, policemen and children. the messages of his work is mostly anti-war, anti-capitalist or anti-establishment, culture, and ethics.

In New York City with a gondola

that might be the new landscape of New York City if the prophecy of the scientists will come true and the global warming will eventually melt most of the polar ice. friends in NY - prepare your air mattresses...
source: earthfirst

Panic in Detroit!

Jeffrey Eugenides - Middlesex, a very good book that i usually read only during yom-kippur (because you need a lot of time and concentration) which is in a part, a saga of an immigrant greek family in Detroit with many references to historic events of the city. Madonna, also native of Detroit, just finished her worldwide tour, the crisis of the car industry and so on...
so, Detroit: at the beginning of the 20th Century, the city of Detroit developed rapidly thanks to the automobile industry, a home to the 'Big Three' companies, General Motors, Ford and Chrysler. until the 50’s, its population rose to almost 2 million people and Detroit was the 4th most important city in the US. segregation and de-industrialization caused violent inter-racial riots in the late 60's (some say that the song of Bowie 'Panic in Detroit' is based on Iggy Pops's descriptions of revolutionaries he had known at that time). the following white middle-class exodus from the city together with the oil crises of 1973 (yom kippur war), that impacted the American auto industry, marked the beginning of the decline. firms and factories began to close or move to lower-wage states. slowly, but inexorably downtown high-rise buildings, theaters and historic monuments emptied. Since the 50’s, “Motor City” lost more than half of its population. source: alex|3d

Erich Mendelsohn

few days ago i went to see Die Nibelungen at the Schaubuehne in Berlin (lower pic). from my point of view, the production was a bit too abstract to describe a germanic heroic saga but the theater building, originally built as Woga-Komplex and Universum-Kino(1925-1931) by Erich Mendelsohn, was also worth a visit. Erich Mendelsohn (1887 - 1953) was a german architect , known for his expressionist architecture in the 1920s, as well as for developing a dynamic functionalism in his projects for department stores and cinemas. he was studying architecture at TU in Berlin and graduated in Munich. in 1912 he opened his own firm in Munich but after the first world war he moved to Berlin. in 1924 he founded together with Ludwig Mies van der Rohe ad Walter Gropius the progressive architectural group known as Der Ring (strange, Die Nibelungen have also something to do with a ring...). During the Weimar republic, Mendelsohn was very successful both in his work and financially. when the nazi party came to power in Germany in 1933, Mendelsohn moved to England and worked at the same time in Palestine. in 1935 he opened a bureau in Jerusalem, where he greatly influenced the local Jerusalem International Style. in 1941 Mendelsohn moved to the US. some of his famous buildings: Einsteinturm, Mossehaus, Schocken department store - Germany. Weizmann hause (upper pic.), Schocken library, Hadassah Mt. Scopus, Anglo-Palestine bank - in Israel

Levittown

another term that i found in Learning from Las Vegas. Levittown was the first modern American suburb and is widely considered as the archetype for postwar suburbs throughout the US. it is also used as an offensive term to describe suburban areas that lack the culture and vitality of an urban area. Levittown gets its name from its builder, the firm of Levitt & Sons, Inc. founded by William Levitt, which built a district in New York as a planned community between 1947 and 1951. the firm built also other similar communities in Pennsylvania, new Jersey and Puerto Rico. they built them with an eye towards speed, efficiency, and cost-effective construction which led to a production rate of 30 houses a day. the firm had learned the techniques of rapid construction using standardized parts, tightly controlled suppliers of goods and services, and a workforce with highly specialized skills. they took the mass-production assembly line and converted it so that workers moved from site to site doing their specific targeted tasks.
source tessellar.

Mio fratello è figlio unico

My Brother is an only Child is an Italian drama film (2007) directed by Danielle Luchetti. it is based on the novel of Antonio Pennacchi Il fasciocomunista who then disassociated himself from the film, claiming that his real intentions were modified. the film tries to describe the political tension between Communists and Fascists in Italy during the late 60's from a working class family point of view. very good parts of Elio Germano and Angela Finocchiaro
the title comes from a song by Rino Gaetano.

I need an explanation

the new central bus station in Jerusalem was opened in 2001 and it is the main bus depot in the city and one of the busiest in the country. its heavy monolithic flat facade expresses nothing that has to do with movement, dynamism, transparency or invitation to begin your journey. even the blue reflecting glass from the 80's can't help. and what is it this watch? and the cheep 'Bazaar' inside? shocking...

Angelo Mangiarotti

is an important Italian architect (1922) and industrial designer. he graduated in 1948 at the faculty of Architecture of Politecnico di Milano. in 1953 he moved to Chicago where he worked as a professor. during his stay in America he met Frank Lloyd Write, Walter Grupius, Mies van der Rohe and Konard Wachsman (all the masters) who shaped his personal and professional growth.
two years later Mangiarotti went back to Italy and opened in Milan his architectural firm (with Bruno Morassutti until 1960). In 1989 he opened in Tokyo the Mangiarotti & Associates Office. from 1986 to 1992 he was the art director of Colle Cristalleria. he was teaching in many Italian and foreign universities, in Venice, Hawaii, Losanna, Palermo, Florence and Milano. his career has been rewarded with many prizes both in the field of design and architecture. he is definitely a very creative architect and designer. however, i personally like more his 'Giogali' lamps designed for Vistosi, less the design of the stations 'Porta Venezia' and 'La Repubblica' in Milan.

Slinkachu

is an artist who works and lives in the UK, that installs tiny figurines around the city and takes the street art into a new scale, discovering an unexpected city landscapes. Slinkachu modifies and paints figurines made for model trains installing them in streets and parks, where he photographs the scene and leaves the characters behind. his work is both street art installations and photography.

Bonjour Tristesse

is probably the most poetic name associated with a building. following a competition in 1980, the architect Alvaro Siza has received his first commission abroad for a building in Kreuzberg, Berlin. the building of mixed use - commercial on the street level and 6 residential floors above, was designed with the goal of restoring an urban block, inhabited mainly by immigrants, on the corner between Schlesischestrasse and Falchensteinstrasse. it has a facade that combines a respect to the alignments of the existing buildings and a curved wall surfaces. the angle of the block is marked by sharp canopy and a pillar and the floor plans are inspired by the expressionist architecture in Berlin, in particular of Scharoun and Mendelsohn.
the graffiti 'Bonjour Tristesse', the name of a novel written by Segan (1954), was added later on top of the curved angle and it is still there.
the source and other information: Berlino - Un secolo di Architettura moderna

Helmut Newton

Helmut Newton (1920 - 2004) was a German-Australian fashion photographer noted for his nude studies of women. he established a particular style marked by erotic stylized scenes, often with sado-maso and fetishistic elements (high-hills shoes are a must). his success increased notably with his 1980 'Big Nudes' series, which marked the top of his erotic-urban style. the subjects in the series represent perfectly the strong career women of the 80's, serious look in a stiff position that will make even a playboy girl to look like corporate manager.

permanent exhibition at Helmut Newton foundation Berlin

Europe 2020...

assuming that in the next 10 years, the European Union administration will become powerful enough to reduce the importance of the historic national countries within it, few regions with strong cultural identity and economic power will claim, according to ComingAnarchy, their own Independence.

Broadacre City Vs. La Ville Radieuse

two urban development concept, one proposed by Frank Lloyd Wright - Broadacre City and the other by Le Corbusier - La Ville Radieuse. Both were designed and presented in the beginning of the 30's of the last century.

The first, Broadacre City, was the "antithesis"of a city. it was both a planning statement and a sociopolitical scheme by which each family would have be given a one acre plot of land (4,000 m²). there were few high-rise building for offices and apartments, but the dwellers in this structure typology were expected to be just a small minority. although there is a train station in Broadacre City, the most important transport is done by private cars. Broadacre City is a platform, it has no clear vision and therefore it offers a natural, organic and flexible development.

the second, La Ville Radieuse, is a mega-structure consists on pre-fabricated apartment houses - les unites. each structure is fifty meters high and it could accommodate, according Le Corbusier, 2,700 inhabitants with 14 m² per person. the buildings would be placed upon pillars, five meters above the ground floor which is considered as a continuous open public space. the apartments were available to everyone based on the size and needs of each particular family. every transportation system: pedestrian, cars, subway and trucks is separated and has its own level. La Ville Radieuse is an instant city. it has a totalitarian design with no space for individual expression or flexibility.

Klaus Staeck

Klaus Staeck (born in Saxony, Germany in 1938), is one of the most prominent graphic artists in Germany. except for being a lawyer, politician, organiser, publisher, author, and television contributor, he is mostly known as a political artist. for over 30 years he has made posters that deal with freedom of speech, peace, environment, poverty, and the constant struggle against political hypocrisy. something to remember for the up-coming elections in Germany next month.

I need an explanation

still in Jerusalem. Elrov project in Mamilla. without doubts, one of the most important projects of urban renewal in the city. but someone, probably a close friend of the architect (Safdie), had a huge stock of light fixtures at home back from the 80's. what an error...

Learning from Las Vegas

better late then never. learning from Las Vegas was originally published by the MIT press in 1972. thirty-six years later, the research conducted by its authors, architects Robert Venturi, Denise Scott Brown, and Steven Izenour is still extremely relevant. Las Vegas strip was a case study to discuss the virtues of the 'ordinary and ugly' above the 'heroic and original' qualities of modern architecture. the research exams the importance of symbolism following the critics about the way abstract shapes and spaces can express any significance (i believe it's almost impossible).
it would be very interesting to see the research continue after the last transformation of Las Vegas in the last decade. how the local abstract symbols of the desert - dunes, Aladdin and the wild west are now surrounded by detailed copies of symbols imported from Europe - piazza San Marco and the Eiffel tower; and how 2D signs became grotesque 3D signs of the pyramids in Egypt and New York City.

Pierre et Gilles

Pierre e Gilles create a unique hand painting photographic portraits of film icons, sailors and princes, saints and sinners, of mythological figures and unknowns alike. kitsch with baroque, indian and popular influences. however, in the recent works the fairytale paradise background (left) changed his place to a trash urban environment (right). a research for aesthetic perfection covered with paillettes and glitters.
CO Berlin until 04.10.09

Jerusalem

some cities have never meant to be big metropolis. Europe, and in particular Italy, are full of them: Florence, Bologna, Verona etc. you could find them also in North America, Asia and actually everywhere. sometime even the capital cities are not the biggest one in the country, Bern, Brasilia, Yamoussoukro, Pretoria, Ottawa, even Washington DC and they all live good with it. i believe that it should be also the case of Jerusalem.

i guess no other city in the world is so influenced by political development ambitions as Jerusalem. an incredible damage for generations. the urban development after the reunification of the city in 1967 created a city that is almost completely detached from its historical context and its growing capacity. bulldozers shave the terrain of every hill around to allow new constructions making it the biggest city in Israel. this forced growing process is not only for political reasons though, it also serves to include more taxpayers within its territory since the city is also one of the poorest in the country (or the poorest among the big cities). the exodus of the ‘productive’ middle class and the fast growing population of social supported class, add another layer to this complicated urban reality, not talking about the inter religious and political conflicts.

a big population requires infrastructure. Some projects, like road n. 1, might do the job, but it ignores completely the old city and it cuts the city in its heart. nothing similar would be possible elsewhere. the transport terminals are on the western edges, leaving the old Turkish railway station near the old city abandoned. the city center is dieing and absurd phantom projects for foreigners invade it.
today as never before, Jerusalem longings the British mandate.

The Hanuka brothers

on the research for israeli illustrators and cartoonists you can't miss the brothers Asaf and Tomer Hanuka (maybe because they are one of the few that have websites...). Tomer (right image), works on a range of projects for magazines, book publishers, ad agencies and film studios. he was also involved in the animation for the film Waltz With Bashir. Asaf (left image and i love the name) was collaborating with the israeli author Etgar Keret. although the two identical twin brothers have a very distinguished style, they do collaborate in common projects: the comic book bi-polar and a blog!

Imagine if... II

the plan of Albert Speer to redesign Berlin under the nazi regime would have been realized. the dome of the volkshalle, that dominates this out of scale monumental project, was to rise to a total inclusive height of 290 m. almost as high as the Eiffel tower (324 m). the red spots are the Reichstag and Brandenburger tor.
an exhibition about the project Mythos Germania is next to the holocaust memorial in Berlin.

I need an explanation

a detail from bundeskanzleramt in Berlin designed by the german architects Axel Schultes and Charlotte Frank, completed in 2001 for the cost of 230 million euro. the building is so full of elements that sometime you really would like to know what was the intention of the 'poet'...?

Imagine if...

Plan Voisin of Le Corbusier for central Paris would have been built.
in 1925 he proposed to erase most of the city centre, north of the seine, and replace it with sixty-story cruciform towers placed in an orthogonal street grid and green spaces between.
one good point: forum des halles wouldn't have been built either.

Rio

Rio de Janeiro, 80's, no global warming, no favelas (at least not in the movie...), no deforestation, only beautiful beaches and amazing topography. how nice would it be!

Neo Rauch

Neo Rauch is a young german artist born in Leipzig. his work is shaped by the experience of growing up in east Germany and it swings between surrealism and popular romantic imagery. his paintings are usually full of historical figures repeating sisyphean tasks in ambiguous landscape. with spots of acidic colors contrasting with deep shadows, Rauch's paintings create an atmosphere of confused nostalgia and failed utopias.
i saw his exhibition 'para' (prefix of paranormal, parallel, paradox and so on) at the Metropolitan Museum in New York in 2007.

Plastic glacier

amazing what a plastic bag and a good lighting can create. i can already see the Yeti dragging one of his victims to his hidden cave. antarctica in a bag by François Delfosse

Annie and the queen of England

few months ago, i went to see with a friend a great exhibition of Annie Leibovitz at CO Berlin. among amazing photographs of her personal life, fashion photography services, musicians and celebrities, there was one portrait of the the queen of England - queen Elizabeth II. it was a little bit surprising to see her between Demi Moore naked pregnant and Brad Pitt. well first we were asking our selves how could THAT be?! then i found this video.

Gotham city

one of the things i like about Batman is the location. Gotham city was always this dark, imaginary place, something between New York and Metropolis of Fritz Lang. that is why i was really exited to see that someone invented the map of it. i thought it was much bigger though...

Street art

usually, i'm not a great fan of 'trash'. graffiti and meaningless writings on the walls are not 'my cup of tea' and i prefer other forms of expression, but there are some exceptions!
xoooox is the code-name of a street artist in Berlin (on the left), that like others, is anonymous but has a very recognizable signature. he uses usually stencils and posters .his work could be mistaken for an ad or a design label, a kind of ironic attack on the use of street art for commercial proposes.
about the one of the right, i have no info. i just like it but it's already covered with meaningless graffiti. luckily, Berlin is full of good examples of street art. i should post some others soon.

Thunderbirds Reloaded

a cult TV series that kept us busy in the afternoons and definitely re-evaluated the importance of the eyebrows. aircraft n.2 was my favourite. will be continued with 'team america'

Urban insertion II

well, i guess the main question is about identity. how to create a strong urban identity that can be recognized and can be referred to? we know that most of the cities have, in one way or another, their own identity. an identity that was created through historic and cultural references, climate, building codes, materials, symbols, monuments, etc...but what is the process that characterized the development of the cities today? does contemporary architecture really create or donate to the local identity? or it creates a lot of interesting spaces, new interpretation and other 'big terms' that eventually could be everywhere?

it seems that the contemporary architecture could be classified on a scale between ‘Dubai and Las vegas’. Dubai (and many other cities with a fest growing development) create symbols and monuments to define their identity. Las Vegas, on the other hand, copies symbols and monuments so we could feel as if we are somewhere else. in the first case, it doesn’t really matter where these symbol or monuments are. they could fit almost everywhere. In the second case, creativity and innovation are in doubt.

Presuming that keeping the local identity is important, then designing new buildings that contain the essence of the city within is the main issue. but then how does it deal with pluralism?

Berlin Art Project

on my way to buy some beautiful souvenirs to my friends in Milan, i ran into a gallery with interesting paintings of some german artists: Sebastian Schrader, a joung artist with a realistic, almost baroque, style of surreal and 'Berlin life' scenes. Tom Fleischhauer who paints crowded scenes of people, streets and nature transformed into abstract images in gray-scale. Joerg Lohse who add some glamour to his painting using a fashion ads composition and brands (from his flashlights collection).

i saw them all at the Berlin Art Project showroom, unter den linden 40. between two souvenir shops.

Hiroshi Sugimoto

'Suppose you shoot a whole movie in a single frame? And the answer: You get a shining screen. Immediately I sprang into action, experimenting toward realizing this vision. Dressed up as a tourist, I walked into a cheap cinema in the East Village with a large-format camera. As soon as the movie started, I fixed the shutter at a wide-open aperture, and two hours later when the movie finished, I clicked the shutter closed. That evening, I developed the film, and the vision exploded behind my eyes.' Hiroshi Sugimoto.

U.A. play house, 1978. one of the photographs in the exhibition last year at the Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin.

'VOOM' portraits

'VOOM portraits' is an exhibition created by the iconic artist and theater director Robert Wilson. it is a series of video portraits of celebrities, animals and ordinary people that combine a precise hybrid of still photography and motion picture. a surprising interpretation of the term portrait.

the contrast between the minimal HD video screens and the neo-classical context of the 'plazzo reale' in Milan makes it even more particular.

'VOOM' portraits until october 4th, palazzo reale, Milan, Italy

I need an explanation

this bijou was built few years ago right in front of the 'colonne di San Lorenzo'; one of the most important locations in Milan. where was the office of 'soprintendenza alle belle arti' when you needed it? Sgarbi?

Urban insertion I

what I like about the city is that it offers you a variety of spaces. for many of us, a 'good city' is a city rich of different places that make you feel somewhere else. it has distinguished and individual neighborhoods, streets and squares (we learned it all in the university). Berlin (and maybe most of the big cities...) is a good example for it. Karl Marx Allee for instance: as soon as you arrive to Strausbergerplatz from Alexanderplatz you get the impression of being in another city. this soviet relic from the 50’s, in the middle of the city is in complete contrast with its surrounding. it has a different scale, design and details that make you feel as if you are somewhere in moscow even if you have never been there.

i was always attracted to these different places in the city, all these china towns, little italys and german colonies that have their own codes and cultural references that come from far away. even where they were created in an already existing urban context they managed somehow to modify it and give it a new identity.

i think that one of our tasks as architects is to create this places but it’s not an easy one. when we try to build new architecture are we really making new places? can we do that without references to an already existing culture? in other words, can we say Redbull is the new espresso only because it has caffeine?

Metropolis

metropolis is the name of photography collection, created by the architect Michael Najjar who tries to explore the development of 12 megacities. for each megacity he makes a portrait made of multi-layered photos of different panoramic views. the result is abstract images of endless woven urban fabric. very aesthetic.
some of the portraits might still be in the second floor of Newton bar in Berlin but sometime it's closed. i had to sneak in.

bonus: the website of Michael Najjar will send you directly to one of James Bond's movies...