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?