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.