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