Matias Bechtold

models of architectural projects are kind of problematic. although some of them are made with great talent (or a laser printer...)and few are really representing interesting projects, you mostly will not consider them as art pieces to hang in your living room. except maybe to the conceptual models you built during the study in the university, of which, you were of course, really proud. the reasons are many, they are too specific, not abstracted enough, strange format with a plexiglass cover etc. but there is one artist that gives all the model freaks (like me...) hope - Matias Bechtold.

Matias Bechtold is a german artist who lives and work in Berlin. he usually works with corrugated cardboard and it seems he knows every characteristic of this multi-layered, wavy structure material. By cutting it in extremely various and precise ways, he can realize both very small and very large structures. his utopian-dystopian urban visions are so rich in detail that the viewer can lose himself in them and forget that they are models. one of his works "Kreisstadt" (that i could absolutely hang in my living room...), is shown at the Neochocolate Gallery in Berlin. until 3.11.10

The Railzeppelin

when i was a kid, i used to be a big fan of train models, especially of the german firm Märklin. i used to collect all their catalogs since they were much cheaper then the real thing...one model however was really inspiring, an hybrid between a train and an airship - the Railzeppelin or the Schienenzeppelin.

the real experimental Railzeppelin was designed and developed by the German aircraft engineer Franz Kruckenberg in 1929 and it was powered by an aircraft engine with a huge airplane propeller located at the rear. it was built using an airship construction technology with aerodynamic shape and very light materials. the interior of the railcar was spartan and designed in Bauhaus style.
only one prototype was ever built and in 1931 it exceeded a velocity of 200 km/h for the first time. On 21 June 1931, the train set a new world railway speed record (which was kept until 1954) of 230 km/h on the Berlin–Hamburg line. due to many problems with the prototype and the disagreement between the railway company and the developer, the Railzeppelin never entered in service and in 1939 it was finally dismantled because its material was needed by the German army.
one of the reasons for the failure of the railzeppelin was the danger of using an open propeller in crowded railway stations. kind of a mixer...