Iakov Chernikhov

Iakov Chernikhov is a Russian constructivist architect and graphic designer, the illustrator of 101 Architectural Fantasies, one of the only avant-garde art books published in the eastern bloc during the Stalinist era. he was born in 1889, in Pavlograd, Yekaterinenskav Gubernia, Ukraine (now Dnepropetrovskaya Oblast - i can't pronounce these names). in 1904 he left Pavlograd for Odessa and became a student at the Odessa Art School, a branch of the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts. his teachers were G. A. Ladyzhenskii and K. K. Kostandi, both leading artists of the South Russian School.

to earn his living, young Chernikhov did some common student jobs, one of them was an assistant architect employed to design and construct the Odessa Exhibition, during which he mastered various aspects of graphical design. this period became the most significant for the formation of his creative personality and it was in Odessa that the distinctive style of Iakov Chernikhov took shape. in 1912 he became interested in the art of drawing, in graphics, and began his work on a course in ornamental drawing, which gave direction to his subsequent creative searches. that same year he began his pedagogical activity, which he would continue until the end of his life.

for other images visit the Iakov Chernikhov International Foundation website

Sanaa

Sanaa is not only the capital of Yemen, it's also the name of an architecture firm founded byKazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa in 1995 in Tokyo, Japan. a globally-recognized architects studio responsible for high-profile projects including The 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art in Kanazawa, Japan, The Glass Pavilion at the Toledo Museum of Art in Ohio (in the photo), the New Contemporary Art Museum building in Manhattan, the Zollverein School of Management and Design, Essen, Germany, the recent Rolex Learning Center, Ecole Polytechnique Federale Lausanne, Switzerland and more others.

this year Sanaa won the Pritzker prize, the highest of honors for architecture - 'and the Pritzker goes to...' The Pritzker jury praised their buildings for being 'in direct contrast with the bombastic and rhetorical. instead, they seek the essential qualities of architecture that result in a much appreciated straightforwardness, economy of means and restraint in their work'.

few words about the Pritzker prize - The prize takes its name from the Pritzker family, whose international business interests are headquartered in Chicago. Their name is synonymous with Hyatt Hotels located throughout the world. The purpose of the Pritzker Architecture Prize is to honor annually a living architect whose built work demonstrates a combination of those qualities of talent, vision and commitment, which has produced consistent and significant contributions to humanity and the built environment through the art of architecture.

in 2006 i saw an exhibition of their work at the Basilica Palladiana in Vicenza, Italy. i remember in particular, the numerous small models made for the space study of the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art in Kanazawa and i was wandering about the probably sisyphic work they had, to build them.

Rafael Moneo

was born in Navarra, Spain in 1937. He graduated in 1961 from the Escuela de Arquitectura in Madrid after which he worked in the Denmark office of Jorn Utzon for two years. he then worked as an assistant at the Academia de Espana until 1965 when he established a private practice in Madrid. his professional life is divided into teaching and architectural practice, mainly in Spain and in the US. yesterday, at Instituto Cervantes in Berlin, he presented three project he built in the recent years in America. the projects reminded me of my years in the university, the late 90's, coherent plans and sections, the aesthetics of the structure and the forms that follow function. you could definitely tell that Moneo doesn't follow contemporary design trends (which he describes as short-life architecture). Instead, he produces buildings with influences of Nordic or Dutch design mixed with his own historic traditions, trying to maintain the competence of architecture.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.