Haus Wittgenstein, Ludwig Wittgenstein, 1926-27, Vienna, AT
Haus Wittgenstein, Ludwig Wittgenstein, 1926-27, Vienna, AT
Terrassenhaussiedlung St. Peter, Werkgruppe Graz, 1972-78, Graz, AT
Terrassenhaussiedlung St. Peter, Werkgruppe Graz, 1972-78, Graz, AT
Terrassenhaussiedlung St. Peter, Werkgruppe Graz, 1972-78, Graz, AT
Terrassenhaussiedlung St. Peter, Werkgruppe Graz, 1972-78, Graz, AT
Terrassenhaussiedlung St. Peter, Werkgruppe Graz, 1972-78, Graz, AT
Terrassenhaussiedlung St. Peter, Werkgruppe Graz, 1972-78, Graz, AT
Terrassenhaussiedlung St. Peter, Werkgruppe Graz, 1972-78, Graz, AT
Der Stoff aus dem Träume sind - the fabric dreams are made of - adorns the outside wall of this unique terraced housing estates’ community centre. This Stoff, is the in-between, the communal space, as one of the architects Eugen Gross (pictured on the last slide standing in front of his opus magnum) puts it. Conceived in 1965 by the collaborative practice Werkgruppe Graz in a time of visionary dreams with the participation of future residents, the mountainous buildings still stand tall at the outskirts of the city as the same concrete utopia, popular as ever for old and new alike. A strong theoretical foundation was inherent in all of the working group’s structuralist proposals; in this case, the four buildings were positioned as towering islands in such a way as to provide everyone with the best possible view to be enjoyed on each flat's own outdoor area. Individual conversions and occupancies, as well as wildly encroaching vegetation on the terraces counteract the austere rigidity of the raw concrete structure, the pastel orange balustrades and mild green blinds. In summer, when children play in the pools on the central plane and lightly clad bodies work on their respective tans on the several balconies and roof terraces, one envies the few who own one of the entirely privately owned flats in this city within a city. The estate testifies to the effectiveness of dense communal living in a confined space, and is a successful embodiment of alternative forms of housing in post-war modernism, only few of which have been so successful.
Barbican Estate, Chamberlin, Powell & Bon, 1969-84, London, UK
Barbican Estate, Chamberlin, Powell & Bon, 1969-84, London, UK
Barbican Estate, Chamberlin, Powell & Bon, 1969-84, London, UK
Barbican Estate, Chamberlin, Powell & Bon, 1969-84, London, UK
Barbican Estate, Chamberlin, Powell & Bon, 1969-84, London, UK
Barbican Estate, Chamberlin, Powell & Bon, 1969-84, London, UK
Barbican Estate, Chamberlin, Powell & Bon, 1969-84, London, UK
Barbican Estate, Chamberlin, Powell & Bon, 1969-84, London, UK
Barbican Estate, Chamberlin, Powell & Bon, 1969-84, London, UK
Barbican Estate, Chamberlin, Powell & Bon, 1969-84, London, UK
Barbican Estate, Chamberlin, Powell & Bon, 1969-84, London, UK
Barbican Estate, Chamberlin, Powell & Bon, 1969-84, London, UK
Barbican Estate, Chamberlin, Powell & Bon, 1969-84, London, UK
Barbican Estate, Chamberlin, Powell & Bon, 1969-84, London, UK
Barbican Estate, Chamberlin, Powell & Bon, 1969-84, London, UK
Barbican Estate, Chamberlin, Powell & Bon, 1969-84, London, UK
Barbican Estate, Chamberlin, Powell & Bon, 1969-84, London, UK
There is no place just like the Barbican. Unlike the neighboring council housing by the same architects Golden Lane Estate and despite its rugged appearance of fortified slabs keeping out the flashy high tech of nearby financial towers, the barbican was never meant as social housing. Instead, already at the time of conception young professionals, likely to have a taste for Mediterranean holidays, French food and Scandinavian design working in Londons City were the desired target group. During the almost twenty years between planning at the end of the fifties and inauguration of the Arts Centre in 1982, the complex sparked lots of controversy. Not only were several workers harmed in their collective effort to hand-jackhammer the textured concrete walls, the design was also seen as isolating and bland, resembling more the previous site devastated by the Blitz, than the promised exclusive oasis for the cultured working class. However, vast private parks, a large number of flowers and one of the capitals largest conservatory add jungle to the concrete and form what is today undeniably a unique and desirable city within the city. A status symbol even, if you ask the design crowd or survey the residents happily sporting keys to a flat and the amenities (These are mainly designers, architects or tutors at the AA). Ever since Thatchers Right to Buy most flats are privately owned and have increased heavily in price and speculation in the last decades. Understandably so, after all, it is all there; a community, well laid out flats, a cultural centre with cinemas and an art gallery, a music school, restaurants, doctors, a historic church even, and of course (and most importantly) the Martini Bar.
Haus Wittgenstein, Ludwig Wittgenstein, 1926-27, Vienna, AT
Haus Wittgenstein, Ludwig Wittgenstein, 1926-27, Vienna, AT
Haus Wittgenstein, Ludwig Wittgenstein, 1926-27, Vienna, AT
Haus Wittgenstein, Ludwig Wittgenstein, 1926-27, Vienna, AT
Haus Wittgenstein, Ludwig Wittgenstein, 1926-27, Vienna, AT
Haus Wittgenstein, Ludwig Wittgenstein, 1926-27, Vienna, AT
Haus Wittgenstein, Ludwig Wittgenstein, 1926-27, Vienna, AT
Haus Wittgenstein, Ludwig Wittgenstein, 1926-27, Vienna, AT
Haus Wittgenstein, Ludwig Wittgenstein, 1926-27, Vienna, AT
The involvement of non-architects into architectural planning seldomly yields fruitful results. In this case the intervening figure was a young philosopher, assisting the struggling Paul Engelmann, who was commissioned by his sister Margaret Stonborough to design a modern villa amidst dominant Gründerzeit blocks. Several interlocking white cubes follow a strict spatial programme with high windows and a tendency towards verticality form an unadorned uniformity, contradicting everything historic around it, but largely corresponding to the Viennese Modernism of Adolf Loos. Ludwig Wittgenstein's contribution (not his infamous nephew Paul) amounted to the meticulous made-to-measure tailoring of applications like windows with metal frames, doors with arguably the most coveted door handles of the interwar period, radiators, even a lift and minimalist lighting fixtures. Natural stone slabs were symmetrically adapted to the specific size of the rooms and doors. But his excessive need for symmetry ended with the simple problem of a corner, as it is impossible to place a window in the centre axis of both the outside and the inside elevation due to the thickness of the outer wall. As described in Jan Turnovsky's The Poetics of a Wall Projection, only placing a fake column on the inner joint - the brilliant act of a dilettante - provided a remedy. Although slightly altered in appearance and use, the formal radicalism of this Gesamtkunstwerk can still be understood today - both in Erwin Wurms distorted model or on-site.
Biblioteca Pública Virgilio Barco, Rogelio Salmona, 1999-2001, Bogotá, COL
Biblioteca Pública Virgilio Barco, Rogelio Salmona, 1999-2001, Bogotá, COL
Biblioteca Pública Virgilio Barco, Rogelio Salmona, 1999-2001, Bogotá, COL
Biblioteca Pública Virgilio Barco, Rogelio Salmona, 1999-2001, Bogotá, COL
Biblioteca Pública Virgilio Barco, Rogelio Salmona, 1999-2001, Bogotá, COL
Biblioteca Pública Virgilio Barco, Rogelio Salmona, 1999-2001, Bogotá, COL
Biblioteca Pública Virgilio Barco, Rogelio Salmona, 1999-2001, Bogotá, COL
Biblioteca Pública Virgilio Barco, Rogelio Salmona, 1999-2001, Bogotá, COL
Biblioteca Pública Virgilio Barco, Rogelio Salmona, 1999-2001, Bogotá, COL
To illustrate the importance of Rogelio Salmona in the history of Colombian architecture of the last one hundred years, all it takes is one aptly descriptive awareness. Namely knowing that the office of his practice, grown over the years, is located on the top floor of the Sociedad Colombiana de Arquitectos tower block in Bogotá, which Salmona built himself in 1971. Not only does one have a wonderful view over several of his most influential buildings in the capital such as the Torres del Parque (1964-71), one can also see models for the customised bricks that formed the smallest module of the respective designs - still there, the office and legacy are continued today by his wife. Unlike other modernists who, like him, had been able to experience formative years through long apprenticeships in le Corbusier's Parisian office, Salmona developed his own kind of modern architecture, one that was initially devoted to orthogonal forms, but then gradually turned to more organic and courageous shapes and combinations thereof. All of his designs have one predominant material; Brick. Brick and concrete, and for five decades up into the new millennium his architecture changed only in constant perfection. One of the best examples of these bold claims is perhaps the Virgilio Barco public library on the outskirts of the city, which is organised around a three-quarter circle and, with ramps and lush water bodies, makes the privilege of public buildings tangible like little other buildings, all while retaining a human scale despite its sheer size. The bright reading rooms provide a rare source of calm in contrast to the bustling metropolis, always reflecting the eloquent play in the translation of the rectangular brick into a round formgiving. In addition, the architectural office managec to create an external and internal grid through the variance of the bricks, the enduring diversity of which is a true delight for those with an eye for detail.
Chiesa di Santa Maria Immacolata, Giovanni Michelucci, 1975-84, Longarone, IT
Chiesa di Santa Maria Immacolata, Giovanni Michelucci, 1975-84, Longarone, IT
Chiesa di Santa Maria Immacolata, Giovanni Michelucci, 1975-84, Longarone, IT
Chiesa di Santa Maria Immacolata, Giovanni Michelucci, 1975-84, Longarone, IT
Chiesa di Santa Maria Immacolata, Giovanni Michelucci, 1975-84, Longarone, IT
Chiesa di Santa Maria Immacolata, Giovanni Michelucci, 1975-84, Longarone, IT
Chiesa di Santa Maria Immacolata, Giovanni Michelucci, 1975-84, Longarone, IT
Chiesa di Santa Maria Immacolata, Giovanni Michelucci, 1975-84, Longarone, IT
Chiesa di Santa Maria Immacolata, Giovanni Michelucci, 1975-84, Longarone, IT
Shortly before 11pm on the 9th of October in 1963, a massive landslide half a mountain big collapsed into the artificial water reservoir of Vajont, filling it completely within a minute. The resulting tsunami overtopped the 260m high dam - then one of the largest of its kind in Europe - by twice its height and destroyed several towns along the valley. One of them, Longarone, was first engulfed, then eradicated almost in its entirety, leaving behind a vast death toll among the population and barely a single habitable structure. Reconstruction efforts began immediately, swiftly erecting robust housing in a concrete cladding and orthogonal city planning, creating a town that still today is unique in its appearance in the Veneto region or even all of Italy. Once the most substantial constructions had been completed, attention was drawn to a memorial church, which now stands as one of a series of specially designed brutalist churches by Giovanni Michelucci. Two spherical intersecting, exposed concrete amphitheatres blend the inside and outside. Fragments of the historic church can be found here and there in the cool labyrinth of never-same spatial sequences and, like spolia on the canvas of the rough concrete structure, serve as a memento of the profound differences between new and old. A Via Crucis along a sculptural, open ramp around the main central space ends in a complex steel bell tower and a place of encounter, which looks towards the valley where the dam still stands and eerily peaks forth. Up there is another small chapel, executed with even greater care and attention to detail which commemorates the catastrophe in situ and translates in its curved roof the torment of the wave into shelter.
Alton West, London City Council, 1955-59, Roehampton, UK
Alton West, London City Council, 1955-59, Roehampton, UK
Alton West, London City Council, 1955-59, Roehampton, UK
Alton West, London City Council, 1955-59, Roehampton, UK
Alton West, London City Council, 1955-59, Roehampton, UK
Alton West, London City Council, 1955-59, Roehampton, UK
Alton West, London City Council, 1955-59, Roehampton, UK
Alton West, London City Council, 1955-59, Roehampton, UK
Alton West, London City Council, 1955-59, Roehampton, UK
Only a year after the completion of Alton East, 1955 saw the neighbouring rise of five ten-storey slabs - one with a distinctive chimney, as well as several low-rise bungalows for older residents and a whole of fifteen point-block towers. Unlike those in the East, clad in monochrome raw concrete, leaving traces of their casing and thus their human builders still visible, the formats of the slabs echoing the shape of the building in a microcosm and making room for almost two thousand homes. A certain similarity to a French most famous building of Brutalism avant la lettre cannot be denied, and it is no coincidence. In fact, the basic concept of these five slabs in Alton West is based in plan and section on the maisonettes of the marseillaise Unité d'Habitation, which was visitedted in a field trip by Alton Wests LCC architectural team led by Colin Lucas, assisted by what would later be the very successful quartet of HKPA. Elevated by Pilotis, like their paragon with copies around the world, they nestle into the hilly landscape, whereby the placement of the volumes arranged at angle suggests a harsh monumentality in the way they interact with nature. Ever since they served as a film location for Truffaut's Fahrenheit 451 (1966), in which Oskar Werner feels the fierceness of the buildings astonishing architectural power a little too close to home in a dystopian bookless future, the blocks have harboured a shadowy aura. Wests‘ heightened prominence as compared to the predecessors in the east might stem from the reasons mentioned above, but is surely also due to the fact that all associated architects succeeded in private practice and didn‘t dedicate their working life exclusively to collaborative efforts, like Stjernstedt did.
Alton East, Rosemary Stjernstedt at London City Council, 1952-55, Roehampton, UK
Alton East, Rosemary Stjernstedt at London City Council, 1952-55, Roehampton, UK
Alton East, Rosemary Stjernstedt at London City Council, 1952-55, Roehampton, UK
Alton East, Rosemary Stjernstedt at London City Council, 1952-55, Roehampton, UK
Alton East, Rosemary Stjernstedt at London City Council, 1952-55, Roehampton, UK
Alton East, Rosemary Stjernstedt at London City Council, 1952-55, Roehampton, UK
Alton East, Rosemary Stjernstedt at London City Council, 1952-55, Roehampton, UK
Alton East, Rosemary Stjernstedt at London City Council, 1952-55, Roehampton, UK
Alton East, Rosemary Stjernstedt at London City Council, 1952-55, Roehampton, UK
Never again has one single Housing Estate epitomised the stark artistic and ethical differences in architectural design between two converging teams within Londons City Council. The Alton Estate in Roehampton, at the time one of the countries‘ largest developments, comprises of an earlier Eastern part with a softer humanist approach, and a Western side with a harder brutalist appearance and strong corbusian influence. Alton East (1955-58) consists of a mixture of different house types, skilfully arranged in an almost undeveloped setting. The low-density two-storey maisonettes and the four-storey slabs with their dresses of red brick and horizontal white timber panels stand in a direct contrast to ten 11-storey point blocks with a round crown nestled among mature trees of the same height. The latter, which were needed to house about seven hundred units, sport an exposed white structural frame in reinforced in situ concrete with beige clinker bricks in between; only the balconies stand out. Terraces and picturesque greenery surround the unobtrusive massing still today, which despite its orthogonal monumentality avoids chromatic uniformity with colourful details inside, leading to the brick and concrete composition to be commented as senseful and soft, taking on a strong Swedish inspiration. This influence came mainly from Rosemary Stjernstedt, who witnessed the pioneering point-block housing development at first hand while working there in the fourties. She was both the first female architect to reach LCC‘s Grade I status and to lead a design team there. Her collaborative effort and gendered experience stand testament in the creation of Alton East which is, albeit not because of that, today a Grade II listed structure.
Fagus Werk, Walter Gropius & Adolf Meyer, 1911, Alfeld, Germany
Fagus Werk, Walter Gropius & Adolf Meyer, 1911, Alfeld, Germany
Fagus Werk, Walter Gropius & Adolf Meyer, 1911, Alfeld, Germany
Fagus Werk, Walter Gropius & Adolf Meyer, 1911, Alfeld, Germany
Fagus Werk, Walter Gropius & Adolf Meyer, 1911, Alfeld, Germany
Fagus Werk, Walter Gropius & Adolf Meyer, 1911, Alfeld, Germany
Fagus Werk, Walter Gropius & Adolf Meyer, 1911, Alfeld, Germany
Fagus Werk, Walter Gropius & Adolf Meyer, 1911, Alfeld, Germany
Fagus Werk, Walter Gropius & Adolf Meyer, 1911, Alfeld, Germany
The Fagus Factory in Alfeld, Germany, designed by Walter Gropius and Adolf Meyer, stands as a seminal work in the history of early modern architecture. Completed in 1913, this structure not only signified a radical shift in industrial building design but also marked the inception of architectural modernism. The Faguswerk's significance lies primarily in its pioneering use of glass and steel, which not only enhanced the functionality of the building but also redefined aesthetic norms in industrial architecture. A most innovative aspect of the factory is its extensive use of curtain walling. This design choice was revolutionary at the time and represented a departure from the traditional use of load-bearing walls. By employing a steel frame structure, Gropius and Meyer were able to incorporate large panels of glass, which not only allowed an abundance of natural light to penetrate the workspace but also visually and physically lightened the structure. The emphasis on clean lines, an unadorned facade, and the employment of glass anticipates transparency and openness, core principles of the Bauhaus movement. The building's aesthetic - characterize bed dand in ilied than d eatinment of functionalism. It demonstrated how industrial buildings could be both practical and beautiful, challenging previous decorative approaches. The architectural importance thus extends beyond its immediate function, representing a pivotal moment where form and function met. Already heritage protected in 1946 and a UNESCO World Heritage today, the building stood the test of time as an industrial testament, half museum, half factory.
Kettle's Yard, Leslie Martin, 1970, Cambridge, UK
Kettle's Yard, Leslie Martin, 1970, Cambridge, UK
Kettle's Yard, Leslie Martin, 1970, Cambridge, UK
Kettle's Yard, Leslie Martin, 1970, Cambridge, UK
Kettle's Yard, Leslie Martin, 1970, Cambridge, UK
Kettle's Yard, Leslie Martin, 1970, Cambridge, UK
Kettle's Yard, Leslie Martin, 1970, Cambridge, UK
Kettle's Yard, Leslie Martin, 1970, Cambridge, UK
Kettle's Yard, Leslie Martin, 1970, Cambridge, UK
Kettle's Yard is one of those rare places where influences from seemingly antithetical times blend together to form a whole that seems so complete in itself that the atmosphere present on site suggests it just could not possibly be any other way. And indeed, the ambience and harmonious coexistence of numerous objects and works of art is no coincidence, but exactly as Helen and Jim Ede, a Tate curator and friend of artists left it in 1973. Within the old walls of their Victorian brick cottage, collected pebbles in a perfectly assembled interior exude a welcoming feeling, while alongside, a lemon enters into conversation with a Miró. Unsuspectingly, one suddenly finds themselves no longer in the hand-moulded roundings of historic walls, but in whitewashed, orthogonal spaces full of light. Leslie Martin extended the home in 1970 to create more space for temporary exhibitions and the couple's growing art collection. Although the addition stands in such contrast to the existing building, it harmonises perfectly natural, it is a continuation of the vernacular spirit. Carefully continued using the same materials in a different design, flowing beauty manifests itself under diffused ceiling light - just one window in portrait format hidden in the bookcase portraits the timeless sequence of applied creativity within the picturesque Cambridge. It wasn't until 2018 that the house museum was restored to a perfect state of past and present by Jamie Fobert Architects for it to exist now like a static theatre stage whose visit makes one an accomplice in the temporally frozen spectacle of artworks, books and architecture. This collage of space is a singular experience, one that must be witnessed in person.
Universita di Catania, Giancarlo de Carlo, 1986-2004, Catania, IT
Universita di Catania, Giancarlo de Carlo, 1986-2004, Catania, Italy
Universita di Catania, Giancarlo de Carlo, 1986-2004, Catania, Italia
Universita di Catania, Giancarlo de Carlo, 1986-2004, Catania, IT
Universita di Catania, Giancarlo de Carlo, 1986-2004, Catania, IT
Universita di Catania, Giancarlo de Carlo, 1986-2004, Catania, IT
Universita di Catania, Giancarlo de Carlo, 1986-2004, Catania, IT
Universita di Catania, Giancarlo de Carlo, 1986-2004, Catania, IT
Universita di Catania, Giancarlo de Carlo, 1986-2004, Catania, IT
Not many outside Italy are aware of this complex project by Giancarlo de Carlo. And even if they are, it is rather the urban planning, including a new university campus in Urbino, for which the ever-contentious but never quarrelsome Genovese is known. But hidden in plain sight, concealing the exciting symbiosis of material, colour and technology from the outside, the old Monaterio dei Benedetti in Sicily's Catania is home to a true gem of restoration, econstruction, reuse and adaptation. De Carlo, himself a thinker, theorist, even anarchist, yet always universally favoured who with his buildings buildings criticised classical modernism, was commissioned to transform this sprawling, ancient monastery complex into a university faculty with contemporary interventions in 1980. A process lasting over thirty years, albeit creating a unique spatial experience between old and new. Contemporary passarelles and steel elements convert the wide corridors into workplaces for students, allowing small details to blend into an otherwise seemingly infinite space. Most visible, celebrating technology as the central core, is the amorphous heating plant, strongly contrasting in terracotta colour with the stone of the existing buildings and lava from past volcanic eruptions. Buried deep within and even more spectacular is the so-called red room in the basement; Nowhere else is the trinity of temporal and constructional layers more omnipresent: black lava, grey stone and red metal.
SOAS Library, Denys Lasdun, 1970-73, London, UK
SOAS Library, Denys Lasdun, 1970-73, London, UK
SOAS Library, Denys Lasdun, 1970-73, London, UK
SOAS Library, Denys Lasdun, 1970-73, London, UK
SOAS Library, Denys Lasdun, 1970-73, London, UK
SOAS Library, Denys Lasdun, 1970-73, London, UK
SOAS Library, Denys Lasdun, 1970-73, London, UK
SOAS Library, Denys Lasdun, 1970-73, London, UK
SOAS Library, Denys Lasdun, 1970-73, London, UK
The Philips Building at the School of African and Oriental Studies of London's University College, to give an unabbreviated full name, is only one of two educational developments by Sir Denys and his partners. Directly opposite the library stands the Institute of Education, opened in 1976 in parallel with his opus magnum, the Royal National Theatre on the Southbank - busy times! The terraced arrangement of the floors in brutalist surface finish and the free-standing sculpturally expressive staircases of the opposing IoE, visible from the library, reflect precisely a personal pursuit of architectural principles in his more formative years that Lasdun spent working under Wells Coates and Berthold Lubetkin's Tekton. After demolition of a number of Georgian townhouses so typical of the area, the perimeter block development was imitated. Inverted with daring, pre-cast concrete elements as main facade, interrupted only by a protruding glass body on each side facing the park, the building too lacks an articulated main entrance. Whereas one is still visually embraced by the wind-rustling leaves of the surrounding trees in the glass balconies thee central atre multis quiet paper of contemplative research surrounded by books and safe tranquillity. In typical Lasdunian fashion, the cassette ceiling spanning the central reading room directionally counteracts the angle of the floor plan, while its rooflights bathe the atrium in soft, oblique lighting. If only all libraries were to offer two worlds to study (within/at), one facing outwards and one towards the inside - figuratively..
Skilifts Kreuzkogel Sportgastein, Gerhard Garstenauer, 1972, Sportgastein, Austria
Skilifts Kreuzkogel Sportgastein, Gerhard Garstenauer, 1972, Sportgastein, Austria
Skilifts Kreuzkogel Sportgastein, Gerhard Garstenauer, 1972, Sportgastein, Austria
Skilifts Kreuzkogel Sportgastein, Gerhard Garstenauer, 1972, Sportgastein, Austria
Skilifts Kreuzkogel Sportgastein, Gerhard Garstenauer, 1972, Sportgastein, Austria
Skilifts Kreuzkogel Sportgastein, Gerhard Garstenauer, 1972, Sportgastein, Austria
Skilifts Kreuzkogel Sportgastein, Gerhard Garstenauer, 1972, Sportgastein, Austria
Skilifts Kreuzkogel Sportgastein, Gerhard Garstenauer, 1972, Sportgastein, Austria
Skilifts Kreuzkogel Sportgastein, Gerhard Garstenauer, 1972, Sportgastein, Austria
What used to be experimental precursors to a modern, technical age have since become symbolic icons fashioned out of aluminium and glass. In 1972, four geodesic aluminium spheres were installed via helicopter as a chairlift with a middle station and control centre on the Kreuzkogel at an altitude of up to 2600m, as a first step towards the commercial development of the high-alpine ski resort Sportgastein at the end of the Gastein Valley. What does architecture look like in an icily deserted no-man's land? The high alpine conditions on site lead to constructive requirements that have to accommodate extreme climatic conditions such as snow loads, high wind speeds and extremely low temperatures. To simplify transport, a prefabricated system of lightweight, lattice-like aluminium bars with glass or sheet infills was implemented. The visual inspiration were undoubtedly Fuller's geodesic megastructures, which offer the greatest amount of volume with the smallest possible surface area, as well as the utopian mountain tops of Bruno Taut's alpine architecture. Three crystalline domes survived, but have not been used in their original function. They demonstrate Garstenauer's considerate embedding of the most modern technical possibilities in perfectly shaped architecture whilst harmoniously interacting with the surrounding nature.
Embassy Court, Wells Coates, 1935, Brighton, UK
Embassy Court, Wells Coates, 1935, Brighton, UK
Embassy Court, Wells Coates, 1935, Brighton, UK
Embassy Court, Wells Coates, 1935, Brighton, UK
Embassy Court, Wells Coates, 1935, Brighton, UK
Embassy Court, Wells Coates, 1935, Brighton, UK
Embassy Court, Wells Coates, 1935, Brighton, UK
Embassy Court, Wells Coates, 1935, Brighton, UK
Embassy Court, Wells Coates, 1935, Brighton, UK
Why in all circumstances would anyone in 1935 rent a flat in an apartment building at Brighton's seafront for £500 a year - equivalent in purchasing power to about £45,495.33 today - when the same amount could also be spent indefinitely on acquiring a house by the beach? In any case, it must have had something to do with the unprecedented elegance of the well-proportioned form in a harmonious horizontal reinforced concrete structure inspired by ocean liners on an L-shaped floor plan that sweeps gently along the waterfront to an adjoining street. Most modern amenities such as all electric flats with dedicated sun-rooms, a ground-floor bank that was later transformed into a chic restaurant, curved interiors and balconies were included on all eleven stories - not to mention the extra in class in what were the first penthouses in the UK and a wraparound lavish sun terrace uppermost. Early enthusiastic critiques even led to calls for the entire and rather crudely bordering Regency-style waterfront to be replaced with the unmistakably bold and clean appearance of the Wells Coates block, not too dissimilar to his later London Isokon Flats seen on adsa two series earlier. The enthusiasm did not last long, however, as the building building almost completely fell into a state of dilapidation in the 1960s, only to be restored to its original sleek condition by Terence Conran and Partners at the turn of the millennium. Today, one only hears appreciation and gratitude from the residents to be residing in such a rare icon of early 20th century modernism.
Athens Conservatoire, Ioannis Despotopoulos, 1959, 1969-80, Athens, Greece
Athens Conservatoire, Ioannis Despotopoulos, 1959, 1969-80, Athens, Greece
Athens Conservatoire, Ioannis Despotopoulos, 1959, 1969-80, Athens, Greece
Athens Conservatoire, Ioannis Despotopoulos, 1959, 1969-80, Athens, Greece
Athens Conservatoire, Ioannis Despotopoulos, 1959, 1969-80, Athens, Greece
Athens Conservatoire, Ioannis Despotopoulos, 1959, 1969-80, Athens, Greece
Athens Conservatoire, Ioannis Despotopoulos, 1959, 1969-80, Athens, Greece
Athens Conservatoire, Ioannis Despotopoulos, 1959, 1969-80, Athens, Greece
Athens Conservatoire, Ioannis Despotopoulos, 1959, 1969-80, Athens, Greece
It was not until 1970 when construction works for this orthogonal masterpiece commonly dubbed as Odeion began. Only to be interrupted again due to financial shortage, leaving the construction unfinished until 1980. Designed after a winning competition for the Athens Cultural Centre by Jan Despo as early as 1959, the architects studies at the Bauhaus with Erich Mendelsohn clearly influenced external and internal forgiving - an exhibition inside chronicles this architectural relation in more detail. A favourite of many Athenians, the most simple elongated structure at 160m length and only two stories high, sports plithed arcades on both sides that invite the artsy students of music, drama and dance not only to perform fencing fights in the shady outdoors. Several courtyards pierce the marble-cladded concrete slabs and create airy patios. Nowadays not in use, the roof with triangle volumes as superstructure was intended as a continuation of the interior. Originally conceived as one of many buildings in a larger urban plan for a unprecedented cultural centre, only the Conservatoire had been finished, leaving the glisteningly white facades strangely but flatteringly solitary amidst a green garden of olive trees.
Isokon Flats, Wells Coates, 1929-34, London, UK
Isokon Flats, Wells Coates, 1929-34, London, UK
Isokon Flats, Wells Coates, 1929-34, London, UK
Isokon Flats, Wells Coates, 1929-34, London, UK
Isokon Flats, Wells Coates, 1929-34, London, UK
Isokon Flats, Wells Coates, 1929-34, London, UK
Isokon Flats, Wells Coates, 1929-34, London, UK
Isokon Flats, Wells Coates, 1929-34, London, UK
Isokon Flats, Wells Coates, 1929-34, London, UK
How come architects and designers only rarely live in their conceptions for the Existenzminimum? Why in the case of Hampstead Heath's Isokon Flats, for a short time in the mid-thirties, several lived in one all at once. By the time of completion in 1934, nationalistic tensions had forced prominent members of the modern movement to move west - distinguished émigreés included Ise and Walter Gropius, Marcel Breuer, as well as László with Lucia Moholy-Nagy. And what better place in London was there than this Wells Coates designed similar development of Bauhaus architecture in Britain? Even more so taking into account, that the apartments came with cutting-edge bent plywood furniture (and smoothly curved walls), fellow neighbours comprised numerous intellectuals such as novelist Agatha Christie and a whole host of Russian spies (Two of the notorious Cambridge Five), all the while an included cafébar served the avant-garde with innovative cuisine (such as bacalao con huevos with ragoût de lapin alongside bottles of 1923 Chambertin). Before it was Grade I listed in 1999 and subsequently faithfully refurbished, it experienced decades of social decline and derilict building structure. Now, the former restaurant houses the Isokon Gallery, uncovering the places' lively history.
Editorial Gustavo Gili, Francesc Bassó i Birulés & Joaquim Gili i Moros, 1954-61, Barcelona, Spain
Editorial Gustavo Gili, Francesc Bassó i Birulés & Joaquim Gili i Moros, 1954-61, Barcelona, Spain
Editorial Gustavo Gili, Francesc Bassó i Birulés & Joaquim Gili i Moros, 1954-61, Barcelona, Spain
Editorial Gustavo Gili, Francesc Bassó i Birulés & Joaquim Gili i Moros, 1954-61, Barcelona, Spain
Editorial Gustavo Gili, Francesc Bassó i Birulés & Joaquim Gili i Moros, 1954-61, Barcelona, Spain
Editorial Gustavo Gili, Francesc Bassó i Birulés & Joaquim Gili i Moros, 1954-61, Barcelona, Spain
Editorial Gustavo Gili, Francesc Bassó i Birulés & Joaquim Gili i Moros, 1954-61, Barcelona, Spain
Editorial Gustavo Gili, Francesc Bassó i Birulés & Joaquim Gili i Moros, 1954-61, Barcelona, Spain
Editorial Gustavo Gili, Francesc Bassó i Birulés & Joaquim Gili i Moros, 1954-61, Barcelona, Spain
Typically, the courtyards of Cerda's 1859 expansion in blocks with rounded corners that make Barcelona's Example neighbourhood enigmatically structured are cluttered with patios, gardens, warehouses or just derelict space. It is exactly within this void, where two architects of Grup R, a modernist group following the avant-garde spirit of GATCPAC - itself a movement of modern architecture in the interwar years, placed three buildings that together form the new headquarter of Gustavo Gili Publishers, now well known for books on art and architecture. Around a central space for car access compromise a rationalist garage with surveillance offices, the main office with its characteristic facade in front of a double height lobby and a third, hidden warehouse volume for storing print articles. Inside, the atmospheres are multifaceted, with particularly beautiful vistas into the interior garden courtyard, as well as suchalong the two levels of the main building, which, with its curved ceiling and spiral staircase to the recessed office floor, perfectly evoke the zeitgeist of the late 1950s even today. Considered a most fitting representation of postwar Catalan architecture, the former Seu currently houses Hard Lines, an exhibition on architecture and design in Barcelona from 1949-74.
Economist Building, Alison and Peter Smithson, 1959-64, London, UK
Economist Building, Alison and Peter Smithson, 1959-64, London, UK
Economist Building, Alison and Peter Smithson, 1959-64, London, UK
Economist Building, Alison and Peter Smithson, 1959-64, London, UK
Economist Building, Alison and Peter Smithson, 1959-64, London, UK
Economist Building, Alison and Peter Smithson, 1959-64, London, UK
Economist Building, Alison and Peter Smithson, 1959-64, London, UK
Economist Building, Alison and Peter Smithson, 1959-64, London, UK
Economist Building, Alison and Peter Smithson, 1959-64, London, UK
Already from St. James Park it stands out, this smoothly different and yet austere geometrically-restrained outgrowth contrasting the Victorian and Georgian fabric of the elegant neighbourhood to the north. It is the Economist Tower that, alsong with two smaller miniature buildings, constitutes the Smithson Plaza, now renamed after the two architects, following the departure of the newspaper that originally lent its name to the tower. Parting the site itself in a way that resembles the tight knit block structure of surrounding St. James, the Smithsons design won them the competition by establishing a plateau to access the three buildings and allowing chance encounters on this secluded square under which cars and tecnical facilities would be hidden away. While the buildings are highly visible from the street and in their pioneering form also distinguishable from the rest, the most remarkable aspect is however a fourth addition; the bay window-shaped appendix of an existing gentleman's club, which in the same facade grid nods to the square, itself secretly accesible from the street through softly rising stairs and a ramp. Clad in sharp shell-pitted Portland stone, the raw structure of the façade is a rough fingertip to the subsequent buildings of the architect couple and the international influence they and the tower had with (New) Brutalism on all following architectural history.
Blue Polykatoikia, Kyriakos Panagiotakos, 1932-33, Athens, Greece
The blue condominium, regrettably still blue in only a few places these days, has visibly had a rather turbulent past. An ornamentless prime example of a polykatoikía or multiresidence, this Athens apartment building from the 1920s/30s by and for architect Kyriakos Panagiotakos is among the most emblematic representatives of early rational modernism in Greece. At the time of construction, it was considered an elegant novelty, with numerous communal areas, squalorful entries complete with concierges and a distinctive rooftop with a meeting room on the very top floor. Located near the Athens Polytechnic in Exarcheia, the anarchist quarter of the capital, the house with its thirty-five flats has often been the centre of political activity in its almost hundred years of existence. Like no other building, its crumbling resistance embodies the dichotomy between housing for the cultural elite and sheltering left-wing activists in the literal battle for democratic freedom. In recent years however, a number of residents have been forced to move out, as in many other places in the city, due to the increase in rents as a result of subletting for tourists on internet platforms and gentrification within the building as well as in the direct urban vicinity.
Barcelona Pavilion, Lily Reich and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, 1929, 1983-86, Barcelona, Spain
Lily Reich and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, 1929, 1983-86, Barcelona, Spain
What might arguably be today one of the most iconic and instantly recognisable conceptions of modern architecture, soon approaches its centenary by the end of the decade. Originally conceived as a propagandistic submission for the 1929 Exposició Internacional de Barcelona to epitomise the self-representation of the gradually recovering pacifist German Reich, the prospering economic power and cultural progressiveness of the Weimar Republic, mention is still too seldomly made of the fact that Mies van der Rohe was not the sole author, but acted in collaboration with Lily Reich. Only rarely was a building meant to visualise the liberty of a new Zeitgeist so distinctly. Following a strict grid, two U-shaped wall enclosures of floor-matching travertine in the west and of green-grey serpentinite in the east define the platform and reflect the mundane materials in the reflection of the adjacent water basins. Nowhere are the open floor plan and flowing space more palpable than in the interior and exterior merging spaces underneath the narrow cantilevering roof. After less than a year, the pavilion was disassembled again adhering its temporary use, and shortly afterwards all spirit of avant-garde times vanished too, in its country of origin.
Having appreciated the pivotal role of the monument, a reconstruction was executed in 1983-86 under the direction of Catalan architects, as close to the original as possible, on the same site. Although there are differences in the selection of material and exact dimensions, the interplay of glass, water and stone is deceptively authentic, even the embarrassingly patriotic trinity of black carpet, red velvet and golden onyx still reflects German tricolour. Lacking exhibition pieces, but the infamous and elegant Barcelona Chairs and cruciform chrome columns, the building itself transformed into a tranquil installation and still does so today. Only Georg Kolbe's Der Morgen, a bronze sculpture situated in the enclosed water basin, acts as an enigmatic vanishing point along the pavilion's visual axes. The reconstruction is not of an archaeological nature and certainly nothing more than an interpretation; it should thereby be understood as a discursive and iterative process of an aesthetic approach to the original, with the objective of enabling a similar qualitative spatial experience in physical reality. Controversially discussed and often criticised, the existence of this reinterpretation is nonetheless more a privilege for the interactive experience of space and may be perceived as an invitation to a closer examination of the past and its multiple readings, as exemplified in the pavilion itself.
Kongresshaus Gastein, Gerhard Garstenauer, 1968-74, Bad Gastein, Austria
Kongresshaus Gastein, Gerhard Garstenauer, 1968-74, Bad Gastein, Austria
Kongresshaus Gastein, Gerhard Garstenauer, 1968-74, Bad Gastein, Austria
Kongresshaus Gastein, Gerhard Garstenauer, 1968-74, Bad Gastein, Austria
Kongresshaus Gastein, Gerhard Garstenauer, 1968-74, Bad Gastein, Austria
Kongresshaus Gastein, Gerhard Garstenauer, 1968-74, Bad Gastein, Austria
Kongresshaus Gastein, Gerhard Garstenauer, 1968-74, Bad Gastein, Austria
Kongresshaus Gastein, Gerhard Garstenauer, 1968-74, Bad Gastein, Austria
Kongresshaus Gastein, Gerhard Garstenauer, 1968-74, Bad Gastein, Austria
In order to prevent the cultural decline of Bad Gastein, courageous measures were taken in the 1960s and a previously non-existent main square was created with a pioneering congress centre. Completed in 1974, it is a multi-functional complex and contrasts the vertical mélange of surrounding fin de siècle skyscrapers with a horizontal counterpoint and urban balcony on seven levels. The access to this low-rise building is downwards instead of upwards via the central square level from the main street level, which offers shops and pubs for leisure life. In the heart, a large congress hall and gallery made use of the column-free centered floorplan. The terrace level at the top of the roof invited visitors to promenade; nowhere in the north-facing alpine town can the sun be enjoyed for longer. In four connected and aesthetically striking spherical forms, the socio-cultural meeting point was located with a glass drinking hall. The colossus was built exclusively in cost- and time-saving, unclad prefabricated reinforced concrete construction, with all-round terraces on all floors providing light and a panoramic view down the valley. Since the municipality has never been able to recover financially, the building is in a constant state of decay; a future occupancy would be possible, but remains uncertain.
Fundació Joan Miró, Josep Lluís Sert, 1972-75, Barcelona, Spain
Fundació Joan Miró, Josep Lluís Sert, 1972-75, Barcelona, Spain
Fundació Joan Miró, Josep Lluís Sert, 1972-75, Barcelona, Spain
Fundació Joan Miró, Josep Lluís Sert, 1972-75, Barcelona, Spain
Fundació Joan Miró, Josep Lluís Sert, 1972-75, Barcelona, Spain
Fundació Joan Miró, Josep Lluís Sert, 1972-75, Barcelona, Spain
Fundació Joan Miró, Josep Lluís Sert, 1972-75, Barcelona, Spain
Fundació Joan Miró, Josep Lluís Sert, 1972-75, Barcelona, Spain
Fundació Joan Miró, Josep Lluís Sert, 1972-75, Barcelona, Spain
Nestled on the slopes of Montjüic, the Foundation embodies a rare synthesis of architecture and art, and the fruitful artistic symbiosis of two like-minded individuals. Miró and Sert, long-time friends, spent a decade conceiving a museum to exhibit the former's abstract works. Prefabricated concrete elements constitute the load-bearing walls and open almost exclusively onto the terrace, panoramically overlooking the city and providing an architectural sense of visual locus, and to the inside, where a series of courtyards exude a shared sensation of enclosed solitude. Following the form of an architecturale promenade, the exhibition spaces, bathed in velvety light from the iconic half-barrel ceiling vaults above, wind around a central patio and lead the visitor in slow contemplation to the elevated level of the roof terrace, which itself acts as an open exhibition space for sculptures. Subtly blending Modulor ratios and an iconic clarity of forms with the Mediterranean architectural language inherent in Serts former works, this is one of the finest places for a profound encounter with art.
TERRASSENHAUSSIEDLUNG ST. PETER, WERKGRUPPE GRAZ, GRAZ, AUSTRIA, 1972-1978
BARBICAN ESTATE, CHAMBERLIN, POWELL & BON , LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM, 1969-1984
HAUS WITTGENSTEIN, LUDWIG WITTGENSTEIN, VIENNA, AUSTRIA, 1926-1927
BIBLIOTECA PÚBLICA VIRGILIO BARCO, ROGELIO SALMONA, BOGOTÁ, COLOMBIA, 1999-2001
CHIESA DI SANTA MARIA IMMACOLATA, GIOVANNI MICHELUCCI, LONGARONE, ITALY, 1975-84
ALTON WEST, LONDON CITY COUNCIL, ROEHAMPTON, UNITED KINGDOM, 1955-59
ALTON EAST, ROSEMARY STJERNSTEDT AT LONDON CITY COUNCIL, ROEHAMPTON, UNITED KINGDOM, 1952-55
FAGUS WERK, WALTER GROPIUS & ADOLF MEYER, ALFELD, GERMANY, 1911
KETTLE'S YARD, LESLIE MARTIN, CAMBRIDGE, UNITED KINGDOM, 1970
UNIVERSITA DI CATANIA, GIANCARLO DE CARLO, CATANIA, ITALY, 1986-2004
SOAS LIBRARY, DENYS LASDUN, LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM, 1970-73
SKILIFTS KREUZKOGEL SPORTGASTEIN, GERHARD GARSTENAUER, SPORTGASTEIN, AUSTRIA, 1972
EMBASSY COURT, WELLS COATES, BRIGHTON, UNITED KINGDOM, 1935
ATHENS CONSERVATOIRE, IOANNIS DESPOTOPOULOS, ATHENS, GREECE, 1959, 1969-80
ISOKON FLATS, WELLS COATES, LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM, 1929-34
EDITORIAL GUSTAVO GILI, FRANCESC BASSÓ I BIRULÉS & JOAQUIM GILI I MOROS, BARCELONA, SPAIN, 1954-61
ECONOMIST BUILDING, ALISON AND PETER SMITHSON, LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM, 1959-64
BLUE POLYKATOIKIA, KYRIAKOS PANAGIOTAKOS, ATHENS, GREECE, 1932-33
BARCELONA PAVILION, LILY REICH AND LUDWIG MIES VAN DER ROHE, BARCELONA, SPAIN, 1929, 1983-86
KONGRESSHAUS GASTEIN, GERHARD GARSTENAUER, BAD GASTEIN, AUSTRIA, 1968-74
FUNDACIÓ JOAN MIRÓ, JOSEP LLUÍS SERT, BARCELONA, SPAIN, 1972-75

alldieschoenearchitektur

all die schöne architektur roughly translates to all the aesthetic architecture - it is an continuous visual research of buildings from the modern movements in architecture around the globe. here, the term all does not imply completeness, but rather connotes that each and every single one of the examples presented bears an inherent aesthetic quality that makes them outstanding documents of cultural heritage and testimonies of their particular time. albeit a focus lies on the european continent, this online catalogue for collected impressions of captured architecture has the aim of photographically tracing and evoking the respective fundamental principles of design. in order to avoid reverting to the atavist narrative of heroic modernism, short text contributions attempt to accentuate and contextualise the buildings and to ensure a special focus on the unavoidable aspect of collaboration within authorship in architecture, as well as on the equal representation of contributions by outstanding female architects. all images were taken through my own lens, i will gladly share them by arrangement for use in research - for suggestions, criticism, enquiries or discussion: let's talk at julianmaendl@alldieschoenearchitektur.eu

julian mändl

julian is based in vienna from where he researches and practices the vast field of architecture. particular interests include all things beautiful, the significance of architectural history and the ways in which polifical ambilions, economic interests anc institutional structures have shaped the aesthetics of the ubiquilous built environment. after a classical architectural education at the technische hochschule nuremberg and a year abroad studying at the berner fachhochschule in switzerland, he moved to the technische universität wien to obtain a diploma with a more scientific focus. a theoretical thesis for the completion of the masters programme in 2022 titled unbeloved heritage? garstenauer's buildings in the gastein valley was of utmost relevance to pursue further studies in architectural history. with a daad scholarship, international research was conducted at the architectural association in london as part of an additional m.a. in history and critical thinking involving a thesis that investigalively examined the architectural legacy of rosemary stjernstedt and critically questioned it in light of feminist theory and the insufficient representation of collaboration in architecture and its historiography. currently, a phd at the akademie der bildenden künste wien is pursued with a doctoral dissertation concerning the invention of the heroic narrative in modern architecture - an ongoing critical investigation of an orchestration and its built consequences.
Julian Mändl