28.12.17


E-044
Chilean House, Rancagua, Chile . Smiljan Radic . 2006

'These two houses -actually there´s only one built- recall the houses of tenant farmers in the Chilean countryside: the existing walnut trees haven´t been touched, the outside has been denied thanks to a whitewashed perimetral wall.
An inner courtyard with the possibility of being covered with an agricultural tarpaulin fixed to its wall to provide shade, an austere living room with bits of an exterior spread throughout the courtyard, a roof of painted untreated wood and bedrooms painted in bold colours.
'

https://www.archdaily.com/10455/chilean-house-smiljan-radic

21.12.17


E-043
Wohnhaus Hornækhus, Kopenhagen . Kay Fisker . 1923

8.12.17


E-042
Edificio los Morochos, Municipio Libertador, Caracas . Alejandro Pietri . © Julio Cesar Mesa . 1956

'El edificio se compone de un volumen prismático de planta cuadrangular libre, separado del nivel del acceso a través de la estructura central de concreto armado, del cual emerge el volumen que contiene los apartamentos. Dicha estructura alberga el núcleo de circulación vertical que comunica las siete plantas del edificio. La planta baja se encuentra protegida por la amplia losa en volado hacia las cuatro fachadas cubriendo los puestos de estacionamiento de cada apartamento. Sus fachadas simétricas utilizan bloques calados de gran formato, para generar pequeñas ventanas con cerramientos giratorios de vidrio y metal dispuestos en forma de damero. La cortina de bloques calados oculta la presencia de las losas de los entrepisos, formando una fachada abstracta y uniforme, que remata en una cubierta escalonada a cuatro aguas que cubre el volumen. En las esquinas se ubican balcones volados con antepechos en concreto armado, único elemento de contacto con el exterior de cada apartamento, que le otorga escala a la edificación.'

http://guiaccs.com/obras/edificio-los-morochos/

19.11.17


E-041
Moore House, Orinda, California . Charles Moore . 1962

'Orinda House, also known as “Moore House” is located in a valley behind San Francisco,  was designed by architect Charles W. Moore for himself and built in 1962. In this project, Moore experimented with very simple means the possibility to recreate a project that could embody references to different moments of architectural history and that would allow an unconventional distribution and space articulation.

The small project is based on simple geometry and on the archetypal square plan to create a direct relationship with architectural archetypes such as the primitive hut or a Hindu temple.

A pyramidal roof with a flat sky window on top emerges from the outside walls and is supported by a combination of elements: a ring of beams laid on the exterior walls and some of the wooden columns inhabiting the interior space, while the whole house rests on a simple, concrete foundation. The corners of the building, materialized by sliding barn-like doors, are never touched by the outside walls. The doors can be opened to let the light to get in, underlining the continuity between inside and outside.

Eight columns, in groups of four, sustain two aediculae of different dimensions supporting two asymmetrical pyramidal roofs located within the main roof. These two sub-spaces inside the larger volume articulate the interior, and as they are painted white, they contrast with the rest of the surfaces. Between the two pavilions, a high bookcase structures the place for the beds. Only the toilet, some shelves and the cooking area are enclosed behind a wall, while all the rest of the space is freely distributed under the main roof.
'

http://socks-studio.com/2017/01/29/archetypes-and-free-plan-orinda-house-by-charles-w-moore/

12.11.17


E-040
Norrköping House . Sverre Fehn . 1963-64

'The Norrköping Villa was designed by Norwegian architect Sverre Fehn in 1963-64 as a model architecture for an ideal family of four. The 150 m2 house was designed for the exhibition NU 64 and it is a project which was not intended specifically for its building site in Norrköping, but conceived to be independent of any plot, an autonomous architecture responding only to its own internal rules.

The plan is cross-shaped and symmetrical with a central square core hosting services, bathrooms, toilets, kitchen and storage spaces and a second square, without any specific function, surrounding it. In the middle of the four edges of the second square are four “c-shaped” walls which can host the private rooms or be left open and empty in continuity with the central open area. The exterior c-shaped walls are made of bricks while all the corners are glazed with a massive wooden frame. The flat roof covering the central area is lifted to let the light enter the central core. This exercise in symmetry, geometrical control, plan organization based on the module of the square is said by the architect to have been inspired by the architectural principles Palladio developed in his villas.
'

http://socks-studio.com/2016/06/18/a-palladian-villa-in-sweden-the-norrkoping-house-by-sverre-fehn-1963-64/

5.11.17


E-039
Villa in Lesbos . Elia Zenghelis for OMA . 1970's

29.10.17


E-038
Naked House, Saitama, Japan . Shigeru Ban . 2000

'Having met the client only once, I was again considering what to do about the project of this house, when the client sent me a facsimile making precise requests. What he wanted was described as a house that “provides the least privacy so that the family members are not secluded from one another, a house that gives everyone the freedom to have individual activities in a shared atmosphere, in the middle of a unified family”. After reading his fax, I knew that I should take up this challenge.
The site of the house sits by a river and is surrounded by fields with greenhouses here and there.
The external walls made of two sheets of corrugated fiber-reinforced plastics and the inner walls made of a nylon fabric are both mounted on wooden stud frames and sit in parallel. In between are attached clear plastic bags, carefully stuffed with strings of foamed polyethylene for insulation purpose. Through these bags a soft diffused light fills in the interior of the house.
The house consists of one unique large space of two-story high in which four personal rooms on casters can be moved freely. To reduce weight and optimize mobility, these rooms are not very large and hold a minimum of belongings and fittings. They can be moved accordingly to the needs of their use. Placed against the walls of the house, in front of the heating or air-conditioning units, warm air or a cooling breeze can flow into it. They can also be put side by side and create a larger room, when their sliding doors are removed. They can be taken outside, on the terrace, for the full use of the space inside. They can also work as a supplementary floor for the children to play on top.
This house is, indeed, a result of my vision of enjoyable and flexible living, which evolved from the client’s own vision toward a living and a family life.
'

http://www.shigerubanarchitects.com/works/2000_naked-house/

7.10.17


P-010
Cortijo Villegas, Fuente Vaqueros . © Antonio Jiménez Torrecillas . 2006

La forma del secadero revela el proceso de su construcción.
Sobre una zanja  excavada en la tierra se levanta un zuncho.
La estructura de fustes de chopo se cubre con tejas reutilizadas.
El cerramiento actúa de carcasa ventilada de la estructura.
Sobre unos ladrillos se apoyan unos prefabricados de hormigón reciclados.
Un cable de acero los asegura contra el vuelco.
Ya más arriba, se van disponiendo cortezas de piel de chopo,
el sobrante de los trabajos realizados en la serrería,
siguiendo la forma inclinada de la cubierta.
Al ser todas las tablillas de la misma longitud,
el triangulo restante inferior se completa con una disposición horizontal.'

Antonio Jiménez Torrecillas
El viaje de vuelta. El encuentro de la contemporaneidad a través de lo vernáculo
2006

25.9.17


F-009
San Giorgio Courtyard, 'Viva Churchill' . © Vittorio Pandolfi . 1950s

'La versione in ektachrome di un cortile sangiorgese negli anni '50, notare la scritta sulla parete di fondo, le truppe di occupazione erano andate via da pochi anni lasciando tracce.'

Vittorio Pandolfi

https://www.flickr.com/photos/agedsenator/1813753098/

18.9.17


E-037
House Without Qualities, Cologne . Oswald Mathias Ungers . 1995

'Haus III or the “House Without qualities” (Haus ohne Eigenschaften) is a late work by German architect Oswald Mathias Ungers which the architect built for his wife and himself. Constructed in Cologne in 1995, the house is considered an experiment on the reduction of architectural elements  and it materializes the research on abstraction which Ungers had developed over the years; in this sense, the building can by seen as a conceptual model for a house which has been made real through building.
The house has a rectangular plan based on a classical architectural scheme, a central space and two side-aisles. It consists of two floors with five rooms, a central double-height volume and four equal rooms in the side-aisles.
Crucial in the design of the plan is the thickness of the exterior and the interior walls which are used to incorporate service facilities, like stairs, toilets, the elevator, bathrooms and storage spaces. The width of the walls is always the same through the whole plan.
The façades are identical by twos, symmetrical and constructed according to specific rules of proportions, no differentiation is pursued between the front and the back and the same window/door size is employed. The plan’s geometry is not made evident in the elevations in any way.
The extreme synthesis, the reduction of elements (no decoration, no hierarchy, no style) makes evident Ungers’ obsessive research for the essence of architecture, which the architect identified in the strict rules of composition.
'

http://socks-studio.com/2015/11/10/house-without-qualities-by-o-m-ungers-1995/

10.9.17


E-036
Quinta da Conceição, Matosinhos . Fernando Távora . 1956-60

'La Quinta da Conceição era una propiedad particular que el ayuntamiento de Matosinhos decidió transformar en parque público. El interés de la obra reside precisamente en la interpretación arquitectónica del cambio de programa. La mayor alteración introducida por el proyecto consiste en la apertura de nuevas entradas y de un nuevo eje de circulación que las une. El resto de los recorridos del parque se organizan a partir de los vestigios arquitectónicos y paisajísticos de los usos anteriores, como dominio de un convento en el siglo XV y como propiedad particular en época más reciente. Los pavimentos, muros y vegetación introducidos por el proyecto «explican» los vestigios, prologándolos sin mimetismo. El pabellón de apoyo a las pistas de tenis se levanta en la parte superior del terreno, dominando toda la zona libre de vegetación paralela al nuevo eje de circulación. El diseño en consola de la terraza y de la cubierta enfatiza la posición de remate de la edificación, simbolizando al mismo tiempo la función lúdica del parque'

http://www.docomomoiberico.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=1725:pabellon-de-tenis-de-la-quinta-da-conceicao&Itemid=11&vista=1&lang=en

4.9.17


A-010
'You', Gavin Brown's Enterprise Gallery, Chelsea . Urs Fischer . 2007

'“You” is an art installation by Urs Fischer done in 2007 at Gavin Brown’s Enterprise Gallery in Chelsea. Consisting of  a 30 foot by 30 foot crater, 8 feet deep dug into the foundation of the gallery.
The installation took 10 days and was done at a cost of over $250 000.
The following warning greeted visitors “THE INSTALLATION IS PHYSICALLY DANGEROUS AND INHERENTLY INVOLVES THE RISK OF SERIOUS INJURY OR DEATH”
'

https://no-one.la/stories/urs-fischer-2007

21.8.17


A-009
Das über Pflanzen ist eins mit ihnen . Lois Weinberger . 1997

Railway track, planting with indigenous plants and neophytes, length 100m.
'Lois Weinberger made use of the open-air area of the Kulturbahnhof Kassel by sowing neophytes among indigenous plants. This type of vegetation grows rapidly, spreads across large sweeps of land, and crowds out native species. "The way a society deals with its plants tells us a lot about itself", says Weinberger. The struggle instigated by the artist is a metaphor of migration problems facing us today.
'

http://www.loisweinberger.net/

26.7.17


E-035
Case di vacanze. Arzachena (Sassari) . Marco Zanuso . 1962-64

'In una lottizzazione del 1962 che da una strada vicinale disegna porzioni di terrada 4 ettari in lingue strette e lunghe che puntano al mare, troviamo collocate due case per vacanze dalla pianta quadrata. Costruite in contemporanea tra il 1963 e il 1964 a venti metri dall’acqua, esse appaiono uniche presenze in un paesaggio aspro e vuoto, disegnato solo dai recinti dei muri a secco dei pascoli. E una Sardegna dei primordi, appena sfiorata dalle imprese dell’Aga Khan dove lo skyline della costa appare completamente sgombro.
L’alloggio estivo per due famiglie milanesi in una Costa Smeralda che non ha neanche la luce elettrica viene spinto tipologicamente da Zanuso verso l’identificazione con l’alloggio-ovile sardo di cui il ‘correr’ recinto di prima misurazione della campagna, e in pianta la forma generatrice.
Abitare qui nello spirito delluogo significa soprattutto ripararsi per alcune ore della giornata che per il resto viene vissuta in esterni o schermarsi dal vento che batte insistentemente. Tra il ripararsi e lo schermarsi si vengono elaborando queste due piccole fortezze primordiali, niente altro che due recinti di 15 x 15m di lato dotati di un tetto e tirato su dallo spiccato nell’unico materiale onnipresente: il granito.
Una fascia di sassi arrotonda di grosse dimensioni disegnat perlopiu dal vento persistente e in posizione di avanguardaverso il mare. Alle spalle, una perimetrazione agrícola da pastorizia rimanda ad un mon chiuso dalle tradizioni arciach proprietario del terreno risultante poi essere il muratore stesso delle due case. Per il resto, sa mirto e olivastri nella piu estre delle vegetazioni mediterraneo.
Di tre tipi, grigio chiarissimo, giallo e rosa bruciato il granito dei muri si estende alle case nell’unica possibife forma di costruzione di tipo tradizionale di blocchi erratici uniti con malta di calce e cemento a doppia faccia a vista. Un muratore del paese costruira da solo in dodici mesi le due case tagliando a spacco i blocchi in peaature variabili tra i 25 e i 40 cm e gettando poi lui stesso le solette e le gronde in cemento armato.
Planimetricamonte tra l’una e l’altra delle case. Zanuso stabilira un angolo di rotazione a conferma di come l’asse di riferimento non sia un fronte astratto, ma un allineamento dettato dalla variazione mistilínea del disegno della costa rispetto al la qua le si vuole stabilire un principio di corrispondenza.
All’interno del recinto la pianta verra elaborata su un reticolo di 9 quadrati ideali di cuí se ne conteranno 4 occupati da pieni(tre ca mere da letto piu una zona cucina-pranzo) e 5 da vuoti in configurazione di croce greca di cuí uno ‘pieno’ per la presenza fissa di un tavolo all’aperto ed un altro parzialmente occupato da servizi (bagno e torno-camino).
Smussati sugli spigoli da un tagl io a 30° che ne segnera gli ingressi, i quadrati pieni graviteranno decisamente sul centro della corte nella zona coperta da un graticcio di canne.
Luce, ombra, ventilazione si alterna no al l’interno del recinto in un elementare quanto antropologicamente attento gioco d i scambi tra aperto e chiuso.
L’elegante doppio sistema del le chiusure nello spigolo e risolto in un’anta secca da 90 cm che viene riposta nello spessore del muro e da un sistema di persiane in legno di abete trattato con carbol inium ad anteasimmetriche. Una doppia opzione di chiusura: sul filo interno diagonale della camera si avra una porta piena e una chiusura definitiva del l’ambiente, sul filo esterno a completare il quadrato del la muratura le ante asimmetriche elegantemente tag liate nelle doghe da fen diture vert icali consenti ranno fin dalle camere, fin dai letti, una permeabi li tá visiva completa fino al punto centra le del tavolo in granito della corte in un’idea di schermatu ra più che di vera chiusura.
Una dialettica tra aperto e chiuso ribaltabile anche all’esterno: dal mare la casa-recinto offre lo spigolo piú ricco e il suo momento illusionistico più forte nei due lati che presentano aperture. Da quel punto, grazie ai due v uoti dell’ ingresso e del finestrone e al le posizioni angolari del le stanze, il tutto si smaterial izza e si comincia a pensare che l’edificio non ci sia, che non esistano volumi coperti, che il 15 x 15 m non racchiuda stanze o ambienti ma un semplice recint o acielo aperto per pastori.'

http://hicarquitectura.com/2017/06/marco-zanuso-case-di-vacanze-arzachena-sassari-1962-1964/

19.7.17


E-034
Mathsson summer house, Frösakull, Sweden . Bruno Mathsson . 1960

'Frösakull consists of a base platform measuring 10x15 metres, on which a structure of galvanized iron is erected. The walls are made of corrugated plastic, South American wood (“parapine”) and glass which have been attached directly to the structure. The roof was made by fl exing translucent opal-white acrylic plastic between the rafters to form six barrel-vaults that run across the structure enclosing the entire space except for the inner court. Under the transparent vaults and steel rafters, a ceiling of angled and mounted wood slats is suspended, sifting the light like venetian blinds. The house has two yards: an inner court enclosed with corrugated plastic and thus screened from view, and a sun patio that is not on the platform, but is enclosed with the same corrugated plastic thus incorporating it into the body of the building. The layout is very simple; the building consists of two parts: a closed part with north-facing wooden walls for the bedrooms and bathroom/toilet, and an open part with corrugated plastic walls and a roof covering half the space that makes up the living room and inner courtyard. The only different part is the little sun patio, added as an extension to one of the façades.'

Helena Mattsson

http://www.mikaelolsson.se/media/ahomeisnotahousehelenamattssonsteidlverlagmikaelolsson.pdf

5.7.17


E-033
Kanchanjunga Apartments, Mumbai . Charles Correa . 1970-83

28.6.17


E-032
New Baris Village, Kharga . Hassan Fathy . © A Kawatli . 1965-67

'Discovery of a large water well sixty kilometers south of the Kharga Oasis in 1963, which had been estimated to have the capacity to continuously irrigate up to 1000 acres of land, led the Organization for Desert Development to propose an agricultural community here at that time. 
This remote and forbidding wilderness outpost, which is almost in the geographical centre of Egypt, was planned to initially house 250 families, of which more than half were intended to be farmers and the remainder to be service personnel. His previous experience with such a project, and particularly his ability to build it inexpensively, made Fathy the logical choice as the architect for New Baris.
Without a visible clientele to design for, Fathy concentrated on a thorough study of both the traditional architecture and climate of the region. In addition to examining the fourth century AD mudbrick ruins of the necropolis of Bagawat nearby, he also closely observed the existing village of Kharga, where the material used, as well as the width and orientation of the streets and introverted forms of the houses effectively offset summer temperatures as high as 50C degrees that could potentially cause serious physiological problems for the people living there.
These considerations, along with the additional need for the cold storage of the fruits and vegetables grown by the community prior to shipping, and the impossibility of providing air-conditioning, led Fathy to focus on natural systems as the formative influence on the new village. For this reason, the souk, or market place, became the active heart of a community which spirals out to fit a rather steeply graded ridge on either side of it. This souk, and other communal buildings around it, differ from their predecessors at New Gourna both in the more realistic choice of functions represented and the compactness of the open spaces between the buildings themselves.
To solve the problem of the cold storage of perishables, Fathy turned to the physical solutions provided by the thermal mass of materials used and the manipulation of natural air movement as the only possible answers. By putting the storage areas below grade and refining the malkaf designs he had used previously by adding baffles, incrementally reduced airshafts and secondary towers to accelerate circulation, temperature reductions of up to 15C degrees were achieved.'

https://archnet.org/collections/11/sites/2560

20.6.17

12.6.17


E-031
La Congiunta, Giornico . Peter Märkli . 1992

5.6.17


E-030
Scuola Elementare, Fagnano Olona . Aldo Rossi . © Luigi Ghirri . 1972-76

23.5.17


A-008
Models of rotational geometry . © Giorgio Scarpa . 1978

'Giorgio Scarpa (1938-2012) was an Italian designer, bionics researcher, artist and teacher of Descriptive Geometry and of Theory of Perception in Oristano and Faenza. His publications include subjects as differents as bionics, topology, DNA and muscle structure models, but he also wrote papers on abstract problems as defining rules on how to find one’s way out of a labyrinth.'

http://socks-studio.com/2014/05/21/giorgio-scarpas-models-of-rotational-geometry-1978/

11.5.17


E-029
Palazzo Massimo alle Colonne, Roma . Baldassarre Peruzzi . 1532-36

3.5.17


P-008
Nærum Allotment Gardens, Denmark . Carl Theodor Sørensen . 1948

29.4.17


E-028
Casa-estudio, Ciudad de México . Luis Barragán . 1948

24.4.17


F-008
Sinclair Gas, Gustine, Texas (from Western Realty) . © Ed Freeman

'These digitally enhanced pictures of buildings across the western United States are part of my “Western Realty” series. They came about as a natural extension of my “Desert Realty” series – a way of seeing commonplace architecture with fresh eyes and discovering the charm, pathos and humor of easily-ignored structures.'

Ed Freeman

https://www.edfreeman.com/collections/western-realty

18.4.17


E-027
Parroquia Cristo Obrero, Estación Atlántida, Uruguay . Eladio Dieste . 1952

'Las técnicas empleadas son una generalización de las ya usadas por nosotros en otro tipo de edificios, fábricas, gimnasios, etc. La incorporación de armadura y el uso de morteros convenientes vuelven estructuralmente activo al material cerámico y hacen que sean posibles con él, y a bajo costo, cosas que serían impracticables económicamente con el hormigón armado; por ejemplo, las paredes onduladas de esta iglesia.

El conjunto de paredes y techo, que mide en planta 16 x 33 m, se concibió como una gran cáscara de doble curvatura que apoya en el terreno mediante una fundación de pilotes “in situ” de 15 cm de diámetro y 5 m de profundidad con pequeñas luces entre ellos.

Cada pared, de 7 m de altura está formada por una sucesión de conoides de directriz recta al nivel del suelo y ondulada (con una parábola y dos medias parábolas acordadas por onda) en su parte superior. Para construirla se replanteó previamente la superficie reglada con alambres de acero que se fijaban a las directrices, guías de madera, que se ven en las fotografías. Hecho esto, los albañiles no tenían más que seguir, en la colocación de los ladrillos, los hilos que definian la superficie. Su espesor es de 30 cm, que es el usual para paredes exteriores en nuestro pais. La armadura de alambre de 3 mm dispuesta en las hiladas es de solo medio kilogramo de acero por metro cuadrado, suficiente para la resistencia parcial de la pared misma y para darle una total unidad estructural. Había pensado primero hacer la pared con doble muro y cámara de aire, pero vi luego que era más conveniente llenar la cámara con mortero hidrofugado. La pared se ancló al contrapiso de mortero de arena y portland, y se terminó por una carrera horizontal que hace de alero y absorbe los empujes de la bóveda. Este alero es mixto de ladrillo y hormigón.

El techo es una bóveda gausa, totalmente de ladrillo, construida, por razones de terminación, en dos capas: la primera, que queda aparente, de tejuelas (ladrillo de 3 cm de espesor); y la siguiente de ticholos (ladrillo hueco). Sobre el ticholo se hizo una capa de 1 cm de arena y portland , lo que da un espesor total de 11 cm. El techo se terminará con la impermeabilización y una capa final de tejuela cerámica porosa muy aislante y liviana.

La luz media de la bóveda es de 16 m; la máxima, de 18,80 y la flecha varía de 7 cm a 147 cm; o sea que el valle de la onda es casi horizontal. En este valle se alojan los tensores que resisten al empuje de las bóvedas anclados en las carreras de coronamiento de los muros. La armadura de la bóveda es de 2 kg/m2, alojada en la juntas de las piezas de cerámica. Todas las secciones transversales del techo son catenarias, de flecha variable entre los límites ya citados. Esta estructura es un buen ejemplo de cómo, con métodos no rigurosamente analíticos, puede llegarse a rodear un problema aparentemente insoluble.'

Eladio Dieste

9.4.17


A-007
Untitled . Nils Udo

'El trabajo de Nils Udo es el fruto de incontables horas de un deambular por campos, montañas, ríos y bosques buscando ideas para alterar con ligereza y sensibilidad el paisaje encontrado. Sin embargo, según él cualquier alteración de lo preexistente es desgraciadamente una forma de destrucción de lo que se reverencia en extremo. Para Udo solo la naturaleza salvaje puede ser la única fuente de inspiración:

“Trabajo en paralelo a lo natural y solo intervengo con el máximo cuidado posible. Incluso así se mantiene una contradicción básica. Es la contradicción que subyace a todo mi trabajo, que no puede escapar a la fatalidad inherente a nuestra propia existencia. Se destruye lo que se toca: la virginidad de lo inmaculado… Realizar lo que es posible y latente en la Naturaleza, construir lo que nunca ha existido, es una forma de utopía que se transforma en realidad. Una segunda vida de los objetos. El acontecimiento ha tenido lugar. Solo lo he animado y hecho visible”.'

http://arquiscopio.com/los-paisajes-peculiares-de-nils-udo/

5.4.17


E-026
Unité d'habitation, Marsella . Le Corbusier . © René Burri . 1946-52

1.4.17


P-007
Palazzo di Diocleziano / Spalato, Croatia

'Il palazzo di Diocleziano a Spalato rappresenta una delle più impressionanti costruzioni della tetrarchia sorte fuori Roma.
Il palazzo fu fatto costruire dall’imperatore stesso tra il 300 e il 305 in uno dei punti più belli della costa della Dalmazia, nei pressi di Salona.
Diocleziano, da buon militare, più che a una reggia pensò a un edificio imponente dalla forma austera e militaresca.
Il palazzo di Diocleziano a Spalato aveva la pianta tipica degli accampamenti militari romani (castrum), con quattro poderose torri quadrate agli angoli della cinta muraria e, all’interno, due strade perpendicolari che si intersecavano ad angolo retto (cardo e decumano); un lato affacciava sul mare.
Al punto di incontro tra la cinta muraria e gli assi viari principali si aprivano le quattro porte, affiancate da torri a base ottagonale: la Porta Aurea a Nord, la Porta Argentea a Est, la Porta Ferrea a Ovest e la Porta Aenea o Bronzea a Sud, verso il mare.
Le mura, costruite con blocchi squadrati, erano alte 18 metri e spesse 2, misuravano 215,5 sui lati lunghi e 175-181 metri su quelli corti, e alle torri ottagonali delle porte alternavano torri quadrate. Il lato meridionale era l’unico a non essere difeso dalla cinta muraria.
Il palazzo rimase disabitato alla sua morte (3 dicembre del 313 d.C.), per poi essere occupato nel 639 dagli abitanti di Salona in fuga dalle incursioni degli slavi. 
Il palazzo non fu più abbandonato e costituì il nucleo della moderna città di Spalato, nome che deriva appunto dalla contrazione di Salona e palatium, “palazzo di Salona”.'

http://www.studiarapido.it/il-palazzo-di-diocleziano-a-spalato/#.WN9XBW-LTcs

27.3.17


E-025
Casa Rudofsky, Frigiliana, Málaga . Bernard Rudofsky . 1970

'Berta y Bernard Rudofsky eligen este terreno en Frigiliana para realizar su casa de verano. Aunque el diseño es de Rudofsky, este proyecto debe firmarlo José Antonio Coderch dado que el primero no tiene convalidado el título en España [...] La Casa en Frigiliana forma parte de un proceso que el autor desarrolla durante toda su vida, el respeto al soporte natural, el aprendizaje de las sabias formas vernáculas. La recuperación contemporánea de las formas de habitar austeras, el desprecio de los avances tecnológicos como instrumento de mejora del habitat, la consideración de los espacios exteriores como estancias de la casa y su integración con el interior, la renuncia de la estandarización así como los hábitos establecidos y la adaptación minuciosa de la casa al estilo de vida de su morador, perfilan esta forma tan personal de Rudofsky de combinar lo local y lo global, la tradición y la contemporaneidad, el territorio y las necesidades específicas del individuo. En sus casas prevalece siempre la salvaguarda de la intimidad frente o lo colectivo, la lectura de la vivienda como un universo propio, contenedor simbólico de la construcción de la identidad personal.'

23.3.17


F-007
Vescona . © Axel Hütte . 1991

'Axel Hütte es un fotógrafo alemán (nacido en Essen en 1951)  que intenta atrapar en sus fotografías lo intangible de la naturaleza. Sus imágenes, de un tamaño gigantesco y una perfección formal y detallismo extraordinarios, prescinden de la presencia humana y descomponen la realidad en una visión casi abstracta.
Estudió con Bernd Becher en la Academia de Bellas Artes de Düsseldorf, junto con Tomas Struth, Thomas Ruff, Cándida Höffer o Andreas Gursky,...
"No me interesan los lugares en los que se han hecho cientos de miles de fotografías. Quiero atrapar la realidad que hay entre líneas, la que nunca ha sido capturada, ser yo el que atrape su primer momento como imagen.
La fotografía es como el lenguaje, hay muchísimas cosas que no se pueden decir pero está bien que sea así. Todos los intersticio son llenados por la imaginación."'

http://www.cadadiaunfotografo.com/2012/09/axel-hutte.html

18.3.17


E-024
Cimitero di San Cataldo . Aldo Rossi . © Laurian Ghinitoiu . 1971-78


'La forma tipologica del cimitero è caratterizzata da percorsi rettilinei porticati; lungo lo sviluppo di questi sono ordinate le salme. I percorsi porticati sono perimetrali e centrali; essi si svolgono sia al piano terra sia ai piani superiori. Questi edifici sono costituiti principalmente da colombari. Al centro dell’area sono collocati altri colombari con successione regolare inscritta in un triangolo; questa spina centrale, o vertebra, si dilata verso la base e le braccia dell’ultimo corpo trasversale tendono a richiudersi. Alla estremità di questa spina centrale si trovano due elementi con una forma definita: un cubo e un cono. Nel cono e al di sotto di questo, si trova la fossa comune; nel cubo, il sacrario dei morti in guerra e gli ossari.
Questi due elementi monumentali sono collegati alla spina centrale degli ossari mediante una configurazione osteologia. Solo il loro rapporto dimensionale è monumentale; qui monumentale significa il problema della descrizione del significato della morte e del ricordo. Questi elementi definiscono la spina centrale.
La costruzione cubica con le sue finestre regolari ha la struttura di una casa senza piani e senza copertura, le finestre sono senza serramenti, tagli nel muro; essa è la casa dei morti, in architettura è una casa incompiuta e quindi abbandonata. Quest’opera, incompiuta e abbandonata, è analogica alla morte.'

13.3.17


A-006
In the state of equal dimension . © Kishio Suga . 1973

8.3.17


E-023
Casa al Parco (Casa Tognella), Milano . Ignazio Gardella . 1953

3.3.17


P-006
La Chanca, Almería . © Carlos Pérez Siquier . 1957

'En 1956 Carlos Pérez Siquier empieza a fotografiar a los vecinos de La Chanca, un arrabal abandonado y mísero de Almería, con la intención de preparar un fotolibro que se quedó en proyecto. Trabajó allí hasta mediados de los sesenta, primero en blanco y negro y luego en color. Aunque Pérez Siquier ha dicho que su deseo era «ensalzar esta gente», en la línea de la fotografía humanista creada por la exposición The Family of Man (1955), las fotos de La Chanca han sido consideradas imágenes de denuncia semejantes al libro La Chanca (1962) de Juan Goytisolo, en el que se afirma que en La Chanca se «vive la existencia esclavizada del hombre sometido a una bárbara explotación colonial.'

http://www.museoreinasofia.es/coleccion/obra/chanca-almeria-1

27.2.17


E-022
Casa MR6, Alella . Soldevila & Llorens . 1984

22.2.17


F-006
Opytnoe Pole, Semipalatinsk nuclear test site, Kazakhstan . © Ursula Schulz-Dornburg . 2012

'Schulz-Dornburg’s monochromatic images of (largely vacant) architecture have dominated her practice since the end of the 1960s, when house-related imagery became central to her work. Though based in Germany, she takes photographs around the world while travelling—past destinations that have found their way into her work include the secret village of Kurchatov, Kazakhstan; ruins of the Hejaz Railway in Saudi Arabia; bus shelters in Armenia; Azerbaijan; and more.'

http://canadianart.ca/news/2016-aimia-prize-winner/

18.2.17


E-021
Municipal Gallery, Marktoberdorf . Bearth & Deplazes . © Ralph Feiner . 2001

'This striking brick complex is situated in the town centre and comprises two adjacent cubes of different heights, with a walled entrance courtyard. The exhibition volumes are enclosed in 50 cm solid brick walls, consisting of high-strength engineering bricks of Bavarian format (32 x 14.5 x 6.5 cm). The irregular texture of the bricks and the coarse-grained mortar result in a lively surface appearance. The exhibition cubes are divided into three levels, with engineering brick pavings and artificial lighting in the basement. In the storeys above this, the spaces are flooded with daylight, which enters through tall side windows and roof lights.'

http://www.detail-online.com/inspiration/municipal-gallery-in-marktoberdorf-106682.html

13.2.17


A-005
A conflict that has long been resolved . Sigmar Polke . 2007

8.2.17


E-020
Pueblo de Colonización de Vegaviana, Cáceres . José Luis Fernández del Amo . 1956

'En el noroeste de Extremadura, a 5 km de la localidad de Moraleja, el Instituto Nacional de Colonización toma la decisión de crear un poblado para 2.000 personas. Los quercus preexistentes dejaron paso a terrenos de regadío, controlados por el nuevo embalse del Borbollón. Y es en la ribera del Arroyo Tinaja donde Fernández del Amo levanta el más laureado de los Pueblos Nuevos. Un terreno llano con declive suave hacia el regato, óptimo para los drenajes naturales. La singularidad del proyecto radica en la sabia decisión de perpetuar la convivencia entre la vegetación autóctona extremeña y el diseño de las viviendas blancas, arquitectura serena. Se implantan un total de 340 moradas para colonos, con corrales y dependencias auxiliares agrarias, que son complementadas con una cincuentena de viviendas para campesinos. Fernández del Amo concibe seis tipos de viviendas, con una y dos alturas, y 3, 4 y 5 dormitorios. En el corazón del lugar, se localizan los servicios complementarios de la comunidad, constituidos por una iglesia con casa rectoral, el Ayuntamiento con casa para el alguacil, edificio social polivalente, casa de hermandad, escuela y viviendas para los maestros, seis viviendas para comerciantes, dispensario médico y su hogar correspondiente, y todas las infraestructuras públicas. La disposición de las casas se torna hacia el interior, originando unas manzanas naturales creadas para convivir, y su perímetro es aderezado con una malla de sendas y recorridos que nos llevan a las parcelas de labor.'

http://www.docomomoiberico.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=1047:pueblo-de-colonizacion-vegaviana&Itemid=11&vista=1&lang=es