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