84. Experience Music Project. Aerial View


Dear Jan,

Frank Gehry said about this project that he wanted to
evoke the rock'n'roll experience without being too literal
about it.
How can you possibly be literal in that regard?
But in any case I think in this case he was literal about
himself.

Regards.
R

83. Edificio Kavanagh, Buenos Aires


Querido Ricardo,

El Edificio Kavanagh es como sabras
uno de los hitos urbanos mas relevantes
de Buenos Aires. Edificio levantado en
1935, fue el mas alto de Sudamerica con
sus 110 metros de altura. Influido por los
rascacielos de Chicago, incorpora sin
embargo unos planteamientos
innovadores en sus elementos
compositivos de inspiracion racionalista.

Un fuerte abrazo.
R

82. Copenhagen. Royal Hotel and The Liberty Column


Dear Louna,

Couldn't avoid remembering the SOM's Lever House of
New York. Nonetheless the traditional danish workmanship
is patent here compare with the American standardization.
Everything within the building was designed by Jacobsen
himself: furniture, light fixtures, carpets, curtains...
Somebody called the building the glass cigarbox, yeah but
designed by Jacobsen

Cheers
R

81. Vista da fachada de Agencia Bancaria em Vila do Conde


Querido Jose,

Te mando una de las postales mas bonitas que tengo:
el Banco Borges & Irmao en Vila do Conde, Portugal.
Terminado en su primera fase en 1982, Alvaro Siza 
ganó el premio MvdR a la mejor obra construida en la
Comunidad Europea ese año por esta obra. Las formas,
los materiales, las articulaciones espaciales son 
puramente "Siza" como veras.

Abrazos a Paula y a los niños.
R

80. Grand Hotel Gooiland. Hilversum



Dear Bob,

The Grand Hotel Gooiland, finished in 1936, is the last
testament as far as built-work is concerned of Jan
Duiker. The "joie de vivre" of this building has rarely
been surpassed in the best European architecture of
the 20th century according to Kenneth Frampton.

Regards,
R

79. Berlin, Neues Hansaviertel, Aalto Haus


Dear Anna,

"Architecture has an ulterior motive which always lurks,
so to speak, around the corner: the thought of creating 
a paradise. It is the only purpose of our houses If we did 
not always carry this thought around with us all our houses would become simpler and more trivial and life...would it be at all worth living? Each house, each product of architecture that is worthwhile as a symbol 
is an endeavor to show that we want to build an earthly paradise for people" (Alvar Aalto)
I couldn't have put it better myself.

Cheers.
R

78. Buenos Aires-Avenida Corrientes


Querido Ricardo,

El Cine Teatro Gran Rex, inaugurado
en 1937 en Buenos Aires y obra del
arquitecto Alberto Prebisch es uno de
los hitos mas importantes de la
Arquitectura Moderna en la Argentina.
La sala esta inspirada en el Radio City
Hall de Nueva York y es una de los
espacios de mayor rigor espacial de la
epoca y por ende del patrimonio
construido de la capital argentina.

Un fuerte abrazo.
R

77. Sea lions at Dudley Zoo


Dear Enric,

Berthold Lubetkin once said: “I have the unfashionable
conviction that the proper concern of architecture is
more than self-display. It is a thesis, a declaration,
a statement of the social aims of the age.”

Warm regards.
R

76. Golden Gate Bridge from Marin County


Dear Pierre,

Sixty years earlier than the Erasmus Bridge in Rotterdam,
the San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge was finished in
1937 and painted in orange vermilion.
Both bridges seems to follow the evolution of species as
far as structural design is concern. On the other hand,
orange is the national color of the Netherlands.
A sort of prefiguration, isn't it?

Best
R

75. Rotterdam, prov. Zuid Holland


Dear Pierre,

The Erasmus bridge, the new symbol for Rotterdam and
most visible icon. Locals call it the Harp. It reminds me
another big "harp" that crosses over the river of Seville
though somehow less gratefully.

All the best.
R

74. Miraflores de la Sierra-Residencia Fuente de la Teja



Querida Olga,

Este edificio construido en 1958 está cerca de 
Madrid. Sus arquitectos Corrales, Molezun y de 
la Sota lo pensaron como dividido en dos partes: 
la infraestructura compuesta por el acceso, puente, aparcamiento, cimientos y solera de piso; y la 
cubierta y sus soportes que se "posan" sobre la 
fuerte pendiente del terreno.

Espero que tu y tu familia esteis bien.
Besos.
R

73. de Young Museum, San Francisco


Dear Jan,

It was nice we could visit together the new de Young.
As we saw the entire building exterior is clad in copper,
which eventually will oxidize and take on a greenish tone
to mimic the surrounding trees hues. Swiss poetry!

Hope you are having a pleasant summer.
R

72. Beijing National Stadium


Dear Juan Luis,

A few days ago I read in the NYT about the new
Beijing Olympic National Stadium :
"Viewed from a distance, the contrast between its
bent steel columns and its bulging elliptical form gives
the stadium a surreal, moody appearance, as if it were
straining to contain the forces that are pushing and
pulling it this way and that. Philosophically, it suggests
the tensions just beneath the surface of a society in
constant turmoil."
Indeed China is a nation that is struggling to forge itself
a new identity, and this fantastic building designed by
Herzog & de Meuron will help to push in the right
direction.

Best.
R

71. Savoye House, Poissy-sur-Seine, France


Dear Chaitanya,

The Villa Savoye is one of the most influential private
residence built in the twenty century. Beside the famous
five points: pilotis, free plan, roof terace, horizontal
windows and free facade. I particularly enjoyed the
polychromatic interior in strong contrast with the
predominant white exterior.

Hope you are doing well.
R

70. Bellevue Art Museum-Aerial View


Dear Joel,

Cheers from Seattle! Spent some time visiting Steven
Holl's Bellevue Museum. Good architecture and good
weather. What else can I ask for?

Best wishes.
R

69. Aarhus Raadhuset


Querido Juanlu,

He visitado el Ayuntamiento de Aarhus en Dinamarca.
Este edificio, inaugurado en 1942 y obra de Arne
Jacobsen, es absolutamente exquisito en todos sus
detalles. Es sabido que el arquitecto tuvo muy presente
el proyecto de Asplund para Goteborg al concebir este
edificio que fue ganador de concurso para el nuevo
Ayuntamiento de Aarhus. La torre fue una imposicion a
posteriori y Jacobsen la imagino despues de estudiar la
arquitectura del Racionalismo Italiano. Es interesante
pensar como influencias tan extremas en el espacio, uno
al norte y otro al sur de Europa, se fusionen tan
armonicamente en un solo edificio como este.

Espero que esteis todos bien. Da recuerdos
cariñosos en el estudio.
R

68. Institut du Monde Arabe. Fumoir


Dear Joel,

This is an interior view of the Institut du Monde Arabe
in Paris, designed by J. Nouvel in 1987.
The electronically controlled sun-shading diaphragms
are a sort of high-tech versions of the traditional Arab
screens.

Hope you're doing well.
R

67. Moscow. People's Commissariat of Agriculture


Dear Steven,

The Narkomzem or People's Commissariat of
Agriculture has a very dominant presence in the
Moscow's Sadovaia Ring. Built in 1933 by Aleksei
Shchusev is contemporary of next door Le Corbusier's
Centrosoyuz. Great examples of the new architectural
language created by a few architects in support of the
ideals of the Soviets Revolution.

Regards.
R

66. Sydney- Aerial View of the Opera House


Dear Auntie Mickey,

As you can see in the picture, The
Sydney Opera House is a whole formed
out of two differentiated parts: the podium
and the shells. Jorn Utzon, who was the
architect, studied aerial photographs
of Greeks sites whilst preparing this project.
Two great "temples" and the small
restaurant pavilion, seen in the foreground,
like Nike Apteros in Athens stands to take
in the procession of visitors. As far as the
podium goes, the creation of an horizontal
plane is essential in any system intended to
organize human activities and has wider
significance than that of purely functional.



Enjoy your trip to Australia!
Love
R

65. Centre Saint-Dominique La Tourette-Eveux



Dear Corey,

I spent the night in La Tourette. Though the monks
don't live here any longer I felt that the monastery is still
less a church surrounded by dwellings than a domestic
theater for ascetic virtuosos as Colin Rowe has noted.

All the best.
R

64. Interior, The Seattle Public Library


Jan,

To visit the new OMA's Seattle Central Library has
been an amazing experience for me. The building
indisputable rationality is fantastically combine with
voluptuous and dramatic spatial concepts. The
overwhelming all red corridors (floors, walls and ceilings)
of the meeting room level are able to make you feel as if
you were inside a monster mouth. Every space here is
absolutely magnificent.
It's a shame this building wasn't built in San Francisco...

Cheers.
R