128. Hamburg Chile-Haus

Dear Jan,

Here's a building I'm sure you will be very familiar with:
The Chile-Haus. A ten-story office building that was
designed by the architect Fritz Höger and built between
1922 and 1924. It is considered to be a masterpiece of
German clinker expressionism. The typical dark-red to
violet fired "clinker" bricks that are characteristic of brick
expressionist style, and connected to the reinforced
concrete core as the load bearing structure.

Warm regards.
R

127. Terminal 4. Aeropuerto de Barajas, Madrid

Hola mami,

Rafa y yo hemos llegado a Madrid y todo ha ido bien.
En unas pocas horas estamos en Sevilla. Ya os
echamos de menos a ti y a Luisito.

Mil besos de Rafa y mios.
R

126. Vila de Conde, Edificio de Alvaro Siza Vieira

Dear Joel,

Alvaro Siza's Banco Borges & Irmao in Vila do Conde
(Portugal) is notable for its vertical identity and its dramatic rotational character, with all the interior floors visually related as in Le Corbusier's Carthage villa.

Hope you are doing well.
R

125. The New Hong Kong Bank Building

Dear Carme,

The current HSBC building was designed
by Norman Foster and engineers of Arup.
The main characteristic of this building is
its absence of internal supporting structure
and that natural sunlight is the major source
of lighting inside the building. It is one of
the most expensive buildings in the world,
costing nearly US $1 billion.

Regards.
R

124. Ricola-Europa SA Production and Storage building, Mulhouse-Brunnstatt, France

Dear Eliel,

The translucent printed panels on this storage building,
recall textiles, like the inner padding of a box. Besides
the building form recalls a cardboard box with open flaps.
When daylight diminishes the printing is barely visible
from outside and the opposite when it is dark outside.

Regards.
R

123. Caracas Monumental. Liceo Fermin Toro

Querido Juan,

Cipriano Dominguez, arquitecto venezolano de este
fantastico edificio caraqueño dijo una vez:
"El movimiento, el desarrollo, la alegría del vivir,
el mecanismo mismo de la vida son mi pasión...
Hago los planos de una ciudad contemporánea"
Para mi esta frase es la sintesis perfecta del espiritu
nuevo de la arquitectura moderna.

Besos.
R

122. Capri. Punta Massullo

Dear Juan,

"Too much sky, and too much sea for one man alone;
and alas, not enough earth! Yet I already feel that I
love this poor island, as a sailor loves his drifting ship,
dismantled by the storm. Perhaps I also am but a
shipwrecked sailor, clinging to an overturned keel, a
piece of driftwood, a shelf of rock. From the castle
terrace, I survey the sea...I look over the sea and I
feel that I am contemplating from the height of a tower
the piazza of a provincial town, an admirable scene for
the comedy of which Ulysses is the hero."
(Curzio Malaparte)
Juan, "Seek and ye shall find", but loved your improvised
card anyway. Thanks a lot.

Love and warmth.
R

121. Het Nationale Park, De Hoge Veluwe, Jachtslot St. Hubertus

Dear Oscar,

The Hendrik Petrus Berlage's St. Hubertus casino in
Otterlo was designed based on this socialist principle:
Opennes and frankness in the structure equals open
expression to the urban public of the building's
community functions.

Regards.
R

120. Bergen, De Drie Landhizen, Park Meerwijk

Dear Francesco,

This trio of adjacent houses under one roof designed
by J.F. Staal has biblical names: Zophar, Eliphaz and
Bildad

Best regards.
R

119. Bergen, Huize de Beukenhoek, Park Meerwijk

Dear Maristella,

The villa Beukenhoekk designed by M. Kropholler
in 1916/18 has the silhouette of a ship. Furthermore
the visitor to the house crosses a bridge to reach the
entrance. The front yard projected forward as a sea
of a grass. The metaphor of shipping, as appealing in
the Amsterdam School architecture inspired much
later on the house Figueiredo in Gondomar designed
by Alvaro Siza in 1984.

Regards.
R

118. Berlin, Staatsbibliothek

Dear Jan,

Here's the Staatsbibliothek with its famous stockroom 

also known as "the spine of the book". Jacques Herzog 

said he used to love Scharoun's work. He found it 

ugly, strange, very real and unreal at the same time. 

He loved the aluminum gold clad so they intended 

to clad in gold the skylights of the Photo Studio Frei 

but it was too expensive and problematic.

All the best.
R

117. Dominus Winery, Yountville, California

Dear Alvaro,

Talking about the gabions placed in front of the facade
of the Dominus Winery, Jacques Herzog said:
"You could describe or use of the gabions as a kind of
stone wickerwork with varying degrees of transparency,
more like skin than like traditional masonry"

Regards.
R

116. Praha, XII, Namesti Krale Jiriho

Dear Norman,

The Church of the Sacred Heart in Vinohrady (Prague)
is a project of Jože Plečnik finished in 1932. The clear
glass rose windows on either side of the wide bell tower
contrast with the general heaviness of the building.
Indeed the emphasis of this church is put on the exterior
although the interior is a very unique space which
nevertheless has a recognizable religious aura.

Regards.
R

115. Avenue de l'Europe, le Pavillon Philips, Bruxelles 1958

Dear Joseph,

The architecture of Le Corbusier and the soundtrack of
the "Electronic Poem" by Edgar Varese composed and
played for the occasion, join forces to create an ephemeral
total work of art in the Philips Pavilion of 1958.

Regards.
R

114. Berlin Panorama vom Funktrum mit Haus des Rundfunks

Dear Rem,

The Haus des Rundfunks is the oldest self contained
broadcasting house in the world. It was designed by
Hans Poelzig in 1929. The building contains three large
broadcasting rooms located in the center, shielded from
street noise by the surrounding office wings.

Best regards.
R

113. Auditorio de Santa Cruz de Tenerife

Mama,

Gracias por enviarme esta postal tan
bonita del Auditorio de Santa Cruz
de Tenerife.

Muchos muchos besos.
R

112. Neue Nationalgalerie

Dear Jean,

Mies was fully aware of the great difficulties for the
exhibiting of art caused by the huge dimensions of
the hall. He said: "But it has such potential that I
simply cannot take those difficulties into account"
This picture that is a sort of beautiful partial cross
section shows the hall and the interior of the podium
underneath.

Regards.
R

111. Stockholmsutstallningen 1930 Huvudentren

Querido Manolo,

Este, como sabrás bien, es el edificio de entrada a la
Exposición de Estocolmo de 1930. Como todos los
demás edificios del conjunto este fue proyectado por
Gunnar Asplund, y llama la atención además de su
lenguaje funcional y a la vez amable, el espíritu festivo
tan acorde con el evento.

Un abrazo.
R

110. Bryn Mawr College, Pennsylvania

Dear Enric,

This building, a residence for 150 students, was designed
by Louis Kahn and built in 1965. The ground floor plan,
a succession of 3 squares connected at their corners, is
developed around 3 interior courtyards. The "serving"
spaces are located in the walls of these courtyards.

Regards.
R

109. Como. Panorama con Brunate

Querida Cristi,

Esta postal me parece fascinante. Si te fijas bien se
ven en ella hasta tres edificios de Terragni:
Abajo en el centro la casa Giuliani-Frigerio, ultima
obra del arquitecto, manierismo racionalista de
altisima calidad; en el centro hacia la derecha y solo
el alzado corto, el Novocomum, gesto revolucionario
de Terragni cuando tan solo tenia 23 años (fijate en el
edificio para el club de obreros de Ilya Golosov) y
por ultimo algo mas a la izquierda y cerca del lago el
monumento a los caidos de 1933, obra inspirada en los
dibujos del influyente futurista Sant'Elia.

Mil besos.
R

108. Roma. Palazzo della Civilta-Piazzale Marconi. Piscina delle Rose-Palazzo dei Congressi.

Querido Juan Luis,

Gracias por tu Post. La Casa Malaparte es una de las
postales que mas he buscado sin poder encontrar
hasta el momento. Tengo que decirte que
aunque casi universalmente atribuida a Adalberto
Libera (los planos, que no se parecen a lo construido,
estan firmados por el) la casa es mucho mas obra del
cliente, Curzio Malaparte, que del arquitecto Libera.
Este, estaba muy ocupado por aquel entonces
proyectando el Palacio de Congresos de Roma
(en la postal). Ademas su relacion con Malaparte,
personaje singular, no era la mejor, asi que lo dejo
hacer...
El resultado, la casa mas hermosa construida en el
siglo XX para muchos (me incluyo). La pelicula de BB
la he visto (y la tengo en mi pequeña coleccion), pero
si estas interesado en la Malaparte hay dos libros sobre
la casa:
"Casa Malaparte" (Marida Talamona)
Princeton Architectural Press, 1992
y "Malaparte. A House like me" (Michael McDonough)
Potter 1999.

Un abrazo.
R

107. Milano dall'aereo. La Torre Velasca

Dear Pierre,

The Torre Velasca in Milan, built by
BBPR in 1954, is a modern reinterpretation
of an italian medieval castle and an
undisputable landmark building on this city.

Regards.
R