352. Burroughs Wellcome Co.

Dear Tony,

"What the architect has to offer in the final analysis has
not changed through the centuries. Only the means
change, not the end" (Paul Rudolph)

Regards.
R

351. Phaeno Science Center, Wolfsburg, Germany

Dear Ray & Charles,

Zaha Hadid says of the spaces in the ten "cones" that
support this building that the idea was to occupy structure; structure becomes program. To me this is a smart revision of conceptual ideas from Louis Kahn's Yale Art Center project.

Cheers.
R

350. Lieksan Kirkko

Dear Aimee,

The crossed double arches that span the entire interior
volume and form the dome, seem to owe a debt to
Robert Maillart reinforced concrete structures according
to Malcolm Quantrill.

Merry Christmas to you.
R

349. Petronas Twin Towers. Kuala Lumpur

Dear Sean,

The Petronas Twin Towers were laid out
to symbolize grace and strength by means
of Islamic geometric rules.

Warm regards.
R

348. Tropicana Night Club, Havana, Cuba

Dear Anna,

Max Borges along with Felix Candela created in 1951
the very famous Tropicana's Arcos de Cristal. Many
pieces of furniture displayed were designed by American
designers Charles and Ray Eames. The Arcos de Cristal
was one of only few Cuban buildings included in the 1955
Museum of Modern Art exhibit entitled "Latin American
Architecture since 1945."

Regards.
R

347. Zaragoza. Pabellon puente sobre el rio Ebro

Querido Carlos,

Siempre recordare a Rafael Gonzalez Sandino, con su
mano posada en la frente y sus ojos perdidos en el
infinito recitando a Rilke cuando nos hablaba de
arquitectura y filosofia:
(...) Si nosotros encontráramos también una pura,
contenida, estrecha, humana franja de huerto, nuestra,
entre el río y la roca (...)
(Rainier Maria Rilke “Las Elegías de Duíno” 1922)

Zaha Hadid construyo algo de esa franja, yo creo.

Abrazos.
R

346. Algeciras (Cadiz) Plaza de Abastos

Mama,

"...el aire era alli el unico actor; actor , y al mismo
tiempo artifice sutil, coloreando y modelando
cuanto veias con ese tacto magico, que la realidad
y la pintura nordica desconocen, en el cual la
fuerza no excluye delicadeza ni la gracia severidad"
(Luis Cernuda: El Mercado)

Besos.
R

345. Sao Paulo. Vista Aerea Estadio Cicero Pompeu de Toledo, Morumbi

Cristina,

Artigas se dice pertenecer a una generacion de arquitectos
que luchaban por encontrar soluciones a todos los
problemas que surgian. En ese proceso humanistico
enciclopedico tan arduo Artigas supo ademas hacer poesia
de todo el. Gracias por descubrirme a este gran arquitecto.

Mil besos.
R

344. Charles and Ray in the living room of the Eames House 1975

Dear Tanu,

I was very lucky last week when I had a chance of
visiting The Eames House. As you know, this house
was built in 1949 by husband-and-wife design pioneers
Charles & Ray Eames, to serve as their home and
studio. Since then the house has became a strong
architectural statement while remaining an amazingly
comfortable and functional living space. The interior
including furnitures and all kind of objects remains very
much the same they were in the Eames' lifetimes. Now
the Eames House is the home of the Eames Foundation.

See you on Monday.
R

343. The Garden Grove Community Church

Dear Jan,

The first walk-in/drive-in church built
in the world by Richard Neutra is more
an architectural environment rather than
a typical building. When the massive
windows open, the building becomes a
continuos environment throughout the
parking lot and beyond. Neutra said about
Garden Grove that it is a place where
anyone can sit not only in the sanctuary but
also in his car, familiar and dear to the
American as a second family home.

Hope you are doing well.
R

342. School ala Merelstraat. Hilversum

Dear Christy,

Nassau School in Hilversum, built1928 by W.M. Dudok,
was one of the building that he designed when appointed
as City Architect. Incidentally it is not included on Dudok's
Architectural Route on-line brochure, but I assure you it
deserves a visit.

Cheers.
R

341. Darmstadt. Kunstlerkolonie Portal Ernst-Ludwig-Haus

Dear Vincent,

This is the statement that appears
inscribed on the brow of the House
of Work's portal:
"The artist will show his world,
which never was, nor ever will be"
This is a shorter version of the one
inside the entrance of the Secession
building in Vienna.

Hope you are doing well.
R

340. Hotel Las Salinas. Lanzarote. Islas Canarias

Querida Elsa,

Láminas de agua, ramas de árboles que se rozan con la mano, la Alhambra de Granada, una gran cúpula abierta, jardín interior, oasis... Así es como Fernando imaginó el Hotel en Teguise.

Un abrazo.
R

339. Napoli. Nuovo Palazzo della Poste

Dear Anna,

"L'architettura può esprimere i caratteri più essenziali e
profondi della cultura attuale e formularli in sintesi d'arte?
Se no, il suo interesse decade. Se sì, questo è il suo
massimo compito. Alla luce di queste finalità se ne 

debbono ricercare i massimi valori". (Giuseppe Vaccaro)

Cheers
R

338. Park Avenue. New York

Dear Koji,

"I am, in fact, completely opposed
to the idea that a specific building
should have an individual character.
Rather, I believe that it should
express a universal character which
has been determined by the total
problem which architecture must
strive to solve"
(Mies van der Rohe on the
Seagram Building)

Best regards.
R

337. Cathedrale de la Resurrection Evry-Eassone

Cheri Francoise,

"J'ai pense au project de la
"Maison de Dieu" avec l'espoir de
construire la Maison de l'Homme"
(Mario Botta)

Cordialement
R

336. Sao Paulo Vista Parcial do Tunel Av. 9 de Julho com MASP

Cristi,

Aqui te mando una postal del MASP de Lina Bo Bardi
con una pequeña cita de ella que explica bien su forma
de pensar: "Time is a spiral, Beauty in itself is something
that doesn't really exist. It exists during a historic period
(of time), and then the fashion changes it becomes
something bad. In the Sao Paulo Art Museum I only
tries to re assume certain positions. I didn't look for
beauty. I looked for freedom"(L. Bo Bardi)

Un beso.
R

335. Mallorca. Hotel de Mar

Dear Ken,

Coderch always thought that ethical considerations 

always must be put before aesthetic ones because 

Architecture is a service to society.

Regards.
R

334. Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Charles River, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Dear Enric,

I know you respect quotes from other people. This one
is from Aalto:
"Building art is a synthesis of life in materialized form.
We should try to bring in under the same hat not a
splintered way of thinking, but all in harmony together"

Best.
R

333. Rear Courtyard. Yale University Art Gallery

Dear Vincent,

"A great building must begin with the unmeasurable, must
go through measurable means when it is being designed
and in the end must be unmeasurable."
(Louis Kahn)

Regards.
R

332. Paris. La Cite Universitaire

Querido Valentin,

Alejandro de La Sota decia que siempre admiro del
Corbu su "deshabille", esa perfeccion de dentro, esa
elegancia imposible, tan ligada a esa imperfeccion
aparente.

Un abrazo.
R

331. Penguins' pool

Querida Cristi,

Como sé que no pudiste ir a ver la fosa de los pingüinos
en el Zoo de Londres, te envío esta postal. También una
cita "aclaratoria" de Tafuri:
"El constructivismo teatral tendrá todavía una ulterior
expresión trágicamente irónica. En la fosa de los pingüinos del Zoo de Londres (1932-1933), Berthold Lubetkin utilizará, casi como una cita literal, las rampas helicoidales proyectadas por El Lissitzky para Meyerhold. El espacio envolvente es utilizado para un zoo: aquí es el pingüino el que es envuelto, en tanto que el hombre, mas allá de la valla, se reserva el papel de espectador pasivo"
(M. Tafuri-La Esfera y el Laberinto)

Mil besos
R

330. Aveiro, Portugal

Dear Christy,

From Fernando Tavora I always remember the "clean shirt"
concept or that Architecture is not "something different,
special, sublime and unwordly", but rather "work made by
man for man".

All the best
R

329. Burgerweeshuis. Amsterdam

Dear Vincent,

"Space is the appreciation of it" (Aldo van Eyck)

Best.
R

328. Piscina Hotel Galua Hacienda 2 Mares, La Manga del Mar Menor, Murcia

Querido José Ramón,

Con esta elegante fachada-sección del Hotel que Corrales
y Molezun hicieran en la Manga, recuerdo espontáneamente una cadencia similar en un edificio de apartamentos que tu junto a otros proyectasteis en los 90 y que queda muy cerca de la Estación de Santa Justa de Sevilla. Siempre me asombró la gracia natural de ese inmueble. Gracias por "copiar"tan elegantemente.

Un abrazo.
R

327. R.K.H. Pastoor van Ars Kerk Den Haag Holland

Dear Peter and Alison,

Aldo van Eyck wanted to combine
in this Catholic Church in the The
Hague the quality of a low crypt-like
space with that of a high gothic
church. In this picture you can see the
tall space that according to Aldo
became a kind of interior street with
the divers sacred places stringing
along it.

Regards.
R

326. Marseille. La Cite Radieuse

Corey,

A view of the nursery school and reflecting pool at the
Unite d'habitation's roof terrace. To me this building is
like a big ocean liners docked in the Marseilles' landscape.

Best.
R

325. Macau. Ruinas de S. Paulo

Dear Eduardo,

"The face is telling a lie is saying the
truth" (Nietzsche)

Regards.
R

324. Karl-Marx-Stadt

Querido abuelo Joaquin,

En la Karl Marx Stadt o Ciudad de Karl Marx aun
permanece milagrosamente en pie despues de los
bombardeos del 45 el edificio Schocken de
Mendelsohn construido en 1930 y que es
considerado uno de los hitos de la arquitectura
moderna. Aqui te mando una vista sesgada muy rara
de ver. Es el edificio alto hacia la izquierda de la foto
con el remate escalonado. Esta vista es posible porque
cuando se tomo esta foto el edificio vecino habia sido
demolido (o bombardeado?). En la mente de
Mendelsohn este edificio solo podia ser contemplado
frontalmente y a lo largo de sus elegantes lineas curvas.

Un beso cariñoso
R

323. Berlin. Alexanderplatz

Querida Regina,

A veces al mirar los dos edificios especulares que Behrens
construyo para la Alexanderplatz recuerdo la manera en
que el Adam Pollo de Le Clezio soñaba vivir: pongo dos
hamacas frente a frente, debajo de la ventana, asi, a eso
del mediodia, me tiendo y duermo al sol, delante del paisaje.

Besos.
R

322. Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Victoria Square

Dear Pier,

La Tour de la Bourse is a skyscraper built in 1964 by
Luigi Moretti and Pier Luigi Nervi. It is considered by
many to be a masterpiece of skyscraper design. Its
facades feature a bronze-tinted curtain wall that
establish a strong counterpoint with the whiteness of
the columns at the corners.

Regards
R

321. Macroplaza, Monterrey, N.L., Mexico

Dear Ralph,

Two thin slices painted in bright red form a stele that it
is also a tower; Barragan's one of his obsessions. He
wanted it reaches towards the sky and beyond with
the aid of laser light beams creating a magic effect of
scale that could be consistent with the tremendous size
of the Monterrey's Macroplaza

Regards
R

320. Sevilla. Olimpico

Querida Lucia,

Cruz y Ortiz hablan de este edificio de un manera muy
poetica. Hablan de un edificio vestido, con muchas
capas; de un edificio que contiene un estadio en su
interior; de un gran edificio industrial que contiene unos
graderios; de un gran edificio de fachadas quebradas
en la que al sur se abre una gran ventana...

Besos mil
R

319. Kobenhavn. Gammel Torv med Domkirken

Dear Elias,

"If architecture had nothing to do with art, it would be
astonishingly easy to build houses, but the architect's
task - his most difficult task - is always that of
selecting." (Arne Jacobsen)

Regards
R

318. Buenos Aires. Edificio Comega

Querido Ricardo,

El Comega siempre me pareció 
estar mirando al rio como
distraidamente pero sin dejar
nunca de hacerlo. Pienso en él al
leer un poema de Julio Cortazar
llamado "La Ciudad" que dice asi:

El rio baja por las costas
con su alternada indiferencia
y la ciudad lo considera
como una perra perezosa.

Ni amor, ni espera, ni el combate
del nadador, contra la nada.
Con languidez de cortesana
mira a su rio Buenos Aires.

El tiempo es ese gris compadre
pitando alli sin hacer nada.

Abrazos
R

317. Den Haag. Madurodam

Querida Amparo,

En la ciudad de La Haya, en el Parque Madurodam,
existe una ciudad en miniatura con maquetas que
recrean en escala 1:25 casi todos los edificios
importantes de Holanda. Alli me lleve la sorpresa
de disfrutar entre otras, de la maqueta de la Escuela
Artesanal de Scheveningen, obra primorosa de
Johannes Duiker y Bernard Biljvoet de 1929.

Un beso de tu hermano.
R

316. Stuttgart. Weissenhof-Siedlung

Dear Hugo,

Yesterday I spent some hours visiting the site of the
Weissenhofsiedlung. I noticed there were a very few
people there so for me the day was quiet and the weather
just perfect. Fortunately I carried with me an old copy of
Henry Ford's autobiography and had time to read it all
when in there. Sitting near the big double "billboard" that
Corbu's houses were then, facing to the city down below,
I had my mind transported back to the hyperactivity of
this place in 1927.

Thank you for your contribution.
Sincerely
R

315. de Erasmusbrug

Dear Jan

"The good thing about producing a building is that,
much more so than when a new film or novel comes
out, people keep interacting with it for a long time.
The true nature of architecture is found in the
interaction between the architect, the object and the
public." (from UNStudio.com)

Best wishes.
R