685. Case Study House 21 (The Bailey House) 1958. Los Angeles

Dear Gloria,

"My houses are like children to me"
(Pierre Koenig)

Regards,
R

684. Paimion Parantola

Querida Inés,

Al pensar en el ascensor de cristal del famoso sanatorio 

de Aalto en Paimio he creído ver una doble cita. La 

primera hacia el pasado: del mismo Aalto y extraída de 

la escalera de caracol acristalada en la Zonnestraal de 

Jan Duiker. La segunda hacia el futuro: de Alvaro Siza 

en el ascensor de cristal en el Banco Borges & Irmão, y 

extraída de este ascensor de Paimio. 

Los maestros citan siempre, como decía Nuno Portas, 

entre otras razones para salvar la memoria de los pioneros 

y la moralidad del acto de proyectar.

Gracias por tu maravillosa postal.
Besos.
R

683. Cristovam Dias. Casa de Cha da Boa Nova.

Prezado Alvaro,

"...toda a obra de Siza desenham aquilo que, um dia, o
filosofo Gilles Deleuze designou, para precisar o objecto
da (sua) filosofia, como um plano de imanência."
(Bernardo Pinto de Almeida, O Que A Luz Ao Caer
Deixa Nas Coisas )

Feliz aniversário!

Atenciosamente seu amigo
R

682. Moscou. La Maison de Gostorgue

Dear Victor,

Cheers from Moscow! I'm staying in a hotel located close
to Myasnitskaya Ulitsa. Yesterday, I went for a walk and
bumped myself into the old constructivist Gostorg Office
Block. I remembered to have seen some pictures of this
building in an old book written by El Lissitzky. When I
came back later to my hotel room, I browsed in the
internet for some info about this building and found 

this image from a vintage postcard in a website named
www.postalesinventadas.com.

Say hello to Leo and Alex.
R

681. Jardins do Aterro do Flamengo. Rio de Janeiro, Brasil

Dear Marina,

Burle Marx, maybe the world's greatest landscape designer of the 20th century, created the wonderful Jardins do Aterro do Flamengo in Rio de Janeiro 

where the open-space aspect of a park is lyrically emphasized.

Best,
R

680. Salsomaggiore Terme

Queridos Rafa y Louis,

Hoy hemos dejado Parma y hemos seguido hasta
Salsomaggiore. El viaje ha sido perfecto. Yo he disfrutado
de la magnifica arquitectura de Franco Albini y mama se
ha dado un baño relajante en la piscina de aguas termales.
Mañana estaremos en Fiorenzuole.

Muchos besos.
P

679. Kaohsiung (Taiwan). University Game Stadium

Dear Toyo,

"Architecture is a static thing that moves" (John Hejduk)

Regards,
R

678. Lisboa, Casa da Moeda

Dear Eduardo,

The Casa da Moeda in Lisbon, a powerful and elegant
building complex, is made up of two buildings: the office
wing (in the picture), and the mint facilities in the rear.
Both structures are gracefully connected through two
bridge-like elevated corridors.

Regards,
R

677. The Sibelius Museum

Dear Erik,

The great Finnish composer Jean Sibelius said once that
the framework of a symphony must be so strong that it
forces you to follow it, regardless of the environment and
circumstances. The Sibelius Museum, a remarkable work
of architect Woldemar Baeckman, seems to fit naturally
in that description: a strong framework that dominates
natures yet offers a pleasant serenity. The perfect
combination between silence and music, exterior and
interior, daylight and nightfall.

Respectfully,
R

676. Esposizioni Torino 1928. Padiglione Futurista

Dear Mr. Pirlo,

“Futurist art is the expression of movement. Futurist
architecture is therefore movement materializing in
space" (Enrico Prampolini)

Yours sincerely,
R

675. Palacio de los Deportes, Mexico

Querido Luis,

Al menos para mi, el Palacio de los Deportes es inolvidable. Lo es porque este edificio tiene una relación intensa con la memoria. Las memorias de Candela, Peyri y Castañeda que aprendieron magistralmente del Palazzetto dello Sports de Nervi y de la Cúpula Geodésica de Buckminster Fuller. Pero también la de los que no podemos olvidar los trágicos sucesos de Tlatelolco días antes de ser inaugurado.

R

674. Bacardi Building and Bacardi Annex, Biscayne Bay

Dear Eugenio,

The eight story main Bacardi Building is a Miesian style
office block designed by Enrique Gutierrez in 1963.
Ten years later, Miami architect Ignacio Carrera-Justiz
added the cantilevered structure for the Bacardi Annex
standing in the background of this picture.
These two buildings are among the best examples of the
"MiMo"style, an acronym for Miami Modern Architecture.

Regards,
R

673. Absolut Graves

Dear Sean,

"Architecture is not simply a style but rather
a language" (Michael Graves)

Best,
R

672. Fiera di Milano. La Darsena

Querido Vicente,

El Pabellon Breda de la Feria de Milan del 52 es un
edificio-anuncio. No exhibe nada, solo su propia forma
que esta basada en las famosas cintas-sin-fin de Max
Bill.

Un abrazo.
R

671. Bottega d'Erasmo, Torino

Dear Fabio,

"We avoid the big stumbling blocks, like
utopian thinking, synthetic visions, schematic
program and methodologies, to turn with a
consistently friendly eye to free research that
focuses on concrete problems with confidence
and a bit of fun" (Roberto Gabetti)

Sincerely,
R