1792. SOK Vaasa 1942

Dear Helena,

Architect Erkki Huttunen was the chief architect of the
building department of the Central Finnish Cooperative
Society (SOK) in the 1930s and early 1940s. His beautiful
functionalist buildings include nine offices and warehouses
as the ones in the cities of Rama, Joensuu, Oulu, and the
one depicted in this vintage postcard in Vaasa.

Respectfully,
R

1791. Department of Water and Power Building, Los Angeles, California

Dear John,

The DWP headquarters is the only public building in the whole
city that genuinely graces the scene and lifts the spirit (and sits
in firm control of the whole basis of human existence in Los
Angeles)" (Reyner Banham, architectural historian).

Sincerely,
R

1790. Circle Gallery Building, 140 Maiden Lane, San Francisco

Dear Louis,

"The space within becomes the reality of the building"
"Freedom is from within"
(Frank Lloyd Wright)

Sincerely,
R

1789. Panorama over Stockholms Utställningen 1930

Dear Eva,

"What is a classic? If there is a word that we could focus on,
a word capable of suggesting the highest degree what we want
to mean by the term classic, it is the word maturity..."
(T.S. Eliot)

Best regards,
R

1788. Kotka Port with the Sunila pulp mill in the background

Dear Sirkka,

The Sunila sulphate cellulose factory was created in 1936
and built in the Island of Pyötinen two years later.
Along with the factory, that mainly replicated the plan of the
earlier Enso-Gutzeit Kaukopää factory of 1936 by architect
Väinö Vähäkallio, a large housing area was also planned and built.
For this apartment housing project famous architect Alvar Aalto
was given total free hand to devise the general plan and design
each individual building.

Sincerely,
R

1787. Die Stahlkirche, Pressa Köln 1928

Dear Jan,

Die Stahlkirche or Steel church was designed by Modernist
German architect Otto Bartning on the occasion of the International
Press Exhibition held in Cologne between May and October 1928.
This church served both as an exhibition pavilion for the
Evangelical Church and as a remarkable architectural statement
standing in opposition to the old Cologne Cathedral.

Cheers,
R

1786. Piscine Olympique Luxembourg - Kirchberg

Dear Raphaël,

"There is Geometry everywhere" (Roger Taillibert)

Regards,
R

1785. Fiume Tevere e Casa delle Armi, Roma

Querido Adrian,

"Debemos sentir y ver que la materia sufre, que funciona, que
padece" (Luigi Moretti)

Agradecido,
R