2319. Holy Cross Chapel. Turku, Finland

Querida Cristina,

El proyecto de Pekka Pitkänen para la Capilla de la 

Santa Cruz en el cementerio de Turku fue el

ganador de un concurso abierto para una nueva

capilla mayor y mas técnicamente dotada que la

maravillosa capilla de la Resurrección de Erik 

Bryggman.

Pitkänen interpretó las ondulaciones naturales del

terreno del cementerio de una manera análoga a

como Erik Gunnar Asplund y Sigurd Lewerentz 

habían hecho en el famoso cementerio de Estocolmo 

(Skogskyrkogården) años antes hasta 1940.

El complejo, todo en hormigón visto, tiene también

tres capillas de distintos tamaños y un crematorio

como en el caso de las de Asplund y Lewerentz con

sus tres capillas de la Fe, la Esperanza y la Santa Cruz. 

Muchos besos,

R

2117. San Marino. Borgo Maggiore. Santuario Madonna della Consolazione

 

Dear Carlo,

"The architect must see and know how to see; 

he must know how, under what conditions and with 

what human difficulties his work is accomplished."

(Giovanni Michelucci)

Saluti,

R

2028. Fire Station #4, Columbus, Indiana

 

Dear Carme,

 

"Seeing what is not effective is effective for understanding what is effective" (Robert Venturi)

Sincerely,

R

1964. Ostankino TV Tower

 

Querida María,

"Cuando llegas a la cumbre descubres que

no hay mucha diferencia entre ver las cosas

desde las alturas o desde el fondo del mar"

(Rafael Narbona)

R

1918. Kazan Circus, Tatarstan

 

Dear Piet,

The iconic flying-saucer Kazan Circus built in
1967 is an amazing and pioneering reinforced concrete 
conic shell structure with no vertical supports inside.

Sincerely,
R 

1892. Lincoln Elementary School, Columbus, IN

 

Dear Amy,

“I use the process of organic synthesis to bring 
together all the factors to be considered in the 
conceptualization of an appropriate solution 
expressive of our times.” (Gunnar Birkerts)

Sincerely,
R

1873. San Salvador, El Salvador. Hospital Bloom

Querido Walter,

"A grandes males, grandes remedios"

(Refrán Salvadoreño)

Un abrazo.

R

1864. Eugene A. Doran Bridge, San Mateo, California

Dear Tod,

The Eugene A. Doran Memorial Bridge in San Mateo is
one of the most beautiful and least known bridges in 

the San Francisco Bay Area.
"I always approached architecture as a work of art, 

and human fulfillment was my key concern."

(Mario J. Ciampi)

Best,
R

1725. Brasilia, Torre Televisão

Dear Norman,

"If you go to see Brasilia, the important thing is this: you may or may not like the buildings, but you could never say you had seen something similar before" (Oscar Niemeyer)

P.S. Oscar Niemeyer was the architect of most of buildings of new capital city Brasilia and Lucio Costa the urban planner. The Television Tower is though a project of architecture signed by Lucio Costa.

Sincerely,
R

1697. Balfron Tower

Dear Amy,

"The whole object of building high is to free the ground for children and grown-ups to enjoy Mother Earth and not to cover every inch with bricks and mortar." 

(Ernö Goldfinger)

Regards,
R

1566. Verona. Museo di Castelvecchio

Papá,

Sé que esta imagen te gustaría: lo antiguo fundido
armónicamente con lo nuevo.
Felíz cumpleaños. Te echamos mucho de menos.

R

1488. Roman Catholic Cathedral, Liverpool

Dear Norman,

"Symbolism was not the primary purpose of the pinnacle
structure: that its bracing indicates a crown (not of thorns-it is the Cathedral of Christ the King) was of less importance to me than the environmental consideration of dissolving the silhouette into the Liverpool atmosphere." (Frederick Gibberd)

Best regards,
R

1350. Pontevedra

Querido Paco,

En esta vista aérea de la hermosa y monumental ciudad 

de Pontevedra se puede ver al otro lado del rio Lérez el prisma cerrado del pabellón polideportivo municipal diseñado por Alejandro de la Sota y acabado en 1967. Cuando se terminó el edificio tenía "un aire cargado de olores, de sabiduría, un aire transformado por eso mismo, por la Arquitectura", como diría el mismo de la Sota.

Un abrazo,
R

1248. Privatmuseum Heidi Weber, Haus Zürich

Dear Jan,

Le Corbusier's last building was not built of concrete, his
favorite building material, but entirely of steel, enamel, and glass. This small and charming pavilion is located near the Zürichhorn and houses the Heidi Weber Museum dedicated to the work of this extraordinary artist and architect.

Warm regards,
R

971. Salvador BA Teatro Castro Alves

Estimado Aldo,

El gran teatro Castro Alves en Salvador de Bahía es un
ejemplo notable de una arquitectura que busca la fusión de lo plástico y lo funcional. El arquitecto local Jose Bina Fonyat Filho, quiso rendir homenaje con este edificio al proyecto original para el auditorio de Ibirapuera de Oscar Niemeyer que fue construido en 2005, mas de medio siglo después de haber sido proyectado.

Saludos cordiales,
R

867. Expo 67 Montreal. The Pavilion of Germany

Estimado Javier,

"Arquitectos y escritores suelen estar mas cercanos de lo
que se piensa, porque las casas y los libros sirven para lo
mismo: para eludir la intemperie."

(Labia, Eloy Tizon)

Un fuerte abrazo.

R

629. The Cuban Pavilion. Montreal 1967

Dear Mel,

The Cuban Pavilion at Expo 67 in Montreal stood for
some basic modern notions: flexibility and adaptability.
In fact, this remarkable pavilion was meant to be
re-used as an exhibition pavilion in Cuba later on, but
regrettably that never happened.

Regards,
R

626. Johnson Europlant, Mijdrecht

Dear Frank,

Although Maaskant based his architecture on the principles
of De Stijl, later evolved to more expressionist forms, as
these seen in the Johnson Europlant.

Kind regards,
R

604. Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge

Dear Peter,

"The architect's aesthetic judgment is a function of myth
and reason, a link between the emotional and the rational
and the necessary means of entry into the realm of ideas"
(Denys Lasdun)

Regards.
R

554. Helsinki. The Town Theatre

Dear Vittorio,

"Architecture is autonomous when it gives law to itself.
Architecture is autonomous when it is subject to the
will and intellectual capacity of the architect only"
(Timo Penttilä)

Best.
R