1108. Diaconessenhuis, Rotterdam

Dear Jaap,

This is an image of the hallway of a functionalist hospital
designed and built between 1931 and 1938 by J.A. Brinkman and L.C. van der Vlugt, the architects of the Nieuwe Bouwen movement who became internationally acclaimed for their Van Nelle coffee, tea, and tobacco factory in Rotterdam. Brinkman and Van der Vlugt also built the original Feyenoord Stadium and several private houses including those for Van de Leeuw, Boeve, and De Bruin.

Best regards,
R

1107. Annie Pfeiffer Chapel, Florida Southern College

Dear Eugene,

"A Child of the Sun where to bring God’s outdoors
into man’s indoors.” (Frank Lloyd Wright)

Best,
R

1106. Bond Centre Office Towers, Hong Kong

Dear Norman,

"Paul Rudolph believed that people
perceived the lower floors of a high-rise
building in a different manner: the upper
levels can be scaleless, but that at street
level should possess a human scale to
relate it to the urban context in which it
is located" (Tony Monk)

Regards,
R

1105. Estepona, Plaza de Toros

Querido abuelo Jose,

La fiesta de los toros se empezo a celebrar en España
en la plazas mayores de pueblos y ciudades. Con el
tiempo se llego a desarrollar un tipo de edificio especifico
para este fin llamado Plaza de Toros. Modernamente las
plazas de toros se siguen transformando en edificios cada
vez mas complejos en forma y uso. Un buen ejemplo de
ello es la Plaza de Toros de Estepona en Malaga que
responde con su graderio asimetrico a otros tipos de
espectaculos y que acoge en su conjunto varios museos
municipales.

Un abrazo,
R

1104. Nazareth, The Church of the Annunciation

Dear Leonardo,

"Only discipline and communal feeling could lead, shortly,
to a new architecture" (Giovanni Muzio)

Regards,
R

1103. Im Asmundur-Museum in Reykjavik

Dear Ríkarður,

Icelandic sculptor Ásmundur Sveinsson designed and
constructed his house and studio from 1942 to 1959
inspired by the vernacular domed buildings typically seen
in the Mediterranean and Middle East cultures. In 1983
an addition to the building was built to serve as the
Ásmundur Sveinsson Sculpture Museum. The picture
shows a crescent-shaped building that housed the
original scupltor's studio.

Greetings,
R

1102. Centre Pompidou-Metz

Dear Philips,

PdP: When you were a child, did you want to become an
architect?
SB: No, I wanted to be a carpenter.

Regards,
R

1101. The Menil Collection

Caro Gio,

"Architecture is about illusion and symbolism, semantics,
and the art of telling stories." (Renzo Piano)

Saluti,
R

1100. Genova, Piazza Sturla, Panorama

Querida Cristina,

La antigua Casa del Fascio de Genova construida en
1938 fue un proyecto del ingeniero y arquitecto italiano
Luigi Carlo Daneri. Contrariamente a otras muchas casas
del partido fascista, ésta muestra una clara influencia de
los preceptos racionalista defendidos por Le Corbusier,
concretamente de sus conocidos cinco puntos. Esa
influencia hace que su arquitectura tenga claras
concomitancias con la de la Ville Savoye del maestro
suizo. Gio Ponti, el gran artista y arquitecto italiano,
admiró enormemente la ligereza, claridad y transparencia
de este edificio.

Besos,
R

1099. Karlskirche mit U-Bahn-Station von Otto Wagner

Dear Joseph,

"Creativity means to push open the heavy, groaning
doorway to life." (Daisaku Ikeda)

Greetings,
R

1098. Ciudad de Mexico. Auditorio Nacional

Estimados Oscar y Guillermo,

El monumental Auditorio Nacional situado en el Paseo
de la Reforma de Mexico D.F. esta considerado
como uno de los mejores escenarios del mundo. El
edificio fue inaugurado en 1953 siguiendo el proyecto
de Fernando Peña y fue extensamente remodelado por
los arquitectos Abraham Zabludovsky y Teodoro
Gonzalez de Leon en 1991.

Saludos,
R

1097. Sculpture garden, Art Gallery. Yale University

Dear Lamont,

"Five crabapple trees would tend to lift the terrace and
create the 4th wall enclosing the sculpture court below."
(Louis I. Kahn)

R

1096. The Teikoku Hotel, Tokyo

Dear Richard,

"They all listened and they understood, in a way. But finally the chief rose to his feet and said: Mr Wright, (he spoke very good English) you are a very famous architect. You wouldn't come here and try to build us something that would fall down; and while we do not understand the principles  that you have tried to explain to us, we have confidence that you will do something from which we can learn. You may go ahead and build your building and we will watch and we will hope to learn" 

(Frank Lloyd Wright)

Regards,
R

1095. Helsinki. The eastern orthodox cathedral and modern architecture

Dear Carlo,

"Architecture must have charm; it is a factor of beauty 

in society. But real beauty is not a conception of form which can be taught, it is the result of harmony between several intrinsic factors, not least the social." 

(Alvar Aalto)

Best,
R

1094. Imperial Hotel, Tokyo, Japan

Dear Kazuyo,

"Space is the breath of art" (Frank Lloyd Wright)

Compliments,
R

1093. Humana Building

Dear Fernando,

"Good design to me is both appearance and functionality
together. It’s the experience that makes it good design"
(Michael Graves)

Best wishes,
R

1092. Hallenstadion Zurich-Oerlikon

Dear Mercedes,

"The achievement of Swiss architects rests less upon
pioneering work in the field of structure and form that
on the love of perfection and quality, in the painstaking
execution of details and in a highly developed sense of
social responsibility."(Jürgen Joedicke)

Cheers,
R

1091. Brasilia. Vista aerea do Palacio Itamarati

Dear Philip,

"After all, what remains in architecture are the monumental works, the ones that mark history and technical evolution, those that socially justified or 

not, still touch us". (Oscar Niemeyer)

Regards,
R

1090. New York City. The Freedom Tower

Dear Daniel,

“Freedom is what we do with what is
done to us.” (Jean-Paul Sartre)

Cheers,
R

1089. Dubai. Burj Khalifa

Dear Ann,

2010 Burj Khalifa.

Total height: 2,755 ft
Floor area: 3,331,100 sqf
Cost: about $1,500,000,000
Floor count: 163
Elevators: 57
Occupancy: 135,000 people
Parking spaces 14,000

1956 Mile High Skyscraper by Frank Lloyd Wright.

Total height: 5,680 ft
Floor area: 6,000,000 sqf
Cost: about  $522,000,000 (60,000,000 in 1956)
Floor count: 528
Elevators: 76
Occupancy: 100,000 people
Parking spaces 15,000

"Reality can be beaten with enough

imagination"(Mark Twain)

Regards,

R

1088. Hotel Jagua, Punta Gorda, Cienfuegos, Cuba

Estimada Maria,

En esta antigua imagen en color se muestra la singular
composicion de la fachada trasera del Hotel Jagua. La
combinacion ritmica de los antepechos ciegos coloreados
de los balcones de las habitaciones forman un gigantesco
mural no exento de ciertas connotaciones neoplasticistas.

Enhorabuena por su libro.
R

1087. Tbilisi, Georgia. Bridge of Peace.

Dear Pietro,

"To me the ultimate goal of Design is to promote pursuit
of knowledge through objects" (Michele De Lucchi)

Saluti,
R

1086. The California Aerospace Museum. Los Angeles

Dear Sam,

"An architect is given a program, budget,
place, and schedule. Sometimes the end
product rises to art -or at least people
call it that-." (Frank Gehry)

Regards,
R

1085. Hundertwasserhaus

Dear Pat & Dudley,

"Window in rank and file are sad, 
windows must be able to dance."
(Friedensreich Hundertwasser)

Love.
R

1084. Motel El Hidalgo. Valdepeñas

Querido Miguel Angel,

El Motel Hidalgo situado en Valdepeñas planteó
explícitamente el modelo americano de motel de
carretera. Sus modernas líneas horizontales, sus torres
anuncios, sus materiales ligeros a base de madera,
ladrillo y carpintería metálica pretendieron implantar 

una temprana modernidad en la meseta castellana.

Un abrazo,
R

1083. Oslo. Samfunnshuset

Dear Magnus,

This compelling community center in Oslo is a premature
example of a mixed use building. Built in 1940 the center
houses a conference center, large meeting rooms for the
community, offices, and multiple stores. The compositions
of the muscular but elegant facades are consistent with the
different interior functions.

Regards,
R

1082. Cristovam Dias. Piscina da Quinta da Conceição

Querido Carlos,

Las sabias palabras del maestro Siza
que afirman que el mundo entero y
su entera memoria continuamente diseñan
la ciudad han resonado en mi mente al
completar mi ascension a la pequeña
Acropolis de muros blancos que es la
piscina de Quinta da Conceição.

Un saludo afectuoso,
R

1081. Das Verwaltungsgebaude der Hamburgischen Electricitats-Werke

Querido Juan,

"Cuando en 1925 se me otorgó la medalla de plata en
París por el diseño de una silla me enviaron el programa
a casa en el que bajo una imagen de la misma se podía
leer "artista: Arne Jacobsen". Después de leerlo mi padre
me dijo: esto debe estar equivocado hijo mio, tú no eres
ningun artista, y además estás demasiado gordo para
llegar a serlo"
(Arne Jacobsen)

Un abrazo,
R

1080. Parador Nacional de Santa Catalina, Jaen

Querido Paquillo,

Dentro del recinto de la alcazaba y junto al castillo de
Santa Catalina, esta enclavado el Parador de Jaen,
proyectado por José Luis Picardo y finalizado en 1965.
Este hotel parador es considerado uno de los mejores
castillos habitables de Europa. En su interior destaca el
gran salon de boveda de arista de 20 metros de altura
previo al comedor del parador.

Un abrazo,
R

1079. Capilla Ecumenica La Paz. Panoramica de la bahia de Acapulco desde el Hotel Las Brisas.

Querida Lupe,

"El lugar donde se celebra la fe debe proyectar sencillez,
verdad, honestidad, serenidad, acogida, respeto y
tambien catequesis" (Fray Gabriel Chavez de la Mora)

Besos,
R

1078. Folkets Hus i Stockholm

Dear Stefano,

" I would argue that Modern Swedish architecture
represents a natural evolution of our traditional
way to build" (Sven Markelius)

Best wishes,
R

1077. Residencia infantil de verano de Cristaleria Española. Miraflores de la Sierra, Madrid

Querida Cristina,

"La gran cubierta flotante hizo que clasificáramos 

el edificio como "hidromadre", gran protectora de 

los niños, que como pollitos salen y se expanden de dentro afuera, al sol y al aire" (Alejandro de la Sota)

Besos,
R

1076. Wien I, Postsparkassen-Amt.

Dear Doug,

I am sending you an interesting historic record in the form
of a vintage postcard that shows a 1907 early view of the
Postal Savings Bank in Vienna, just one year after the
building completion. This edifice, an undisputed icon of
early modernism, is unique because of its simultaneous
sense of classicism and modernity.

Regards,
R

1075. Boots Building, Beeston, Nottingham, UK

Dear Dennis,

The Boots D10 Building in Nottingham is largely considered to be one of the most expressive examples of functional architecture and a masterpiece of the Modern Movement. A wonderful sense of lightness is achieved in this building thanks to the extensive use of glazing that gives evidence of the activity within the almost entirely transparent building. This and other details such as the beveled floor slab's edge were later reinterpreted by Stirling and Gowan in their much celebrated Leicester Engineering building.

Best wishes,
R

1074. Villa Mairea, Sauna

Dear Marie,

The materials and the scale used by Aalto in this famous
house make me think about many features typically seen
in vernacular Japanese architecture. A long time ago I read that when Aalto was designing Villa Mairea he used to wear a kimono that he received as a gift from a Japanese ambassador.

Regards,
R

1073. Hotel Condesa del Mar, Acapulco

Querida Inés,

Hoy vuelvo a tu Mexico lindo y querido para admirar
esta obra de Mario Pani, uno de los grandes renovadores
de la arquitectura moderna mexicana. Sus tan
características fachadas personalizan elegantemente el
edificio en el paisaje natural y construido y sirven además
de eficaz protección solar actuando como celosias gigantes
que permiten la circulación cruzada a través del edificio.

Besos,
R

1072. Kuwait City

Querido Daniel,

"La Geometría es un arte metódico que
expone los resultados de las investigaciones
sobre las plantas y sobre todos los vegetales;
por eso llamamos geometras, es decir
expertos en plantas, a los médicos que
recurren a este arte"
(Raymond Queneau, Orillas)

Con todo mi afecto,
R

1071. Abdij S. Benedictusberg. Vaals, Voorplein

Dear Margaret,

"It's doesn't make sense anymore to define the shapes of
things by their height, length and width, i.e. by imposing
them the three dimensions of our body, but now we impose our stay in standing, sitting and lying on things themselves, in this case on the buildings, which rise as towers, houses and arcades, within the space of nature."
(Instruments of Order, Father Hans van der Laan)

Peace,
R