POSTALES INVENTADAS

1327. Madrid. Retiro

Querida Pilar,

La polémica Torre de Valencia es un edificio que mira el
horizonte del Parque del Retiro. Sverre Fehn dijo alguna vez que la arquitectura es aquello que hace visible el horizonte.

Besos,
R

1326. Guangzhou Opera House

Dear Frank,

"As an architect, your client is no longer a single person or type of person - your client is everyone." (Zaha Hadid, 1950-2016)

Best wishes,
R

1325. Park Inn, Mason City, Iowa

Querido Eugenio,

"Cuida un hotel vacío, que está en la loma, frente al parque (...)
Fuí un par de veces a visitarlo, hay cuartos y cuartos
desocupados a lo largo de un pasillo. El duerme en distintas
camas, así, según dice, mantiene las piezas aireadas"
(Ricardo Piglia, "Los Diarios de Emilio Renzi. Los Años
de Formación)

Un abrazo sincero,
R

1324. Belo Horizonte. Conjunto Kubitschek

Dear Oscar,

"The unexpected, irregularity, surprise, or astonishment are
essential parts and characteristics of beauty"
(Charles Baudelaire)

Best,
R

1323. Museu Serralves, Porto, Portugal

Dear Frank,

"Complexity and order create in the materials, the volumes, and spaces a luminous vibration and

permanent availability. This is why architecture

does not regulate behavior in a significant way;

but is in no way a neutral framework" (Alvaro Siza)

Best wishes,
R

1322. L'Institut international de l'innovation et de la prospective. Poitiers

Dear Antoine,

The Baha'i House of Worship was built by Fariborz Sahba
in New Delhi (India) in 1986, and the Innovation and Foresight International Institute by Denis Laming in Poitiers (France), a year later in 1987. Both buildings were clearly inspired by the form of a lotus flower. The first one closed and the latest opened.

Regards,
R

1321. Café de Unie, Rotterdam

Dear Hannes,

"De Unie is the first genuine example of a uniform attempt to perfect architecture and advertising"

(Walter Dexel, 1928)

Regards,
R

1320. Madrid. Torre Picasso

Dear Inés,,

"I feel that architects must think of architecture as a result of human experience. If we don't do this, architecture becomes either an abstract form, an example of certain technique, a clever device, a sculpture, or whatever it may be, which in any case are only expressing the architect's individual desire while thinking as an artist."

(Minoru Yamasaki)

Best,
R

1319. Kursaal, San Sebastian - Donostia

Dear Paloma,

"In discussing the architecture of the Kursaal, it is essential to mention the debt to the sculpture of Jorge Oteiza. Oteiza helps us understand how primary solids are activated in the hands of the sculptor, who imbues them with a desire for motion." (Rafael Moneo)

Regards,
R

1318. Breakfast at Sardis's-Hollywood Blvd. near Vine

Dear Richard,

"Sight is not the sense that allows us perceive architecture
but living" (Rudolph Schindler)

Best,
R

1317. Linkoping, Folkets hus.

Dear Stefano,

"I don't think the best way to solve urban problems is by means of rising urban density. In my opinion, it is better to focusing on a balanced integration between town and countryside" (Sven Markelius)

Best wishes,
R

1316. Bradbury Building, Los Angeles, CA

Dear Rachael,

"Announcer: A new life awaits you in the Off-world colonies!
A chance to begin again in a golden land of opportunity and adventure!

-Blade Runner (1982)

Good luck,
R

1315. Bilbao, Zubi-Zuri

Dear Iñaki,

"l'architettura dipende dalle membra dell'uomo"
(Michelangelo Buonarroti)

Abur,
R

1314. The Oakland Museum

Dear James,

"Scale is a very elusive aspect of architecture and of course it relates to the particulat nature, use, environment, and location of the building." (Kevin Roche)

Best,
R

1313. Chiesa Nostra Signora del Cadore, (Borca)

Querido Arrigo,

Como el maestro Scarpa que dibujaba con ambas manos,
no pude evitar poner mis manos en los maravillosos
materiales pensados por él para esta iglesia en las
montañas. Es cierto, la arquitectura de Scarpa no se puede
visitar con las manos en los bolsillos...

Saludos cordiales,
R

1312. Manila International Airport

Dear Tina,

"I have always thought that what happens inside a building
should relate to the outside."( Leandro V. Locsin)

Best regards,
R

1311. Willis, Faber, and Dumas Ltd.,Ipswich, Suffolk, England

Dear Wendy,

"Architecture is a connection with the past. However,

our concern is not for relics but for the revitalization of historic buildings, repurposing them for a new generation. Architecture can communicate memory, but it can also communicate values and a sense of place."

(Norman Foster)

Respectfully,
R

1310. Ayamonte. Puente V Centenario

Queridos Cristina y Alberto,

La libélula

Cuando pienso en lo mejor de la infancia recuerdo el leve
aleteo de la libélula sobre el charco: el mundo era rojo y
brillante como su cuerpo y el futuro olía como la tierra
mojada tras las lluvias de septiembre. No sé si entonces
comprendía la belleza de aquel rubí detenido en el aire.
Pero sentía su poder: mantenía a raya los inviernos.
(Rafael Argullol-El Puente de Fuego)

Besos y abrazos,
R

1309. Plaza de la Encarnación, Sevilla

Querido José Luís,

seta. 2. f. Cualquier especie de hongo, comestible o no, con forma de sombrilla, sostenida por un pedicelo.

encarnación. 3. f. Personificación, representación o símbolo de una idea, doctrina.

Un abrazo,
R

1308. Hillside Drafting Studio. Taliesin

Hola Cristina,

Visitando la maravillosa Taliesin East en Spring Green,
Wisconsin. Esta es una imagen de la gran sala de dibujo
que Frank Lloyd Wright llamaba el bosque abstracto.
En este espacio Wright dibujó muchas de sus obras
maestras como la casa de la cascada, las oficinas para
Johnson & Son o el museo Guggenheim de Nueva York.

Besos a todos.
R

1307. Chiesa di Collina di Pontelung (Pistoia)

Dear Pietro,

"The small and moving church of Collina is where Michelucci attempted to rescue the anonymous

language and the continuity between cottage and land

in the peasant world." (Bruno Zevi)

Sincerely,
R

1306. Matosinhos, Portugal

Dear Alberto,

"The design of one house is almost the same as the

design of another: walls, windows, doors, roof. And

yet it is unique. Each element is transformed as it

comes into relation with another." (Alvaro Siza)

Warm regards,
R

1305. Fortes Dell Restaurant, Hyde Park, London

Dear Ray,

"...but the British public's antipathy to modernism changes very slowly."(Dennis Sharp)

A charming interior view of the Dell Restaurant, one of the two restaurants (the other, The Serpentine, demolished in 1990) built in Hyde Park by modernist architect Patrick Gwynne.

Regards,
R

1304. Tschumipaviljoen, Groningen

Dear Tom,

"The general public will almost always stand behind

the traditionalists. In the public eye, architecture is

about comfort, about shelter, about bricks and mortar." (Bernard Tschumi)

Regards,
R

1303. La Concha Motel, Las Vegas, Nevada

Dear Daemon,

"If I allow the fact that I am a Negro to checkmate my will to do, I will inevitably form the habit of being defeated."
(Raul Revere Williams--Most successful African-American architect of the 20th Century)

Cheers,
R

1302. Hotel Žiča. Mataruška Banja, Serbia

Dear Roberto,

I enjoyed your movie and the hotel as well. Watching it at the open-air cinema located on the roof terrace of this functionalist little gem was an unforgettable experience.

Thank you,
R

1301. Haus de Arbeiterprese, Pressa-Koln

Dear Frank,

This is a handsome view of the functionalist workers press pavilion in the International Exhibition of the Modern Press, Advertising, and Publishing that was held in Cologne (Germany) between May and October of 1928.

Regards,
R

1300. Alg. Ziekenhuis Zonnestraal, Hilversum

Estimado Jan,

"La técnica de la construcción ha de perfeccionarse a sí misma; ha de ser económica y adaptarse a su orden, es decir a la realización simultánea de la causa y el efecto". (Jan Duiker)

Saludos,
R

1299. Roma. Palazzo dello Sport. Interno

Dear Mario,

“The conception of a structural system is a creative action only partly based on scientific data; static sensitivity entering in this process, although deriving from equilibrium and strength considerations, remains, in the same way as aesthetic sensitivity, an essentially personal aptitude" (Pier Luigi Nervi)

Best regards,
R

1298. David Chipperfield Architects 1985-2015

Querido Pedro,

"No entiendo la arquitectura en sí misma como un foco

de atención. Siempre pienso en ese marco en el que deberíamos ser capaces de vivir la vida, ya sea leer un libro en una biblioteca, hacer la comida en una casa o trabajar en la mesa de una oficina".
(David Chipperfield)

Abrazos,
R
PS. En la imagen de la postal que recibí desde Madrid, la Galería ‘Am Kupfergraben 10’ en Berlín.

1297. Playa de San Agustin. Apartamentos Buganvilla.

Querida Cristina,

“La fachada de Buganvilla es una puesta de sol. Lo que más me gusta es cómo Fábregas se empotró en la montaña. Los preciosos arcos de piedra de la primera planta hacen de contrafuertes. El edificio entero son muros de carga, paredes de medio metro de espesor realizadas con la misma piedra que se sacó al vaciar el
solar”. (José Antonio Sosa, arquitecto y responsable, junto a Evelyn Alonso, de la rehabilitación del edificio de apartamentos Buganvilla).

Besos,
R