POSTALES INVENTADAS

1742. Equitable Building, Chicago

Dear John,

“Natalie de Blois and Gordon Bunshaft were a team,

he took all the credit and she did all the work.”

(Beverly Willis)

Sincerely,
R

1741. Nouveau Stade de Bordeaux

Dear Jean,

"The building's purity and geometrical clarity inspires a sense of monumentality and gracefulness."

(Herzog & de Meuron)

Regards,
R

1740. Lord's Cricket Ground. Media Center

Dear Ryan,

The Media Center was built by a shipyard in Cornwall and when finished in 1999 was the first all aluminium building of the world. The leader designer was Czech architect Jan Kaplický.

Regards,
R

1739. Sarajevo Nova željeznička stanica

Dear Miljenko,

The new Railway Station of Sarajevo was designed

by architects from Czechoslovakia and East Germany

and finished by Croatian and Bosnian architects.

Works started in 1947 and ends in 1953. The station

was declared National Monument in 2018.

Respectfully,
R

1738. Malmo Stadsteater. Salongen

Dear Ingrid,

"We are invited into the dark. Enveloped in the heart

of darkness that calls on all the senses to measure its

limits, we are compelled to pause." (Sigurd Lewerentz)

Respectful,
R

1737. Roosevelt (former Jai Alai) Club, Manila

Dear María Lourdes,

At the vacant lot where today is the controversial

Torre de Manila it used to stand the Roosevelt Club,

former Jai Alai that you may remember have seen or

even visited. This wonderful Streamline Moderne

landmark was sadly demolished in 2000 but it is still

remembered by many.

Warm regards,
R

1736. Haludovo Palace Hotel, Krk, Malinska, Croatia

Dear Josip,

"You have to feel, experience and understand the space's spirit in which you create." (Boris Magaš)

Sincerely,
R

1735. JAT skyscraper, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Dear Jan,

The top four floors of the old JAT (Yugoslavian Airlines)

building are today occupied by the hotel Hecco Deluxe.
The building is the first high-rise built in Sarajevo and it

is not a coincidence that its shape resembles the one of a

traditional air traffic control tower.

Best,
R

1734. Varkauden Kirkko

Dear Erkki,

The parish church of Varkaus is one of the most significant Finnish churches of the functionalist period. The typical bold industrial silo structure is combined here with the more traditional freestanding campanile with natural stone insets in the base of it.

Sincerely,
R

1733. Sabaudia Azienda Agraria O.N.C.

Dear Luigi,

The main office building of the agricultural local

agency was called "il grattacielo" (the skyscraper) because with its four-story tower was the highest

building in Sabaudia. The buildings adjacent to it included warehouses, stables, and residential

quarters for the O.N.C. employees.

Sincerely,
R

1732. Turku Lounais Suomen Maalaistentalo. Abo

Querida Inés,

Hace ya cinco años te envié una postal (la número 951)

muy parecida a esta que te mando ahora. Entre estas

dos postales se puede ver que ésta última es más fiel al

edificio original que construyó el gran maestro Aalto.

En esta se aprecia que no hay carteles publicitarios ni

en la cornisa ni en la esquina y que los toldos de los

ventanales de planta baja aún no habían sido instalados.

Esta postal tiene matasellos de 1932, solamente 3 años
después de haber concluidos las obras.

Espero que estés bien.
Un beso,
R

1731.City Hall Loop, Rapid Transit Tunnel, New York, NY

Dear George,

"The architects of America owe him [Rafael Guastavino Moreno] a debt of gratitude for not only having been a faithful and conscientious contractor, but for having made possible a larger field of architectural design."

(Peter B. Wight)

Respectfully,
R

1730. Berlin Reinickendorf Aroser Allee

Dear Peter,

(...) Si nosotros encontráramos también una pura,
contenida, estrecha, humana franja de huerto, nuestra,
entre el río y la roca (...)
(Rainer Maria Rilke "Las Elegías de Duíno" 1922)

Regards,
R

1729. Järvenpää, Suomi Finland

Dear Joonas,

The interior of this church in Järvenpää is full of

dramatic and beautiful effects shaped by natural light.

Just because of that this church is considered to be a

remarkable example of Finish architectural modernism.

Sincerely
R

1728. University of Jyväskylä. The Teachers Training School and the Main Building in the background

Dear Ilkka,

When designing the plans for the Jyväskylä Institute

of Pedagogics in 1951 Aalto envisioned this place to

become the "Athens of the North" as he was inspired

by the Greek Acropolis layout.

Sincerely,
R

1727. Santander, Puerto, muelle de Calderón

Mamá,

Este es uno de los edificio-barcos que vimos en nuestros

paseos por la maravillosa ciudad de Santander. El otro

fue el cercano Edificio Siboney, también con muchas

referencias náuticas aunque no tan evidentes como las

de este Club Náutico.

Besos,
R

1726. FIAT Turín - The spiral roadway which leads to the roof track

Dear Marco,

"The spiral is a spiritualized circle. In the spiral form, the circle, uncoiled, has ceased to be vicious; it has been set free" (Vladimir Nabokov)

Best regards,
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

1724. Longaberger basket building

Dear Louise,

"Symbol dominates space. Architecture is not enough.

Because the spatial relationships are made by symbols

more than by forms, architecture in this landscape

becomes symbol in space rather than form in space."

(Robert Venturi, Denise Scott Brown, Steven Izenour,

Learning from Las Vegas: The Forgotten Symbolism of
Architectural Form)

Regards,
R

1723. Helsinki Tullimakasiini

Dear Elissa,

Gunnar Taucher, who was Helsinki's city architect

from 1924 to 1941, designed many public buildings

including housing, hospitals, schools, and many other

facilities. Among these, his harbor warehouses shown

in the picture. Today this building is serving as a

terminal for the Viking Line ferries company.

Regards,
R

1722. Hälsning från Eslöv

Dear Bengt,

Hans Asplund, the son of Gunnar Asplund, was also

as his father was, an important architect and professor.

The Community Center (Medborgarhuset) at Eslöv

(shown on the top right picture) is one of his first and

most successful projects.

Sincerely,
R

1721. Kastrup Flyverbo

Dear Hans,

Flyverbo in Kastrup, a suburb of Copenhagen where

the main international airport of the country is located,

is a large residential building that Thomsen and

Kampmann designed and built for the DDL

(Danish Airline) workers between 1947 and 1949.

Regards,
R

1720. Sagrada Familia, Gaudí

Querido David,

"La inteligencia sin ambición es un pájaro sin alas"
(Salvador Dalí)

Agradecido,
R

1719. Concepción, Chile, Estación Ferrocarriles del Estado

Querida Mónica,

"Primera condición de toda obra maestra: pasar inadvertida"
(Nicanor Parra, poeta chileno)

R

1718. Berlin-Reinickendorf-Ost, Aroser-allee mit Brückenhaus

Dear Sybi,

In addition to the Siemensstadt housing estate and the

"Horseshoe" settlement in Britz among others, the

"White Town" at the village of Reinickendorf was one

of the most remarkable functionalist residential

communities built in Berlin in the 1930s.

The centerpiece of this 60,000 square meter estate was

the bridge-like building across the Aroser Allee built

by Otto Rudolf Salvisberg.

Cheers,
R

1717. Stockholmsutställningen 1930

Dear Anne,

"(...) my parents went to visit the grand exhibition

in Stockholm in 1930. (...) There they were exposed

to a new and simple, white architecture that drew in

light and air, one that let in the sunshine and paid

homage to the practicality, the uncovered- you might

call it the functionalist. This was evident in Gunnar

Asplund's exhibition buildings that were made with

light constructions and emanating something

completely new in Scandinavia.(...) (Jörn Utzon)

Sincereley
R

1716. Terme Radioattive Regina Isabella Lacco Ameno (Isola Ischia)

Querido Gio,

"Dejando intactos solo la columnata exterior, su nombre, los buenos augurios, y la historia sin cambios"

(Ignazio Gardella)

Saludos cordiales,
R

1715. Secessions-Ausstellung, Wien

Querida Cristina,

Te mando un preciosa postal de 106 años de antigüedad.
Esta es además un magnífico complemento de otra que publiqué en este blog hace ahora casi diez años el día 7

de enero de 2009 (postal número 176).

Todo mi cariño y feliz año nuevo.
R

1714. Bruxelles 1958. Pavillon de la Yougoslavie

Dear Sam,

This elegant and graceful, almost ethereal Yugoslav Pavilion was highly admired when built in the occasion of the Brussel's Exposition of 1958. Today it is still standing in a different location: Saint Paulus College at Wevelgem, Belgium.

Best regards,
R

1713. Notre Dame du Haut, Ronchamp

Dear David,

"The purpose of architecture is to move us"
(Le Corbusier)

Buon Natale,
R

1712. Republic Square, Tbilisi, Georgia

Dear Zurab,

The monumental concrete arches nicknamed "Andropov's Ears" were built to honor an oficial visit of Yuri Andropov, the general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and former chairman of the KGB.
The monument was demolished in 2005 after Georgia's
independence from the Soviet Union occurred in 1991.

Sincerely,
R

1711. Baghdad University. Office Tower.

Dear George,

"Baghdad is an ideal project.(...) The total design of a
university is a goal achieved" (Walter Gropius)

Regards,
R

1710. L'Ecole la plus moderne de France

Querido Walter,

"No les evitéis a vuestros hijos las dificultades de la

vida, enseñadles más bien a superarlas"

(Louis Pasteur)

Un abrazo,
R

1709. MIT's Ray and María Stata Center

Dear Sarah,

"The Stata's appearance is a metaphor for the freedom, daring, and creativity of the research that's supposed

to occur inside it." (Robert Campbell)

Regards,
R

1708. Hotel Xenia, Poros

Dear Dimitri,

"You have to become laòs (the people of God) yourself
first before you can show others what is valuable from
your own people" (Aris Konstantinidis)

Sincerely,
R

1707. The Kruševo Makedonium, Macedonia

Querido José,

En 1903 un grupo de macedonios hizo frente al ataque del
Imperio Otomano iniciando un movimiento que desembocaría en la creación de la República de Macedonia. En 1974 se levantó este monumento-edificio que recuerda extrañamente a las válvulas de un corazón, quizá inspirado por los corazones de aquel grupo.

Un abrazo,
R