392. The Charles A. Dana Creative Arts Center Colgate University

Dear Benedetta,

"Architecture is used space formed for psychological and
symbolical reasons. Architecture space overrides all its
integrating elements and concepts by consciously forming
enclosed voids to accommodate human beings in the
totality of their psychic and physical life and in their various
pursuits and intentions"
(Paul Rudolph-"Enigmas of Architecture")

I hope you are doing well.
All the best.
R

391. Palacio de los Deportes, Mexico D.F.

Querido Paco,

Cezanne decia que hay que aprender a mirar la naturaleza
en forma de conos, cilindros, esferas y piramides.
Asi como Candela.

Un abrazo.
R

390. Kunsthaus Bregenz. Austellungsansicht Foyer

Querida Lucia,

"Yo creo que todo edificio emite un sonido. Tiene sonidos
que no estan causados por la friccion. No se lo que es.
Quiza sea el viento o algo asi. Lo cierto es que si entras
en un espacio sin ruidos sientes que hay algo distinto.
!Es hermoso!..." (Peter Zumthor)

Con cariño.
R

389. Eglise Notre-Dame du Raincy

Dear Berthold,

"The framework is to the building what the skeleton is
to the animal; as the animal's skeleton, measured,
balanced, symmetrical, contains and supports the most
various and most variously situated organs, so much the
structure of a building be composite, measured,
balanced and also symmetrical" (Auguste Perret)
True, but with some cultural limitations, don't you
agree?

Regards.
R

388. Siege du parti communiste francais-Salle de reunion du Comite Central

Dear Alvaro,

"The ultimate task of the architect is to dream"
(Oscar Niemeyer).
I realize you are aware of that.

Regards.
R

387. Cemetery San Michele in Venice

Querido Enric,

En esta Isole della Laguna Veneta reposan los restos de
Igor Stravinsky. Estoy oyendo su "Ave Maria" con su
maravillosa estructura ritmica. Pienso en lo que alguna
vez lei y que decia: "Cada superficie crea polvo, porque
el polvo es la carne del tiempo"

Tot el millor i gracies.
R

386. Hotel Humboldt. Cima del Avila Caracas (Venezuela)

Estimat Enric,

"Lo que me inspiró fue el momento en que llegamos a la
cima. Todo estaba nublado, pero en minutos se despejó,
y aparecieron unas vistas fabulosas. La ciudad lucía
hermosa." (Tomas J. Sanabria rememorando la primera
visita al solar del Hotel Humboldt)

Amb afecte
R

385. Firenze (Campi Bisenzio) Chiesa di S. Giovanni dell'Autostrada del Sole

Dear Bill,

"This is what counts in my opinion, that the
architecture take you by the hand and
accompany you in discovering something
of yourself with all the uncertainties, the
incongruities, the failings of which we are
compounded and that it bring us to judge
the substance of our spirituality...or our
humanity" (Giovanni Michelucci)

Regards
R

384. Vietnam Veterans Memorial

Dear Joel,

"Sometimes you have to stop thinking.
Sometimes you shut down completely.
I think that's true in any creative field."
(Maya Lin)

My best.
R

383. Cervinia. Breuil m. 2050

Dear Lisa,

Franco Albini is considered one of the most important Italian designers of the neo-rationalism. In 1948-52 he designed and built a lodge for boys in Cervinia where he undertook a serious environmental research within the context of the Alps mountain range whereas reinterpreting traditional construction techniques into a modern expression.

Best.
R

382. Convention Center, Reno (Nevada)

Dear Sarah,

"I am an eyewitness to the ways in which people relate
to themselves and to each other, and my work is a way
of scooping and ladling that experience"
(Richard Neutra)

Regards
R

381. Wien mit Hochhaus

Dear Bruno,

The Herrengasse Skyscraper was the first materialization
of the Skyscraper concept built in Vienna in 1935; though
the stepped top floors are visible only from a certain
distance.

Best regards.
R

380. Intra. Casa del Fascio

Querido Paco,

Esta Casa del Fascio fue contruida en 1933 por Luigi Vietti,
arquitecto cercano al circulo del Gruppo 7 y a su lider
Terragni. La frescura y el atrevimiento de esta arquitectura
evocan claramente las obras del maestro de Como.

Un abrazo.
R

379. Ev.Stephanuskirche in Wolfsburg-Detmerode

Dear Goran,

The Church in Detmerode was designed by Aalto in 

1960. Up in the ceiling the church features nineteen circular acoustic reflectors that evoke beautifully an impression of floating.

Best.
R

378. Eindhoven. 18 September Plein

Dear Richard,

The Bijenkorf (The Beehive) department store in Eidhoven
was designed by architect Gio Ponti and built in 1967. It
took the typical Dutch polder landscape as his inspiration
for the façades that are finished almost exclusively with
ceramic tiles in multiple shades of green.

Best regards.
R

377. Casa Genini a Breganzona

Dear Aldo,

"To build is a sacred act, an action that
transforms a condition of nature into a
condition of culture" (Mario Botta)

Sincerely
R

376. Donostia-San Sebastian

Querida Cristina,

"Por si el tiempo me arrastra
a playas desiertas
hoy cierro yo el libro
de las horas muertas.
Hago pajaros de barro
Hago pajaros de barro y los echo a volar"
(M. Garcia Garcia-Perez)

Estas salas que hizoMoneo se convirtieron
en otra cosa y se echaron a volar

Besos.
R

375. Glasgow School of Art. Main entrance.

Dear Alison,

"Art is the flower, Life the green leaf.
There are things more precious, more
beautiful, more lasting than life itself"
(Charles R. Mackintosh)

Regards.
R

374. Sydney and Circular Quay, N.S.W.

Dear Seth,

"...So this illustrated the most important thing of all, which is that you are able to imagine a life lived by people before you begin to design" (Jørn Utzon)

This is a lovely postcard showing Utzon's Sydney 

Opera House still under construction.

All the very best.
R

373. Barcelona. Construcciones modernas

Dear Tanu,

“Reflection and action respectively complement and
balance each other and must be alternated. Just like
we need both legs to make steps forwards: action and
reflection.” (Antoni Gaudi)
Here's an interesting postcard
of Gaudi's Casa Mila still under construction.

Best
R

372. Cuneo. Corso Vittorio Veneto

Dear Carlo,

This is the Carlo Mollino's first work. It was built in 1934.
It is known that he envisaged a two-tone paint scheme:
yellow for the projecting parts and red for the recessed
walls and stairwell.

Sincerely
R

371. The De La Warr Pavilion

Dear Grossvater,

"Good architecture is designed around the corner"
(Erich Mendelsohn)

Love
R

370. Darmstadt Kunstlerkolonie

Dear Erik,

The Haus Christiansen was designed by Olbrich who
included in the design of this house some ideas of the
owner and painter Hans Christiansen. Christiansen
himself collaborated actively in the construction
process by creating a large-scale, partly figurative
painting in one of the facades. The building was
completely destroyed during the Second World War.

Best
R

369. Kobenhavn. Den Danske Statsradiofoni

Dear Lin,

Jorn Utzon lived across the street at the time while the
Concert Hall Radiohuset was being completed in 1945.
His friend Tobias Faber was also employed by Lauritzen
to supervising construction. It is not by chance that the shell roof of Sydney Opera House shared some similarities with Lautitzen's Radiohuset.

Best regards.
R

368. CCTV Building. Beijing

Dear Jan,

"Early 2002 we received two invitations, one to apply to
consider what should happen at Ground Zero, the other
for the headquarters of China Central Television in Beijing.
We discussed the choice over a Chinese meal. The life of
the architect is so fraught with uncertainty and dilemmas
that any clarification of the future, including astrology, is
disproportionately welcome. My fortune cookie read,
"Stunningly Omnipresent Masters make minced meat of
memory" (Rem Koolhaas)

Cheers.
R

367. Barcelona. Facultad de derecho en la Zona Universitaria

Querida Olga,

La Facultad de Derecho de la Universidad de Barcelona
gano el premio FAD en 1958 y es considerado por muchos
uno de los referentes dentro de la arquitectura moderna
española. Oriol Bohigas llego a decir de esta obra que fue
el primer edificio publico moderno y civilizado construido
en Cataluña despues de la guerra.

Besos.
R

366. Werkbund. Ausstellung Die Wohnung Stuttgart 1927. Le Corbusier

Querida Zenobia,

De un gran poeta como Le Corbusier a otro como
Juan Ramon:

LA AZOTEA

Tu , Platero, no has subido nunca a la azotea.
No puedes saber que honda respiracion ensancha
el pecho cuando al salir a ella de la escalerilla
oscura de madera se siente uno quemado en el
sol pleno del dia, anegado de azul como al lado
mismo del cielo, ciego del blancor de la cal, con
la que, como sabes, se da al suelo de ladrillo para
que venga limpia al aljibe el agua de las nubes.
!Que encanto el de la azotea!
(...)

("Platero y Yo"-Juan Ramon Jimenez)

Desgraciadamente hoy aqui en Stuttgart no estaba
el cielo tan blanco.

Saludos.
R

365. Goteborg. Lilla Bommen

Dear Bob,

The Lilla Bommen building that is situated at the entrance
of the Goteborg Canal, recalls appropriately a giant
navigational aid or floating objects that are anchored to
the bottom and are also known as buoys. Anyway this
building is commonly referred to by the locals as "The
Lipstick".

Regards.
R

364. Tampere. Kalevan Kirkko

Dear Malcolm,

"I tried to achieve a visual weightlessness by using 

rhythmic and light kinetics of broken line chains in 

constantly evolving series. It is similar to the quick 

sequences in organ music. Kaleva church fights 

against the traditional idea of wall heaviness" 

(Reima Pietilä)

Sincerely.
R

363. Torino. Interno Palazo del Ghiaccio

Cristina,

Se me olvido incluirte otra de la sala pequeña. Con una
estructura tan elocuente como la de la sala grande.

Besos.
R

362. Torino. Palazzo delle Esposizioni

Torino-Il salone Internazionale dell'Automobile al
Palazzo Torino Esposizioni-Interno

Cristi,

Hoy te mando no una sino dos postales del mismo edificio
de Nervi en Turin. Esa luz tiene algo de John Soane, no?

Besos.
R

361. The Bank of England. Consol Office

Querido Juan N.B.

"A horizon is something else other than a horizon: it is
closeness in openness, it is an enchanted region where
down is up. Space can be approached, but time is far
away" (Robert Smithson)

Saludos.
R

360. Chatelard. Le Viaduc sur l'Eau Noire

Dear Paul,

"Asi es como se espera. Viendo
a menudo las carreteras, los
puentes y la mar, viendo pasar
a los que no se quedan, a los
que se van"
(Desierto-J.M.G. Le Clezio)

Best regards.
R

359. Cesenatico. Colonia Marina AGIP

Dear Louise,

The Colonia Marina AGIP was designed 1938 by
Guiseppe Vaccaro and it is considered among his best
buildings. Located in Cesenatico on the east coast, it is
still in use.

Best regards.
R

358. Berlin SW. Haus des Metallarbeiter-Verbandes

Querido abuelo Joaquin,

El edificio sede de los trabajadores del metal en Berlín 
fue diseñado principalmente por Erich Mendelsohn y
se terminó en Agosto de 1930. Está considerado como
un modelo de "arquitectura parlante" por la claridad en
la exposición de jerarquía de espacios, circulaciones
internas y posición de escaleras y ascensores.

Un beso como siempre.
R