412. Siemensstadt, Berlin

Dear Peter,

"We must call on things and let them unfold their own forms.
It goes against our nature to impose forms on them, to
determine them from without, to force upon them laws of
any kind, to dictate to them"
(Hugo Haring "Approached to Form"1925)

Thank you for your book and best regards
R

411. Milano. Corso Italia, Nuovi Palazzi

Dear Matt,

"In architecture, more than in other arts, the power and 

the will to exist beyond the natural and the useful is a 

fundamental quality, distinct from the simple fact of 

construction. Architecture arises as a terrible act of 

existence, everlasting, and is justifiable only in this 

sense" (Luigi Moretti)

Sincerely
R

410. Paimion Parantola

Dear Elissa,

"Intuition can sometimes be astonishingly rational"
(Alvar Aalto)

Regards.
R

409. St. Catherine's College, Oxford

Dear Joao,

The St. Catherine's College on the outskirts of Oxford was
designed entirely in 1960-63 by the great danish architect
Arne Jacobsen. He draw all from its setting down to the
furniture or even the cutlery.

Best regards.
R

408. Kunsthaus Bregenz. Fassadeninstallation James Turrell

Dear Jim,

"The real has it own magic. Of course, I know the magic
that lies in thought. The passion of a beautiful thought.
But what I'm talking about here is something I often find
even more incredible: the magic of things, the magic of
the real world" (Peter Zumthor)

Best regards.
R

407. Tate Modern. London

Dear Mark,

" Our strategy was to accept the physical power of the
massive mountain-like brick building and to even enhance
it rather than breaking it or trying to diminish it. (...)This is
a kind of Aikido strategy where you use your enemy's
energy for your own purposes. Instead of fighting it, you
take all the energy and shape it in unexpected and new
ways." (Jacques Herzog)

Regards.
R

406. La Solana del Mar. Vista nocturna

Querido Ricardo,

"Caminante, son tus huellas
el camino y nada mas
Caminante, no hay camino
se hace camino al andar.
Al andar se hace camino,
y al volver la vista atras
se ve la senda que nunca
se ha de volver a pisar.
Caminante no hay camino
sino estelas en la mar.
(Antonio Machado)

Un abrazo
R

405. Kaufhaus Schocken, Chemnitz

Querido Abuelo,

El edificio para los grandes almacenes Schocken en la
ciudad alemana de Chemnitz es considerado por muchos
la obra maestra de Mendelsohn. Construido en 1930 se
ha dicho de el que su equilibrado diseño es un clasico
debido a su tremenda dignidad y aparente sencillez.

Un beso.
R

404. Santa Coloma de Cervello. Cripta de la Colonia Guell

Carme,

"de la llar lo foc, visca lo foc de l'amor"

Salutacions cordials
R

403. Aalborg. Nordjyllands Kunstmuseum

Dear Alvaro,

KUNSTEN Museum of Modern Art is located in
Aalborg and was designed by Elissa and Alvar Aalto
in 1972. Because of the mobile partition wall system
the building offers very flexible spaces that can be
adapted to different exhibitions requirements. But I
would say that to me the most striking feature of this
museum is the wonderful use of natural light.

Best regards from Denmark.
R

402. Rovaniemi. Pohjanhovi

Dear Reima.

Pohjanhovi was opened in 1936. It was built in the
functionalist style and was the Arctic Circle’s most refined
hotel. Regrettably in 1945 and within the tragic events
associated with the Lapland War between Finland and the
Nazi Germany, Pohjanhovi was burnt to the ground.

Sincerely.
R

401. New Boston City Hall-Government Center Boston, Mass.

Dear Ken,

"An architect is a man concerned with building meaningfully. As opposed to someone who is 

interested in building efficiently, or sometimes 

even beautifully, or as opposed to the whole 

engineering aspects of building, as opposed to
adorning buildings, as opposed to all the 

ramifications that consultants get into." 

(Paul Rudolph)

Regards.
R

400. Erba. Piazzale del Monumento

Dear Lina,

The Erba's Monument to those killed in W.W.I. was
designed by Terragni and Lingeri and completed in 1932.
Vitale has said about this monument that it is similar to the
Licinium teatro all'aperto also in Erba, in which the circles
acquire the symbolic value of places with respect to the
linear layout.

Regards.
R

399. Oslo-Doblouggarden, Basarhallene og Vor Frelsers Kirke

Dear Silke,

"Function is, of course, the primary element, but function
without a sensual component is just construction...The
functional dynamic is the postulate" (Erich Mendelsohn)

Best.
R

398. Memorial Hall of Peace, Hiroshima

Dear Koji,

"When I was engaged in the design of the Hiroshima
peace facilities, I had an ambition of coordinating the
two scales, human scale and social human scale, in one
building. I started with the Peace Memorial Museum.
Its main structure was built in social human scale, while
stairs with a landing and birdcage-like louvers were in
human scale. These two scales were meant to interact
with each other." (Kenzo Tange)

Best regards.
R

397. Barcelona. Plaza Ildefonso Cerda

Querido Enrique,

Las oficinas y taller de la SEAT en
Barcelona, obra de César Ortiz-Echague
y Rafael Echaide es la introducción en
España del llamado "funcionalismo
tecnológico". Su imagen, muy deudora
de la arquitectura de Mies, rompe con
el concepto tradicional hasta entoces de
edificio opaco y severo haciendo que el
edificio se vuelva una caja de cristal para
obtener asi un claro sentido de accesibilidad 

y una palpable atmósfera democrática.

Un abrazo.
R

396. Noordwijk Aan Zee, Holland. Grand Hotel Huis Ter Duin

Dear David,

For Bijvoet Architecture was the only thing that 

counted. He remained a builder who allowed his 

buildings to express by themselves. This Hotel, 

built in 1950, is now demolished.

Best regards.
R

395. Mannesmannhaus Dusseldorf

Dear Gio,

"Monumentality requires cubic compactness and creation
of large form" (Peter Behrens).
But he claimed also that the Mannesmann Building derives
from an analysis of use.

Regards.
R

394. St. Catherine's College, Oxford, UK

Dear Stefano,

"Any perfection we might strive to express would
(in that case) be the rule or nothingness. Close to these
lies beauty"
(P. O. Runge)

"I feel like throwing up over all this aestheticism"
(Arne Jacobsen)

Thanks for the book.
Cheers.
R

393. Aerial Tramway, Palm Springs, California

Dear Gloria,

"Creative expression reaches its climax when shape, space and composition satisfy completely the practical requirements and interpret them in a design of intrinsic harmony" (Albert Frey)

Sincerely
R

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