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| Plan by Emelie Nielson |
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| House & Atelier by Atelier Bow-Wow Credits: http://www.archdaily.com |
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| Townhouse in Landskrona by Elding Oscarson Credits: http://www.architings.com / Ardi Handriansyah |
måndag 25 november 2013
Give me a continuos space with a pocket to myself. No doors, please.
There is something fascinating about continuos spaces. I am dreaming about a home with continuos space without doors, where there is still privacy and it's only one peek around a corner away.
lördag 19 oktober 2013
måndag 9 september 2013
fredag 21 juni 2013
The crevice
When I was about 16 years old we went on a long walk in the forest 'Skulesogen' in north of Sweden.
It is one of the strongest spatial memories I have, especially the crevice in the mountain where we walked.
See, I grew up with these amazing tales by Swedish author Astrid Lindgren, and one of her characters, Ronja (who was the daughter of the master thief of the woods) lived in a mystic primeval forest.
'Ronia, the robber's daughter' was made into a movie, and the split in the mountain that separated the thief families was filmed in this very place. The actual physical place is called 'Slåttdalsskrevan'.
The crevice is a 200 meters long split in the mountain, with 10-storey high cliffs on either side. The narrow passage is humid and often misty. You are walking deep into the mountain, coming out on the other side, once again in a deep forest that encloses you.
After the walk through the crevice, you eventually reach a high place up on the cliffs.
A grand view over the waters, cliffs and forests spreads out for miles. My stepmother had to sit down because the mere presence of the view made her knees weak and she got a bit lightheaded by the hight. Wow, this is truly a beautiful place.
Nature does it best, and then architecture does it. The sublime in the narrow passage, almost like an underwater experience where you see the light surface far away on top of you, a streak of light. The physical presence of the cliffs making you feel like a tiny insect seeking their way in a difficult landscape and then the grandiose opening of the landscape, far beyond what you can comprehend.
Tours like these stay in my memory and inspire me in architecture, far more than any architecture blogg or built reality ever could. Because nature does it best and it is raw in it's approach.
The influence that Astrid Lindgren's tales have had, the film adaptations with dreamlike landscapes like 'The brothers lionheart' and 'Ronia, the robber's daughter' has made a lifelong impression on me.
If you get the opportunity to see them or show them to your kids, I think you should.
It is one of the strongest spatial memories I have, especially the crevice in the mountain where we walked.
See, I grew up with these amazing tales by Swedish author Astrid Lindgren, and one of her characters, Ronja (who was the daughter of the master thief of the woods) lived in a mystic primeval forest.
'Ronia, the robber's daughter' was made into a movie, and the split in the mountain that separated the thief families was filmed in this very place. The actual physical place is called 'Slåttdalsskrevan'.
The crevice is a 200 meters long split in the mountain, with 10-storey high cliffs on either side. The narrow passage is humid and often misty. You are walking deep into the mountain, coming out on the other side, once again in a deep forest that encloses you.
After the walk through the crevice, you eventually reach a high place up on the cliffs.
A grand view over the waters, cliffs and forests spreads out for miles. My stepmother had to sit down because the mere presence of the view made her knees weak and she got a bit lightheaded by the hight. Wow, this is truly a beautiful place.
Nature does it best, and then architecture does it. The sublime in the narrow passage, almost like an underwater experience where you see the light surface far away on top of you, a streak of light. The physical presence of the cliffs making you feel like a tiny insect seeking their way in a difficult landscape and then the grandiose opening of the landscape, far beyond what you can comprehend.
Tours like these stay in my memory and inspire me in architecture, far more than any architecture blogg or built reality ever could. Because nature does it best and it is raw in it's approach.
The influence that Astrid Lindgren's tales have had, the film adaptations with dreamlike landscapes like 'The brothers lionheart' and 'Ronia, the robber's daughter' has made a lifelong impression on me.
If you get the opportunity to see them or show them to your kids, I think you should.
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| Photo: cyberphoto.se / Thomas Lövgren |
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| Photo: Naturvardsverket.se / Michael Engman / Engmanbild |
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| Photo: Skuleskogen.se / Carolina Hillerdal |
onsdag 22 maj 2013
National Assembly Building of Bangladesh by Louis Kahn
This is a building I would love to visit.
Louis Kahn has interested me ever since I started doing architecture.
Khan was considered to be a modernist but his work is distinguished from other contemporary architects of that time and in my opinion this building is special.
The National Assembly Building of Bangladesh could not (with favor) be moved anywhere else.
It has context, and it uses it beautifully. The monolithic is there throughout Khans oeuvres, here it melds together with pakistani/bengali tradition and takes on a new identity. It has strong identity and place.
The surrounding water and the light creates the conditions and the richness that the space plays with.
The concrete gets to play a well-favored role as it meets with the water and is mass but at the same time merges geometric openings that flood in light.
The halls are aligned around a central parliamentary grand chamber at the heart of the building,
which does not only fit the program as a core but also conceptualizes the light as space that Khan had in mind.
To me, this building has a certain inherit prime of sci-fi film mystery.
Louis Kahn has interested me ever since I started doing architecture.
Khan was considered to be a modernist but his work is distinguished from other contemporary architects of that time and in my opinion this building is special.
The National Assembly Building of Bangladesh could not (with favor) be moved anywhere else.
It has context, and it uses it beautifully. The monolithic is there throughout Khans oeuvres, here it melds together with pakistani/bengali tradition and takes on a new identity. It has strong identity and place.
The surrounding water and the light creates the conditions and the richness that the space plays with.
The concrete gets to play a well-favored role as it meets with the water and is mass but at the same time merges geometric openings that flood in light.
The halls are aligned around a central parliamentary grand chamber at the heart of the building,
which does not only fit the program as a core but also conceptualizes the light as space that Khan had in mind.
To me, this building has a certain inherit prime of sci-fi film mystery.
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| Still-image from the documentary 'My architect' |
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| Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons |
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| 'Brutal/beautiful?' from http://ilbonito.wordpress.com |
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| Via Archidaily by Naquib Hossain |
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| Geometry |
onsdag 8 maj 2013
Architecture as meteorology
Philippe Rahm Architectes is a Paris-based architecture practice led by swiss architect Philippe Rahm.
Their philosophy is towards a meteorological architecture. This is how their approach is explained on their website:
'Climate change is forcing us to rethink architecture radically, to shift our focus away from a purely visual and functional approach towards one that is more sensitive, more attentive to the invisible, climate-related aspects of space. Slipping from the solid to the void, from the visible to the invisible, from metric composition to thermal composition, architecture as meteorology opens up additional, more sensual, more variable dimensions in which limits fade away and solids evaporate.
The task is no longer to build images and functions but to open up climates and interpretations.
At the large scale, meteorological architecture explores the atmospheric and poetic potential of new construction techniques for ventilation, heating, dual-flow air renewal and insulation.'
Make architecture an actual cloud. If the sublime is experienced with all senses and architecture in space has the power to bestow these, architecture as meteorology makes perfect sense if it is effective.
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At zona Tortona, Milan 2009 Philippe Rahm created “De-Territorialized Mileus, a “climate-related performance installation” that considers the relationships between indoor and outdoor and artificial and natural surroundings. His working hypothesis was on display as futuristic forms of air purification, heating and lighting, all which have the end goal of “naturalizing” an indoor living space in phase with the external environment, but without the negative effects of atmospheric pollution and global warming. (http://inhabitat.com/the-best-of-zona-tortona/)
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lördag 27 april 2013
'Sublime et architecture' by Didier Laroque
I have found this book 'Sublime et architecture recherche pour une esthétique' by Didier Laroque that interests me very much. I will read it as soon as I get my hands on a copy.
Didier Laroque is an architect, writer and is a Doctor of philosophy in urban studies.
The book was published in 2010 and has received a lot of criticism as well as praise, I am eager to find it out for my self.
I would love to go back to studying for the sake of philosophy. Would I ever decide to get a Ph.D.
Hooray that know french.
måndag 22 april 2013
Bruder Klaus chapel by Peter Zumthor
The local farmers helped with the construction of this very silent place of worship, built for the saint Bruder Klaus on a wide field in Mechernich in Germany.
The shape of a tower derives from the story of Bruder Klaus first vision as a teenager, worshiping in a tower.
The farmers made the outer walls by pouring 50 cm of concrete around 112 tree trunks every day for 24 days to create different layers, varying in and color and texture. Afterwards, the structure was slowly burnt out, leaving a charcoal black surface impressed with the markings of trees.
They simple calm and the poetic position of this concrete tower on the field as well as the humble approach speaks to me. It is a intriguing example of how a construction method can enrich and be a part of the built. It is something about the processus of the built and the contrast between the sleek yet textured outside to the dark core with an opening to the sky.
I would love to experience snowflakes slowly falling from above in this place.
lördag 13 april 2013
Giorgio de Chirico
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| 'The anguish of departure' Giorgio de Chirico, 1913 |
Ever since I was a kid Giorgio de Chirico's paintings have fascinated me.
The atmosphere of the fateful, the deserted. The ominous skies and long dramatic late-afternoon shadows of strong architectural elements.
It is the dreamlike, enigmatic and deserted that captivates me in the very same way what I am trying to point out that I find in some architecture. The architectural experience stays different as it has a strong physical presence in space.
måndag 1 april 2013
mys·ter·y
I have been thinking for a while of what to write about next.
That maybe I should try not to go into too existential subjects, to keep it more logical.
It is not easy, because it gets personal and that is often the way I think about things and the subject is connected to feelings and experience.
However, what I have been thinking about is that the sublime in buildings that amaze me has to include some kind of mystery.
I found this definition of mystery at thefreedictionary.com
1. One that is not fully understood or that baffles or eludes the understanding; an enigma: How he got in is a mystery.
2. One whose identity is unknown and who arouses curiosity: The woman in the photograph is a mystery.
3. A mysterious character or quality: a landscape with mystery and charm.
4. A work of fiction, a drama, or a film dealing with a puzzling crime.
5. The skills, lore, or practices that are peculiar to a particular activity or group and are regarded as the special province of initiates. Often used in the plural: the mysteries of Freemasonry; the mysteries of cooking game.
6. A religious truth that is incomprehensible to reason and knowable only through divine revelation.
That maybe I should try not to go into too existential subjects, to keep it more logical.
It is not easy, because it gets personal and that is often the way I think about things and the subject is connected to feelings and experience.
However, what I have been thinking about is that the sublime in buildings that amaze me has to include some kind of mystery.
I found this definition of mystery at thefreedictionary.com
1. One that is not fully understood or that baffles or eludes the understanding; an enigma: How he got in is a mystery.
2. One whose identity is unknown and who arouses curiosity: The woman in the photograph is a mystery.
3. A mysterious character or quality: a landscape with mystery and charm.
4. A work of fiction, a drama, or a film dealing with a puzzling crime.
5. The skills, lore, or practices that are peculiar to a particular activity or group and are regarded as the special province of initiates. Often used in the plural: the mysteries of Freemasonry; the mysteries of cooking game.
6. A religious truth that is incomprehensible to reason and knowable only through divine revelation.
tisdag 5 februari 2013
måndag 21 januari 2013
The pale beauty
When I was younger, my mind often drifted away to exotic destinations with turquoise waters and big colorful flowers. I found the long swedish winter months dull and unmoving. But as I grew up I started to look at the landscapes around me in a different way. I learned to see the magic and poetry in the shy and barren beauty that is so special to the north. The pale light, the bare landscapes and the very slow spring, who even after the long winter still manages to materialize.
Instead of the bold flowers, small forget-me-nots peek up at you. The different shades of steel grey of the water, cliffs and sky seam together like a masterfully brushed painting. The Swedish nature now moves me deeply, and I can't think of a beauty now.
I discussed this with a friend who studies literature, who considers the sublime from a more classical point of view within the field. She did not agree with my opinion that the sublime could be something very subtle. The sublime is to her, by definition, always overwhelming.
I believe that the sublime can be found in the subtle and can move you in a special way within that experience without being overwhelming.
We can agree that nature has the power to move us in that way, obvious like the overwhelming sensation of standing in front of a roaring ocean. Although I believe that the subtleness that the northern landscape represents is sublime as another, not so in your face experience that is one of the greatest treasures when you find it.
Instead of the bold flowers, small forget-me-nots peek up at you. The different shades of steel grey of the water, cliffs and sky seam together like a masterfully brushed painting. The Swedish nature now moves me deeply, and I can't think of a beauty now.
I discussed this with a friend who studies literature, who considers the sublime from a more classical point of view within the field. She did not agree with my opinion that the sublime could be something very subtle. The sublime is to her, by definition, always overwhelming.
I believe that the sublime can be found in the subtle and can move you in a special way within that experience without being overwhelming.
We can agree that nature has the power to move us in that way, obvious like the overwhelming sensation of standing in front of a roaring ocean. Although I believe that the subtleness that the northern landscape represents is sublime as another, not so in your face experience that is one of the greatest treasures when you find it.
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| Photo, Emelie Nielson, winter, 2012 |
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