Even. Alberto Campo Baeza

Caja General de Ahorros de Granada, Spain
Alberto Campo Baeza 2001

Construction of the headquarters of the Caja General de
Ahorros de Granada, a local savings bank, resulted from
an architectural competition held in 1992 and won by the
Madrid-based architect and professor Alberto Campo
Baeza. The building is a massive cubic volume, 33 meters
in size made out of concrete and stone and situated on
a concrete plinth. Besides ample office space, there
is an eight-story atrium dramatically structured by four
monumental columns of three meters in diameter.
The dimensions are colossal, but are successfully
concealed from the outside by means of a large concrete
grid façade that works as a brise-soleil and strongly
defines the exterior image of the building. The atrium,
which Campo Baeza calls “an impluvium of light” is
illuminated by large skylights. The skylights collect the
bright Andalusian sunlight in a manner reminiscent of
the old Roman impluviums which collected rainwater.
Two beautifully alabaster-clad atrium walls help to filter
horizontal natural light and along with the impluviums
are another direct reference to the rich architectural
heritage of Roman Spain. Other images that the
architect kept in mind when designing the building were
the Cathedral of Granada and the Daily Mirror building
in London built by Owen Williams, which influenced
the Caja’s atmosphere for their masterful control of light
and monumental scale.

Cathedral of Granada & Daily Mirror building


Scale model

Even. Seattle Central Library

I looked out the window and saw a library...

OMA's ambition is to redefine the library as an
institution no longer exclusively dedicated to
the book, but rather as an information store
where all potent forms of media – new and
old – are presented equally and legibly. In
an age in which information can be accessed
anywhere, it is the simultaneity of media
and (more importantly) the curatorship of
its ontents that will make the library vital.
(OMA)

Even. Chapel of St. Ignatius

'Steven Holl's dramatically simple Chapel of
St. Ignatius at Seattle University is, in every
sense, illuminating. This spare, striking chapel,
the cornerstone of Seattle University, offers
testimony to the power of architecture to awe
and amaze. It was designed by Washington-born
New Yorker Steven Holl, who believes that
architecture need not be tied to singular
meanings, one-dimensional explanations, or
unilateral ideas. His is an architecture of
accident, intricacy, complexity. Holl designs
buildings to be read much like poetry, on many
levels - form, metaphor, symbol, structure'.
-Beth Dunlop, House & Garden, 9/1/2004

More info here:
http://www.seattleu.edu/missionministry/chapel/

Odd. Dilbert

The ugly truth...

Even. Alvaro Siza. An architect, an artist.

"Architecture has to speak its own language, touching the observer
at levels far deeper than those of rational thought"
(William J.R. Curtis, architecture historian and critic)


Santa Maria Church, Marco de Canavezes, Portugal. 1996.


Iberê Camargo Museum, Porto Alegre, Brazil. 2008.




Fernando Tavora after Alvaro Siza.
(A drawing within a drawing)

"The act of drawing becomes the way you express your thoughts and your memories to yourself and to the others, the way you foresee the construction of reality." (Alvaro Siza)

Odd. Our Lady of the Angels

One of the most important features of the magnificent
new Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels is natural
light. Light manipulation is used here to create a feeling
of peace and gathering. The architect, Rafael Moneo
had Le Corbusier's Ronchamp Chapel and Erik
Brygggman's Resurrection Chapel as two main references
when designing this space. As in these two churches, the
space of Los Angeles Cathedral is enveloped in a
mysterious luminous atmosphere, that conveys an
unmistakable spiritual aura.

Intruding in this luminous atmosphere, however, are
numerous large bronze chandeliers/speakers which
cause a disappointing visual pollution in the nave of the
church. The size and quantity of these fixtures create a
low visual plane that distracts from and very much
contradicts the intended scale and nature of the designed
space. (It is important to note that Moneo was not at all
involved in the decision processes of choosing decorative
features for this Cathedral.)

Moneo's Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels:


Le Corbusier's Ronchamp Chapel:


Erik Brygggman's Resurrection Chapel:

Even. Casa Malaparte

Some information from Wikipedia:

"Casa Malaparte is a house on Punta Massullo, on the
eastern side of the Isle of Capri, Italy. The house was
conceived around 1937 by architect Adalberto Libera
for Curzio Malaparte. Malaparte actually rejected
Libera's design and built the home himself with the
help of Adolfo Amitrano, a local stone mason.
Casa Malaparte is a red masonry box with reverse
pyramidal stairs leading to the roof patio. On the roof
is a freestanding curving white wall of increasing height.
It sits on a dangerous cliff 32 meters above the sea
overlooking the Gulf of Salerno. Access to this private
property is either by foot from the Town of Capri or by
boat and a staircase cut into the cliff.



The house can be reached by sea, on calm days only, as
the waves are cast upon treacherous rocks and there
has not been an official pier for many years. From the
sea, one must climb 99 steps to reach the house".



"Too much sky, and too much sea for one man alone;
and alas, not enough earth! Yet I already feel that I
love this poor island, as a sailor loves his drifting ship,
dismantled by the storm. Perhaps I also am but a
shipwrecked sailor, clinging to an overturned keel, a
piece of driftwood, a shelf of rock. From the castle
terrace,
I survey the sea...I look over the sea and I feel that I
am contemplating from the height of a tower the piazza
of a provincial town, an admirable scene for the comedy
of which Ulysses is the hero." (Curzio Malaparte)