Welcome to Walden 7, the Utopia in Barcelona!

Walden 7 is not only an exceptional example of Spanish contemporary architecture, but also one of the most innovative and distinguished residential buildings of the 20th century.
This experimental apartment block, located at the edge of Barcelona in Sant Just Desvern, was designed and built on a very low-budget in 1974 by Ricard Bofill’s team.  Bofill, an accomplished Catalan architect, also designed many of the apartments which housed the Olympic athletes in 1992.  One of his most recent works is the W Hotel (Hotel Vela) which was established in 2008.
The name of the building is inspired by B.F.Skinner’s science-fiction novel, Walden Two, which depicts a utopian community and  emulates the simple living and self-sufficiency that Henry David Thoreau practiced at Walden Pond . The building consists of 18 separate towers with a total of 446 apartments, formed by modules of 30 square meters in size. The smallest is a studio, made of only 1 module, and the largest is a 2-story apartment, made up of 4.

Built where there had previously been a cement factory, Walden-7 has ample public space for sports and recreation, bars and restaurants on the ground floor, and swimming pools on the roofs.

baubauhaus:How has the Bauhaus movement influenced you?

To start with the topic today about Bauhaus, I'd like to show everybody one of my favourite website: www.baubauhaus.com 
Please don't hesitate to give it a click. In this website, they have good taste about Graphic Design&Photography. (example shown below)

 It would be an understatement to say that the current state of the graphic design industry owes a lot to the Bauhaus movement. With modern design’s intrinsic nature as a combination of art and industry, we owe much to this ragtag German design school that persevered throughout a tough time of social and political upheaval to leave one of the biggest stamps on art, architecture and design in the 20th century.

The Bauhaus School (literally meaning ‘building house’ in German) was founded in 1919 by Walter Groupius in Weimar, then the capital of post WWI Germany. In this era of change and disillusionment, the movement sought to embrace 20th century machine culture in a way that allowed basic necessities like buildings, furniture, and design, to be completed in a utilitarian but affective way.

The school encouraged the embrace of modern technologies in order to succeed in a modern environment. The most basic tenet of the Bauhaus was form follows function.

A Trip to Horta Museum, Brussels (art nouveau)

I had a weekend trip to Brussels two years ago. As a genuine Art Nouveau lover, the Horta Museum has been high on my wish list for quite some time. Thanks to that trip I finally got to visit the former house and atelier of Belgian Art Nouveau architect Victor Horta (6 January 1861 – 8 September 1947).

I found some pics I took in this amazing beautiful house to show you, hopefully they will convince you to travel to Brussels and visit this inspiring museum yourself.

The first picture I want to show you is of the skylight above the stairwell. I have seen pictures from this angle in many books, but I never understood what I was looking at. Now that I have visited the museum, I finally understand: The ‘opening’ on the left side is actually a mirror reflecting the mirror on the opposite site, creating a seemingly endless space.

The house was designed in a – for those days – innovative way. Horta created a variety of perspectives and sought to allow light to circulate. He simplified supporting structures through the use of metal arches, tie-beams and girders, all of which were unconcealed. The structures and decor were closely linked.

I just loved the color of the walls in the bedroom of Simone, Horta’s daughter. It gave me a warm, Mediterranean feel.

The academic system which dominated art education from the 17th to the 19th century, underpinned the widespread belief that media such as painting and sculpture were superior to crafts such as furniture design and silver-smithing. The consequence, many believed, was the neglect of good craftsmanship. Art Nouveau artists wanted to overturn that belief, creating a “total work of art,” or “Gesamtkunstwerk”, which resulted in buildings and interiors where every element partook in the same visual vocabulary. Horta’s house is a perfect example of a “total work of art”. Since it was his own house, he could put all his creative energy in the design and he was not limited by the budget or tast of his customer. Horta applied new techniques and materials and paid attention to every little detail.

In 1932 King Albert I of Belgium conferred on Horta the title of Baron for his services to architecture; four of the buildings Horta designed have been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. And also Horta’s current ‘neighbours’ are proud of what he achieved as this graffiti is clearly a tribute to a highly respected artist.

William Morris' Wallpaper Design

Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.

                                                                                                            -William Morris

William Morris was a designer, artist, poet, writer and Socialist in England in the 1800s.  He is considered the father-figure of the Arts and Crafts movement and had a great impact on 20th century design.  He was committed to renewal of the arts and wanted to make aesthetically pleasing and beautifully crafted things available to as many people as possible for use in all areas of life.  He grew up in a wealthy family and as a child, rode his pony through Epping Forest in a small suit of armor given to him by his father.  He spent hours studying plants, birds and nearby churches.  Nature is a huge influence on his designs.  He was an early forerunner of modern environmentalism.  Although this is the only building he ever commissioned, he is credited with over 600 designs.  

He excelled at designing tapestries, textiles, wallpaper, rugs, stained glass and hand painted tiles and furniture.  

In this article I want to show some his beautiful wallpaper design. 

He began designing wallpapers in the 1860s which were hand printed by Jeffrey & Co. in London using wood blocks and mineral based natural pigments. Along with other designers, most notably John Henry Dearle, Morris created stunningly beautiful wallpapers with complex rhythms and movement which seemed to capture the randomness and symmetry of nature.

These same designs are produced today by machine, using surface or ‘flexographic’ rollers and modern inks at our factory in Loughborough, England, giving the appearance of the block-printed originals. Enduring favourites are sometimes given a contemporary twist by the Morris & Co. studio, and lesser known wallpapers may receive a new lease of life, creating classics for the future. Other designs, previously only found on textiles, have been translated into wallpaper, sometimes printed on Gravure machines to replicate the fine tonal textures and ‘watercolour’ effects found in Morris’s fabrics.

You can find them still available today from Sanderson & Sons and Liberty of London. 

The Dancing House

THE DANCING HOUSE
by Frank Gehry 
1994-1996
In Prague, CZ

The Dancing House, is an example of deconstructivist architecture, however, unique by its style.

Frank Gerhy once again disrupted the rules of architecture by giving a personality to the buildings and achieved a master work.
When I say personality, I mean he gave to the buildings the name of two famous dancers  "Ginger & Fred". 

Thus, the two twisted structures creating the two parts of the building are placed next to each other in a motion effect that we could describe as elegant and sensual: The right tower "Fred", as an athletic aspect represented by the extension of the cylinder upward evoking an imposing musculature, a stronger man hugging the left tower, looking weaker, "Ginger". "Ginger" with her sand glass shape reminds us of the feminine edges and gestures. Meanwhile "Fred" integrates itself into the old neighbor buildings, "Ginger" seams to fly and dance as a vane thanks to its metallic pillars and glass panels. 
However, behind this floating and flying structure, we could distinguish an L shape tiring apart Ginger" and "Fred". This could be interpreted by the physical effect happening when two people spin very fast and a force tear them apart. 

Finally, when can say that Frank Gehry does not only build but creates a story around his works and architecture. 

Léa Blanchard

El Peix, gold of Barcelona

I bet you have wondered many times what the wierd looking fish-like sculpture on Barceloneta really means and represents. It is a landmark of Barcelona`s seafront and we take it as a part of the our view on our evening walks along the cost. Its called El Peix or Golden fish designed by Frank Gehry and built for the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. The gold coloured steel structure serves as a canopy for the casino and commercial area which links the luxurious Hotel Arts to the seafront.

This large sculpture, measuring 35 meters high and 54 meters long, came out of Gehry’s interest and fascination fish imagery and their often extraordinary shapes. The sculpture is made out of stone, glass and steel.

The colour of the fish actually changes depending on the sunlight. During bright day, the fish has a clear gold shine which shifts to a darker bronze like colour during the evening.

Frank Gehry, a Canadian architect based in Los Angeles, is best known for his many notable structures throughout the world including the Stata Center in Cambridge near Boston, the Dancing House in Prague, the Pritzker Pavilion at the Millennium Park in Chicago, the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, the stunning NY By Gehry in New York City and many more eye-catching structures.

Like this sculpture, many of Gehry‘s works have been influenced by the basic form of the fish. He‘s also designed a line of jewelry and household items using the same fish motif.

Important is also to mention that intire construction was designed on the computer as a 3D model. 

History of Interior Design-Pilar Uribe Donatiu-High-Tech Architecture

High-tech, also known as Late Modernism or Structural Expressionism is an architectural style that began in the seventies. Its name comes from a book published by Joan Kron and Suzanne Slesin in 1978. The book shows many examples where industrial style has a big influence, particularly the industrial materials used in ceilings, floors and walls.

Le Corbusier’s urban development started being monotonous and a change was needed. The movement of making buildings on a very low budget made them very low quality because of the materials used. These neighborhoods turned into high crime rate areas because of their deterioration. After the bad image given to these areas, society asked for a new concept to make the cities progress.

High-tech started as an architectural construction using streamlined industrial processes in order to create natural and flexible environments. However, it evolved to be a so much more complex and defused style. The were concerned about social awareness of energy use, urban planning and environmental awareness. To reach their objectives they would exploit technology and take advantage of the emerging technological advances.

An example of this movement is the Pompidou Centre in Paris. The idea of a revealed structure (because of its transparency) is taken to the extreme, with structural components that serve for nothing as in structure. The use of the steel is only aesthetic in this case.

Another example is the Arab World Institute. It’s an organization founded in Paris in 1980 by 18 Arab countries with France to research and disseminate information about the Arab world and its cultural and spiritual values From an urban point of view the Institute is a hinge between two cultures and two histories. The site is situated at the junction of two urban areas, a traditional (continuous) one and a modern (discontinuous) one. If the south side of the building, with its motorized diaphragms that change shape depending on the intensity of light of every part of the day, is a contemporary expression of eastern culture, the north side is a literal mirror of western culture. The interior designer was François Seigneur, the light designer Licht Design and the landscape designer A.Richert.

In my opinión it’s obvious that one day or another, architecture would have taken advantage of the new emerging technologies to evolve into something that could be able to look like anything but man-made. Architecture should be 24/7 in contact with new materials, new ways of construction, new building techniques and any other advances that could help society créate bigger and better buildings. As in high-tech there is not one written style, it gives a wide range of creative possibilities for anyone who is capable to build, that in the future, could influence the new generations as they got inspired by past movements and learned from their errors.

History of Interior Design-Pilar Uribe Donatiu-Archizoom & Superachitettura

Archizoom Associati was a design studio from Florence, Italy established in 1966. A group of students had just finished architecture school but were frustrated at the lack of work and the general status of the architecture profession.The founders of this studio were Andrea Branzi (architect and designer), Gilberto Corretti (architect and designer), Paolo Deganello (architect and designer) and Massimo Morozzi (engineer and architect), this gathering later em 1968 joined Dario Bartolini (designer) and Lucia Bartolini (designer). 

Archizoom made his first display called "Superachitettura" in December 1966 with the group Superstudio. The display highlighted bright and colourful projections and models brough up the idea of radical anti design as dynamic couch “Superonda” (design by Andrea Branzi) created by Poltronova. During 1967 Archizoom still remained in the expositions as "Super Architettura 2" and "Modena" that brought the idea of kitsch dormitories called "dream beds". 

Another ironical object is Archizoom's "Mies" seat, named after the famous Mies Van Der Rohe. They used his own trademark chrome tubes, also with Le Corbusier's cowhide cushions. The seat was designed to take consumers of modernism to a stupid extreme.

“The superarchitettura is the architecture of the super production, of the over consumption, of the inducement to over consumption, of supermarkets, of superman and the super fuel and a sample of ‘archizoom’ and ‘super studio’.”  This was written in a poster advertising an event of Superarchitettura in December 1966. In this exposition they presented many of the furniture that they used to criticize. It was a mix of Pop Art related to mass consumption and the irony of Archizoom.

All in al i think that this movement was important forseveral reasons. Even if the movement was to criticise others it ended up being a very creative result which was later “copied” by others in their actual designs. Moreover, a change in society’s mentality was needed, and what better tan creating a movement that satirizes very popular designs to explain to the mass what they were doing wrong and why they should not follow certain trends and movements of the time.

Silver Factory by Léa and Elizaveta

Super Socialising Workspace

The Andy Warhol’s Silver Factory is amazingly interesting example of the workspace of 60’s in POP ART movement. 

This Factory was located in New York, built in 1962 and was designed & decorated by Andy Warhol and his friend – Billy Name. Actually, the whole studio was covered with silver paint and aluminium foil. In our opinion, this space perfectly matched the pop-art artists movement, because it was something unusual, new and crazy. Moreover, this factory became a central point for Pop Art in the United States, it became the historical place where the pop artists had to be or go through out their lives. 

   Picture 1. Billy Name and Andy Warhol.    Picture 2. Main Factory's material. Silver aluminium foil.

The Factory was more than just a place where Andy Warhol could work, he wanted this studio to be a sanctuary for people of his kind. People looking for avant-garde ideas. They all were looking for a place to express their creativity without any process, to become free of expression without any judgments. Inside, everything was surrounded with inspirational atmosphere, where artists came up with new ideas, where Warhol surrounded himself with people who served him as an unlimited source of inspiration: some artists, movie stars, fellow artists, musicians, actresses, socialites, drug addicts, drag queens, free thinkers, and many others. In our point of view, the silver factory gave the impression of a travel to the space. The aim of Andy Warhol was probably to have this feeling of being in the stars or even touching them. He created this spaceship where his mind and creativity could be floating and travelling.  And this idea could be very much linked with the common expression "having the head in the clouds". 

Picture 3. Party at the Silver Factory.

This was a multiuser studio, where at the same moment could happen many things, in some part there was filming, in others silkscreening, meetings, drawing, creation of some prototypes, discussions, thinkings. The workspace was extremely spacious, so it was possible to work simultaneously for many people, and at the same time you could also find some privacy there, which is really great, because sometimes you need to work, think alone, whilst sometimes team is needed. Also, Warhol held parties in his studio, where he invited all his famous friends, so this workspace easily turned into a party space, which is very unusual and interesting idea of combining two absolutely different spaces together.

Picture 4. Activities inside the Silver Factory.

We think that’s amazing how this formal idea of a workspace at 60’s, where people were supposed to work hard and a lot can turn into the idea of a space where you can work, party, play, have fun. Actually socialising was a key of successful, amazing projects, which were done in Warhol’s studio and this socialising was created by the space, because it was open, it encouraged people to be together, gave them freedom. We are very up for the idea of having fun while work – when you work hard, and at the same time you enjoy your work, having fun makes more sense and results become better and more pleasant.

Innovations with Nature.

Innovations and nature usually seem to be incompatible. Hi-tech architecture most of the times have nothing along with nature, but people really do need a sign, a breath of nature in our crazy, modern world, full of new technologies and endless pollution. In this post I want to show you hi-tech building, which integrates inside nature, not damamging it, being a part of it. 

On picture 1, you can see this building. It is a Wellness centre "Berg Oase", which is located in the city of Arsoa in Switzerland. This building is created by architect Mario Botta in 2006. Its area is 5’300 m². "Berg Oase" is located in absolutely beautiful place, surrounded by mountains. I really like this building, because it seems that it grows directly out of the mountains, sharing area with trees and playing with sunlight.

Picture 1. Wellness centre "Berg Oase", by Mario Botta

Actually, all wellness centre is situated underground. There are 9 geometrical shapes, made of steel and glass, which we can see outside. You can see in detail on picture 2. These are just roofs, which are done in shapes of plants, and it is great, because even these constructions show us the fact that nature and geometry are one and common thing, and all natural objects have their own geometry, which is absolutely beautiful and unique and it is amazing how it could be integrated into something hi-tech, super innovational. I feel these roofs as one more reference of the idea of connection the two incompatible concepts as nature and innovations. Moreover, these roofs are great not just because from conceptual point, but also from practical point of view. These big geometrical plant’s leaves are skylights, which bring a lot of white light inside of the entrée during the day, creating amazing atmosphere for the underground spaces. It is really good, because, living underground does not seem comfortable and living space, but these skylights, which let the light inside, makes underground space absolutely breathable and living. The "Berg Oase" structure itself is made of concrete and cuts into the mountain. This material gives the feeling that these structure is really part of the mountain, as if mountain was raising up, creating building, with strict, straight lines.

Picture 2. Skylight of Wellness centre "Berg Oase", by Mario Botta

I really like this outside look of "Berg Oase", I think that it is amazing how this hi-tech, innovational building, can go so good along with the nature. Also, I like the idea and outlook of general shape of this building, Mario Botta has crazy but at the same time rational mind, which is amazing. You can take a look at his sketches of this project on picture 3.

Picture 3.  Mario Botta's sketches of Wellness centre "Berg Oase"