Tag: architecture

moroccan patterns

by a combination of old promises and a serendipitous houseswap request, we’re back to morocco this week for the second time this year. which is unexpected and brilliant, because i liked it the first time around, and there is so much left to explore. this time, i’m hoping for a glimpse of the countryside, and perhaps even the coast.

while i do some exploring, i thought i’d use the week to schedule a few posts with impressions from our last visit. this is the first one. enjoy!

islamic architecture has fascinated me since we first set foot in malaysia, almost 10 years ago. each room, door, façade or fountain is a masterpiece, a fractal of colours in tiles and carvings, quotes and rhythms filling all the white spaces until there’s nothing left to cover.

in particular, i love how they play with calligraphy, how the letters and words in arabic dance together, their movement woven so beautifully into the architecture. it almost makes me want to learn the language just for the script… almost.

for now, i look forward to just running my fingers through all this beauty once more.

in germany

friedrichstraße

“in berlin, people live in their kiez“, someone told us when we’d just arrived to the city. we didn’t really notice it in the first year, so eager that we were to discover the whole of berlin… but now, we can definitely see a trend – we’re spending more and more time in our own neighbourhood, limiting our explorations to the sphere that is reachable by bike, and unconsciously avoiding longer metro rides. neukölln is a bit like little istanbul, with its multiplying donër shops and plethora of boutiques selling the latest in muslim fashion. but the rest of berlin is… different.

all of this to say that i miss some parts of it, like the imposing façades that line up friedrichstraße, which seem to convey this idea of a solid, lasting germany… it’s been a while since we were last there. we should make an effort got get out of the kiez more! :)

in germany

the modernist housing estates of berlin

the museum island is berlin’s most famous unesco site, its central location and abundance of interesting museums ensuring its place in all guidebooks. but did you know that berlin has another, less well-known unesco attraction?

spread over 6 locations around the city, the modernist housing estates are a group of buildings built between 1910 and 1933, (especially during the weimar republic) which represent the building reform movement in berlin. here’s how unesco describes them:

The housing estates reflect, with the highest degree of quality, the combination of urbanism, architecture, garden design and aesthetic research typical of early 20th century modernism, as well as the application of new hygienic and social standards.

the estates were built at the end of the first world war (when demand for housing in berlin was higher than ever), by cooperatives and non-profit organizations in the (once) outer, rural areas of the city. they were innovative in their design but especially for the open-housing concept of “garden towns and cities” – in contrast with the 19th century corridor-like streets. the main architects involved were bruno taut, martin wagner, and walter gropius (one of the founders of the bauhaus school).

the pictures on this post are from the estate closest to our house, the Hufeisensiedlung. Hufeisen means “horseshoe” – which is what it resembles when you look at it from above!

Post author By ana
Post date July 31, 2012
No Comments on the modernist housing estates of berlin

in germany

plattenbau

most places have some structural detail that identifies them or hints at their location. things like the materials used, the shape of the sidewalks, the tiling or even the color of the scaffolding nets… for me, one of berlin’s most distinctive features is the omnipresent plattenbau.

plattenbau is a style of pre-fabricated buildings made of concrete panels. they became a popular construction method in the 60s, when demand for housing in berlin was high as they were cheap and quick to build. they’re easy to spot and you can still find them a bit everywhere, from nikolaiviertel to marzahn. just keep your eyes up!

Post author By ana
Post date June 23, 2012
No Comments on plattenbau

in slovenia photography

pretty trimmings

i have a growing obsession with trimmings and small, nice decorative details on buildings. do you ever notice them? they’re like candy for the eyes, or the syntactic sugar of construction! :)

more of that, please!