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10 great and iconic buildings, no. 1

This list is invented to make some quick and easy blogs for this month filled with festivities. I chose the buildings because i think they belong to the most important from all buildings realized in the last 100 years.

So here is no. 1. Falling Water house, by Frank Lloyd Wright

We have never visited this one, but hope that at some time we will. Whenever there is a chance to visit and enter a great building we do not hesitate and enter…. In the past there were the Empire state, Eifel tower, Musee Louis Vuitton, Atomium, the Glasshouse in Retiro Park Madrid and so many more, but this one is probably the highest on the wish list. Together with the Rothko chapel it would be the ultimate US destination for us.

Waterfall house by FLW

The house is build over the waterfall and combines the best in japanese landscape architecture together with the modernism of FLW. Build as a vacation home for the Kaufmann family, the building quality was far less than perfect. It was necessary to restore it in order to preserve it. But restoration has completed some decades ago and now the house is a museum and can be visited .

www.ftn-books.com has some nice Frank Lloyd Wright publications available.

  • FLW
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A Willem Sandberg Xmas card

I found this picture at the Herb Lubalin center who has this in its collection. A very nice and typical Willem Sandberg card to wish you a Merry Christmas in 1958.

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an old wish, but a new one from me….. a Merry Christmas 2021

 

Many Sandberg and Lubalin items are available at www.ftn-books.com

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10 great and iconic buildings , no. 2

This list is invented to make some quick and easy blogs for this month filled with festivities. I chose the buildings because i think they belong to the most important from all buildings realized in the last 100 years.

So here is no. 2. the Rietveld – Schröder house, by Gerrit Rietveld

Rietveld Schroder huis

In 1924, Truus Schröder asked well-known Utrecht furniture designer Gerrit Rietveld to design a new house for her. A recently widowed mother of three, she wanted a dwelling completely attuned to her – and to her unconventional ideas about what a home should be. Having worked with Rietveld in the past, she knew his disdain for tradition. It was a match made in heaven.

Schröder played an important role in the design process. She knew exactly what she wanted: simplicity and a space that freed rather than constrained her…. and the result one of the most iconic houses which is still inspiring for many young architects.

www.ftn-books.com has some nice Rietveld publications available

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Bienal São Paulo

Together with the Venice Bienale, these are the most important import art presentations in the world. Every 2 years these are held in Venice and Sao Paulo. Specially the Sao Paulo one is an all time favorit among the dutch artists and being invited for this Sao Paulo presentation is a sign that you belong to the top in the dutch art scene

The São Paulo Biennial was initiated in 1951 and is the second oldest art biennial in the world after the Venice Biennial, which was set up 1895 and served as its role model.

The São Paulo Biennial was founded by the Italian-Brazilian industrialist Ciccillo Matarazzo (1898-1977). Since 1957, the Biennial has been held in the Ciccillo Matarazzo pavilion in the Parque do Ibirapuera. The pavilion was designed by a team led by architects Oscar Niemeyer and Hélio Uchôa, and provides an exhibition space of 30,000 m2. The São Paulo Biennial features both Brazilian and international artists, and is considered to be one of the most important art exhibits in the country.

In 1962 the Fundação Bienal de São Paulo was created, taking over the exhibition organization that, up until then, had been under the sucessful management of the Museum of Modern Art of São Paulo, MAM-SP. The venue it occupies today came to house the biennials from its 4th edition onwards.

The São Paulo Biennial’s initial aims are to make contemporary art known in Brazil, push the country’s access to the art scene in other metropolises and further establish São Paulo as an international art centre. The biennial serves to bring Brazilian art closer to an international audience, and vice-versa. The international exhibitions are held under the direction of rotating chief curators.

The Fundação Bienal de São Paulo is a vibrant institution that conceives and implements artistic, educational and social initiatives. In addition to producing the São Paulo Biennial, it holds activities all year round in a pavilion that is emblematic of Brazilian modernist architecture as well as inside and outside of Brazil. A cultural institution with no political or religious affiliations, the Fundação Bienal seeks to introduce new ideas, provoke debates and educate the eye of the public with an ever-renewing sense of restlessness, purpose and questioning.

www.ftn-books.com has some nice Sao Paulo catalogues available.

 

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10 great and iconic buildings, no. 3

This list is invented to make some quick and easy blogs for this month filled with festivities. I chose the buildings because i think they belong to the most important from all buildings realized in the last 100 years.

So here is no. 3. the Barcelona pavillion by Mies von der Rohe

Barcelona pavillion

Bauhaus inspired and made as the German pavilion for the Barcelona World fair from 1929. It was demolished after the exhibition , but because of its architectural importance rebuild. This is a pilgrimage site for almost all architecture and interior design fans., since this is one of the first projects in which the architect designed the interior as well. The Barcelona chair is a true design classic which is till made.

PS. The Miro museum is nearby too….another absolute must see when you visit Barcelona

www.ftn-books.com has some ncie publications available on Miesz von der Rohe

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10 great and iconic buildings, no. 4

This list is invented to make some quick and easy blogs for this month filled with festivities. I chose the buildings because i think they belong to the most important from all buildings realized in the last 100 years.

So here is no. 4. the Guggenheim Museum, New York by Frank Lloyd Wright

The second museum on the list and also one of my personal favorites.

Certainly Iconic. Next to Central Park /Fifth Avenue near 88th street.

the Guggenheim Museum by Frank Lloyd Wright

My personal story on the Guggenheim. ….I visited New York 3 times and never visited the Guggenheim. All 3 times the museum was closed , one time renovation and 2 times changing the exhibitions and therefore i never had a chance to see it from the inside and walk the spiral galleries. Still i admire the buidlinge and from my books i know they have one of the greatest art collections in the world.

www.ftn-books.com has some nice Guggenheim publications available

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10 great and iconic buildings, no. 5

This list is invented to make some quick and easy blogs for this month filled with festivities. I chose these specific buildings because i think they belong to the most important from all buildings realized in the last 100 years.

So here is no.5. the “Colline Notre-Dame du Haut” by Le Corbusier

In my opinion deservedly the third and final project by Le Corbusier on this list.

Le Corbusie rChapel

The size of the parking gives an impression of the number of visitors that come yearly to this beautiful building. This is really in the middle of nowhere and can been seen some hundreds of meters before you come near the building itself. Inside it is even more amazing. You can see the palce ment of the windows and they cast a magical light in the interior of the building. An absolute must see building.

www.ftn-books.com has some nice books on Le Corbusier and this Ronchamp church.

  • Ronchamp chapel by Le Corbusier
  • Le Corbusier Ronchamp
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10 great and iconic buildings, no. 6

This list is invented to make some quick and easy blogs for this month filled with festivities. I chose these specific buildings because i think they belong to the most important from all buildings realized in the last 100 years.

So here is no.6. the Villa Savoye by Le Corbusier

Villa Savoye

No…., this is not a contemporary house, but one of the first buildings finished in 1931 where Le Corbusier tried to invent a new architecture.

The five points of a new architecture. Formulated by Le Corbusier in 1927 as the fundamental principles of the Modern movement, the five points advocate reinforced concrete for constructing the pilotis, roof garden, open plan design, horizontal windows and free design of the façade – all applied in the design of the Villa Savoye.
 
The architect. Swiss-born, Charles-Édouard Jeanneret (1887-1965), known as Le Corbusier, was part of the Parisian avant-garde. He was a founding member of the International Congress on Modern Architecture (or CIAM), launched in 1928. The Villa is now a museum and can be visited.

www.ftn-books.com has some nice publications on Le Corbusier

Le Corbusier
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    Nicholas Nixon (1947)

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    I specially went to Bottrop to see the Nixon series on the Brown sisters in 2004 and i was not disappointed ( poster available at www.ftn-books.com).

    Nicholas Nixon takes intimate, black-and-white photographs of children, the elderly and infirm, and his own family (as well as cityscapes). Best known for his series “The Brown Sisters”, Nixon began taking portraits of his wife, Bebe, and her three sisters in 1975, and has continued to photograph them annually since.

     

    left  the Brown Sisters in 1980 , right the Sisters in 2019

    Influenced by the photography of Walker Evans, Edward Weston, and Alfred Stieglitz, among others, Nixon works with a large-format camera; “For me the print is what matters most. Generally the biggest possible negative has the most clarity, presence, and believability,” he has said. Nixon’s images, which include close-up self-portraits of the artist’s bearded face, manifest the humanistic potential of photography, offering moments of tenderness between individuals, and meticulously capturing the minute details of his subjects.

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    10 great and Iconic buildings, no. 7

    This list is invented to make some quick and easy blogs for this month filled with festivities. I chose the buildings because i think they belong to the most important from all buildings realized in the last 100 years.

    So here is no.7. the ISOKON building

    Isokon Flats, also known as Lawn Road Flats and the Isokon building, on Lawn Road in the Belsize Park district of the London Borough of Camden, is a reinforced concrete block of 36 flats (originally 32), designed by Canadian engineer Wells Coates for Molly and Jack Pritchard

    Just look at the picture and try to realize that these apartments were designed over 80 years ago….. a true classic

    www.ftn-books.com has many titles availabel on classic and modern architecture