Postage stamps can serve as a great abridged overview of a country's culture and design. Released in 1969, below is a series of five vintage postage stamps from the Netherlands depicting 20th century buildings and architects. (Scott #B444-B48)
I really enjoyed seeing the recent Bauhaus: Workshops for Modernity exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art. The show focuses on the 14 influential years that school was open (broken into three main time periods: Weimar, Dessau, and Berlin and three main directors: Walter Gropius, Hannes Meyer, and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe.
"The most influential school of avant-garde art, design, and architecture of the twentieth century, the Bauhaus was a vibrant laboratory for redefining artistic practice in the modern age. Founded in 1919 by the architect Walter Gropius, the school made its home in three German cities: Weimar (1919-25), Dessau (1925-32), and Berlin (1932-33)." —MOMA
The Home Delivery exhibition at the MOMA (on view until October 20th) , is a beautifully curated show. But the real highlight for me was the supplemental exhibit across the street at MOMA's 54th Street lot (which will be on view until October 26). The 54th Street lot houses 5 prefabricated homes commissioned by the MOMA specifically for the show.
Above: BURST*008 by Jeremy Edmiston and Douglas Gauthier
Above: SYSTEM 3 by Oskar Leo Kaufmann and Albert Rüf, Kaufmann/Rüf Architects
Above: Micro Compact Home by Richard Horden, Lydia Haack and John Höpfner, Horden Cherry Lee Architects, Haack + Höpfner Architects
Above: Cellophane House by Stephen Kieran and James Timberlake, KieranTimberlake Associates
Above: Digitally Fabricated Housing for New Orleans by Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Architecture and Planning/Associate Professor Lawrence Sass.
Walking on your own through the houses was a fun experience, but not much background information was viewable on site for each project. Fortunately the MOMA created video walkthroughs for each home, seen below:
Walkthrough for BURST*008
Walkthrough for SYSTEM3
Walkthrough for Micro Compact Home
Walkthrough for Cellophane House
Walkthrough for Digitally Fabricated Housing for New Orleans
Le Corbusier (1887-1965)
Phaidon's massive monograph (about 20 pounds) on the multi-faceted designer and architect, LeCorbusier, will be released on July 2, 2008. The beautiful, but heavy book (in the style of Warhol “Giant Size”) comes in a slipcase and includes a supplementary book of translations and transcriptions for all the original documents archived within the book. Le Grand was compiled by the Phaidon editors and includes an intro essay by Jean-Louis Cohen.
The monograph is packed with rare photographs, urban plans, sketches, and letters between Le Corbusier and other prominent design figures.
Sketches of the Grand Comfort Chair be Le Corbusier and Charlotte Perriand, page 195
Cover, Des Canons, des munitions?, page 318
Le Corbusier with a Modular-related model, page 376
Schematic drawing for Unité (1946), page 413
Living and dining areas of Mason A, page 681
Julia Hasting designed the book.
In honor of the Brooklyn Bridge’s 125th Birthday
“The Grand Display of Fireworks and Illuminations: at the opening of the Great Suspension Bridge between New York and Brooklyn on the evening of May 24th, 1883”
John Augustus Roebling was the orignal designer for the Brooklyn Bridge. He began work on the bridge in 1867. The costly endeavor took 13 years to build, and unfortunately claimed numerous lives. Sadly, Roebling lost a couple toes duing an accident on the construction site and did not live to see his spectacular design reach completion. He died on July 22, 1869. His son, Washington Roebling, lived to help carry out his father’s legacy.
top image credit: Currier & Ives : a catalogue raisonné / compiled by Gale Research. Detroit, MI : Gale Research, c1983, no. 2691 (Library of Congress)
bottom image credit: Photographic Print on Stereo Card © 1888 George Barker (Library of Congress)
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About Me:
- Working on:
everything but what I should be doing. - Listening to:
pandora - Reading:
"Perfection" by Julie Metz - Watching:
old episodes of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
