Arch. Myriam B. Mahiques Curriculum Vitae

Thursday, March 3, 2011

A new lease of life for former Hitler's barracks

Walter de Maria’s Large Red Sphere, at the Turkentor in Munich. Photograph: Jan Bitter
" In the 1990s, De Maria began making great stone spheres, one of which, a 25-tonne piece of highly polished red granite, has just bumped down at the Turkentor gallery in Munich. A former barracks that once provided a bunk for a young soldier called Adolf Hitler, the Turkentor was bombed in the second world war, then all but demolished in the 1970s. Only a fragment, a grand neoclassical gatehouse, remained. The Turkentor, neatly situated between two major Munich galleries, has now been reconstructed by architects Sauerbruch Hutton – and given a new life as a gallery remarkable for the fact that its purpose is to house one artwork, De Maria's sphere, and nothing else.
Large Red Sphere, as the Turkentor's sole exhibit is called, measures 260cm in diameter and sits in totemic splendour at the heart of the gallery, lit solely by the sun and the moon, through a glass roof. There is nothing else to see here, although the enveloping architecture, and the way light cascades around its shapes and spaces, are striking. Yet it is hard not to be wholly absorbed by Large Red Sphere, which watches you and the world beyond like some giant unwinking eye. It has a hypnotic quality: your own eye is drawn to both its surface and into its core. You can watch it for hours – and some people do. You can even touch it. "I like people to do that," says De Maria, although most visitors are too intimidated."
Excerpts from Jonathan Glancey's article for Guardian

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

The underground St Kinga´s chapel. Salt Mine Wieliczka, Poland

Chapel of St Kinga. 110m  underground. Picture from Wired magazine

The Saint Kinga’s Chapel is the most impressive and opulent of underground temples. The chamber, carved in a block of salt, has been a place of worship since 1896. The chapel ornamentation has been created over a period of more than a hundred years. From late 19th century until 1963, the sculpting was conducted by self-taught miners-sculptors, Józef and Tomasz Markowski and Antoni Wyrodek. Their work is continued by the new generation of miners, who create new sculpting projects.

Picture from http://www.kopalnia.pl/

Sculptures which decorate the chapel walls are New Testament scenes. Closest to the stairs, on the right, the Jesus Before Herod and Massacre of the Innocents reliefs are to be seen, and above them, a Nativity scene. Slightly further, the Chapel of Madonna and Child, with the depiction of God the Father atop, is to be seen, as well as the Flight Into Egypt relief, and above it, Christ Falling Under the Cross.
Next to the main altar, a side altar dedicated to the Sacred Heart, the Twelve-year-old Jesus Preaching At the Temple relief, and a pulpit whose base resembles the walls of the Wawel castle can be seen. In a niche of the altar table, Saint Kinga’s relics were placed.
The figures of Christ Crucified and two kneeling monks are salt copies of the sculptures from the Saint Anthony’s Chapel, which were presented at EXPO 1900 in Paris.

The Weimar chamber. Picture from http://www.kopalnia.pl/

The Weimar Chamber was created in the early 20th century, after a block of green salt was excavated by machines. In the 1960s the bottom of the chamber was flooded with brine, and a lake was created. The shores of the lake are watched over by a statue of the Treasurer – the good spirit of the mine. The sculpture, made by the miner-sculptor Stanisław Anioł, was the symbol of the Wieliczka Mine at the EXPO 2000 in Hanover. In the Weimar Chamber, a touching small-scale son-et-lumière show is presented, transporting the visitors back to the times when the chamber was excavated.

Keep on reading. These excerpts are from :

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Pionen Data Center Stockholm, Sweden

Photo: Christoph Morlinghaus

¨Where does WikiLeaks keep its secrets? In a former military bunker and nuclear shelter under Stockholm’s city streets. Nicknamed the James Bond Villain Data Center, this 8,000-server facility, which could theoretically withstand a nuclear impact, is protected by 24-hour video surveillance and a 2-foot-thick armored door. Two German V12 diesel submarine engines are on standby for backup power. Recycling a war room comes at a price, though: Bahnhof—the ISP that runs the data center—had to have the glass and frames for the walkway and conference room custom-cut to accommodate the curved walls and uneven ceiling.¨ Wired magazine.

Monday, February 28, 2011

Zaha Hadid´s Guangzhou Opera House


The Opera House is located at the foot of Zhujiang Boulevard across from the new Guangdong Provincial Museum. Adopting state of the art technology in its design and construction it is slated to be a lasting monument to the New Millennium, confirming Guangzhou as one of Asia’s cultural centers.
“We liked erosion and stones. It worked well next to the Pearl River. The metaphor is two pebbles picked from the bed of the river and placed on the river bank.” Simon Yu, Project Architect
Keep on reading about the Guangzhou Opera House. All pictures from Iwan Baan.





Saturday, February 26, 2011

El deterioro de los edificios históricos de Buenos Aires

El Palais de Glace, en Buenos Aires. En su lamentable estado. Aquí he tenido el placer de exponer concursos con trabajos seleccionados de arquitectura, junto a mi esposo y colega, más otros colegas amigos. Tengo muy lindos recuerdos de esos días.

Leía la nota de Pablo Tomino para La Nación, sección Sociedad, y no lo podía creer. Me partió el alma ver nuestro patrimonio edilicio en semejantes condiciones, y pensaba si de pronto yo ya me he acostumbrado a vivir en un sistema distinto, donde las ciudades son limpias y la policía terriblemente estricta. Entonces, me cuesta mucho más aceptar este abandono, porque no todo es presupuesto, sino políticas de mantenimiento, o políticas, en general y sin distinción de partidos.
No sé en otros estados, la ciudad de New York está bastante sucia, pero al menos en California, si la policía ve a alguien pintando graffitis, esa persona va a la cárcel o es arrestada por unas horas y luego se la envía a trabajo comunitario más cursos, según la gravedad del delito. Por supuesto hay multas, además hay brigadas anti graffiti, de voluntarios que son entrenados para remover las pintadas con pericia, sin cometer la barbaridad que comenta Pablo en la nota, que han dejado los ladrillos expuestos de tanto rasquetear. Además, existen las hot line para graffiti y los vecinos pueden denunciar en cualquier momento. Los nuevos edificios públicos, deben ser pintados con pinturas anti graffiti. En conclusión, sumado a las multas por tirar basura, se pueden ver las parquizaciones hermosas, las veredas, las casas, todo muy bello. No debiera generalizar, porque el Este de Los Angeles es otra historia, y el sociólogo Mike Davis cuenta en uno de sus libros sobre la muerte de un muchacho chicano, que fue baleado por la policía, cuando pintaba una pared de Los Angeles junto con un amigo, esto fue hace muchos años ya, bajo tolerancia cero. Sin llegar a estos extremos, creo que nuestro sistema en Buenos Aires, tan superpoblado, debiera cambiar. No nos podemos deshacer de los inadaptados, pero al menos intentar educarlos con trabajo comunitario y talleres.

La pared lateral del Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes de Buenos Aires. Contra esta pared, viven 9 personas. Aún recuerdo cuando íbamos a la confitería del parque, y de allí a visitar exposiciones y participar de conferencias. Caminábamos por el costado del edificio, sin toparnos con nadie....

También he visto homeless o gente sin techo caminando por San Francisco, y en otras ciudades, pero, se los lleva a campamentos de instalaciones semi fijas, con pequeñas habitaciones prefabricadas, como trailers, no se deja familias enteras en las calles, y la toma de terrenos no existe. NO SE PERMITE y así se evitan enfrentamientos, muertes e injusticias.
Dejo acá el link y unos párrafos de la nota. Hay cuatro fotos -lamentables- de las cuales sólo reproduzco dos. Y espero en unos meses poder hacer un post con la situación revertida.
¨Varios edificios de valor histórico de la ciudad, emblemáticos por su importancia arquitectónica, cultural y social, y que están al cuidado del gobierno nacional, muestran hoy un deterioro que es motivo de numerosas quejas. En la lista se apuntan desde el mismísimo Cabildo, desdibujado en su fachada con viejos grafitis, hasta el tradicional Palais de Glace, entre otros sitios desmejorados, como El Palacio de las Aguas, en Córdoba y Riobamba, y hasta la Secretaría de Cultura de la Nación, en la avenida Alvear 1690.
Por caso, el Palais de Glace, un histórico centro de exposiciones enclavado en el corazón de la Recoleta, tiene hoy un visible abandono. Y quedó en evidencia, más aún, en una zona en la que en los últimos dos años mejoró sensiblemente con la remodelación de la plaza Francia, donde se construyeron veredas y se sembró césped.
Paredes descascaradas, pintadas con grafitis y visibles parches de revoques de cemento, en tres caras de la estructura son los signos del abandono que muestra el Palais de Glace, que sólo conserva una aceptable imagen en su fachada, sobre la calle Posadas.¨...

South Sudan is planning its new Capital

A scale model of the new capital of Southern Sudan. Photo by Pascal Ladu
Juba Town
Southern Sudan, a semi-autonomous region that has just voted to become fully independent, is to build a brand new capital city, replete with modern town planning and expansion possibilities for generations to come, according to a government official. Juba, located in Central Equatoria State, is the current capital of Southern Sudan.
The oil-induced expansion of Juba has been chaotic and unplanned. It is in this context that the authorities have been making provisions for an alternative seat of government.
The proposed plans for the future capital city are now on display in the meeting hall of the Council of Ministers in Southern Sudan. Last week, the GoSS Council of Ministers proposed two sites including Ramshel (also spelled Ramciel), which was first proposed in 2003 by the former Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) chairman, the late Dr John Garang De Mabior.
Ramshel is in the centre of Southern Sudan, located in the border areas of Lakes State, Jonglei State and Unity State. The second possible location – which remains nameless at this stage – is in the Northeast of Central Equatoria State, bordering Eastern Equatoria, Jonglei and Lakes States. Basing a capital in either of these locations would ensure proximity to the principal oil-producing areas.
REFERENCE:
Excerpts and pictures from Pascal Ladu´s article. At 

Friday, February 25, 2011

Ozymandias

Aerial View of Thebes' Ramesseum. - showing pylons and secondary buildings

I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
`My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!'
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away".

The 'Younger Memnonstatue of Ramesses II in the British Museum. From wikipedia.org

Ozymandias is a sonnet by Percy Bysshe Shelley, published in 1818. It is frequently anthologised and is probably Shelley's most famous short poem.
The central theme of "Ozymandias" is the inevitable complete decline of all leaders, and of the empires they build, however mighty in their own time.
The 'Younger Memnon' statue of Ramesses II in the British Museum is thought to have inspired the poem. Ozymandias was another name for Ramesses the Great, Pharaoh of the nineteenth dynasty of ancient Egypt. Ozymandias represents a transliteration into Greek of a part of Ramesses' throne name, User-maat-re Setep-en-re. The sonnet paraphrases the inscription on the base of the statue, given by Diodorus Siculus in his Bibliotheca historica as "King of Kings am I, Osymandias. If anyone would know how great I am and where I lie, let him surpass one of my works." Shelley's poem is often said to have been inspired by the arrival in London of a colossal statue of Ramesses II, acquired for the British Museum by the Italian adventurer Giovanni Belzoni in 1816.Rodenbeck and Chaney, however, point out that the poem was written and published before the statue arrived in Britain, and thus that Shelley could not have seen it.
The 2008 edition of the travel guide Lonely Planet's guide to Egypt says that the poem was inspired by the fallen statue of Ramesses II at the Ramesseum, a memorial temple built by Ramesses at Thebes, near Luxor in Upper Egypt.  (wikipedia.org)

100 Eleventh Avenue Jean Nouvel's Kaleidoscopic Condo

On the far West Side of Manhattan, adjacent to Frank Gehry's IAC Building, Ateliers Jean Nouvel's new residential project features a jumble of tilting glass on one facade and simple punch windows framing views of the skyline on the other. We speak with Nouvel's project manager, Francois Leininger, and Marc Simmons of facade consultant Front about both faces of the building.

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