Segovia Contemporary Architecture

"Techné"
David Chipperfield

"XXI"
Andrés Perea (courtesy of Estudio Malla)

The title of this post is quite an accomplishment in itself, as Segovia is usually associated to the history of architecture and not to modernity at all. Well, things are changing.

The reasons for the changes are various: political, cultural, educational and economic. One of the main changes comes form the initiatives taken by the IE School of Architecture. As an example: next Sunday there will be a conference on the CAT design competition won by David Chipperfield, and he and the authors of the three awarded proposals will explain their work at the Aula Magna.

The participants will be the Major of Segovia, Martha Thorne (Executive Director of The Pritzker Architecture Prize), David Chipperfield, Andrés Perea, Juan Carlos Sancho y Sol Madridejos and Jerónimo Junquera. The report of the jury of the competition is in Spanish.

Sundance Channel Architecture School

The initiative of Sundance Channel called Architecture School is of great interest.

The thing is that images, movement, visual contemplation are essential in architecture, however, it is really difficult to find good examples of filming architecture. Internet is the perfect media for making visual contents available, specially those in which architecture is unbeatable. To find the proper tone, the rhythm, the suitable filming style for architecture is not easy. Sundance AS gets really close the ideal.

The link takes you to the presentations of the protopypes done by the students of Tulane University for a house in New Orleans.

Koolhaas and the cinema

The film on the Bordaux House of Rem Koolhaas is an exception on architectural documentaries. Maybe too Dogma style, but the idea of presenting the house through the experience of the person who does the cleaning is great. The most interesting part is the begining because is truly cinematographic. Enjoy it. I am afraid the rest of the film is able to make dizzy because of the abuse of the subjective camera. Curious that the architecture that is supposed to derive from cinema is not so easy to become a film.

CAT Conference in Segovia

The CAT Competition will be the subject of a conference at the IE School of Architecture in Segovia this coming Sunday. The program in Spanish is:

Semana de la Arquitectura
PRESENTACION CAT
fecha domingo 30 de noviembre 11:30
lugar IE SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE
Aula magna


AGENDA DEL ACTO

1 Saludo del Alcalde.
(10 minutos)
2 Presentación de los equipos por Martha Thorne. Executive Director. The Pritzker Architecture Prize
(8 minutos)

3 David Chipperfield
(20 minutos) (20 imagenes)
-Presentación del Master Plan
-Reflexiones sobre el Espacio Público. Las tres plazas.

4 Andrés Perea
Nuevos lugares para el trabajo. Espacios para Emprendedores
(10 imágenes, 10 minutos)

5 Juan Carlos Sancho y Sol madridejos
Las referencias singulares. El espacio cultural del CAT. (10
imágenes)

6 Jerónimo Junquera
El control de la escala ó los itinerarios en el CAT. El Centro de
Ocio y comercial (10 imágenes)

7 David Chipperfield
El CAT hacia el exterior. El Palacio de Congresos. (10 imágenes)

8 Mesa redonda y coloquio
los cuatro equipos moderado por Martha Thorne. (40 minutos)
(imágenes de la maqueta colectiva de fondo)
Martha llevará una serie de preguntas preparadas que irá
lanzando a los integrantes mesa y se pueden intercalar las
preguntas del público que recogeremos mediante cartulinas
que pasaremos a la mesa (seleccionadas)

Pure Modernity at the Museum

At the Reina Sofia Museum there is the wonderful exhibition A.C. La revista del GATEPAC (1931-1937). By the title one never would guess the vastness, rigor and quality of such an exhibition. In my opinion it could have been called "The various origins of modernity" or something like this: there are architectural plans, models, photography, painting, sculpture, cinema all originals. And have a look at the names: Le Corbusier, Sert, Gropius, Mies (the full scale originals of the Tugendhant), Man Ray, Neutra (the most amazing original perspectives in pencil of the Lowell House and some urban projects), Arp, lots of the best Miro, Picasso, Aalto, Terragni, exceptional sculptures by Julio Gonzalez, films by Buñuel...

It is almost impossible to see it properly in one day. It should be better advertized the excellence of this fountain of knowledge.