*️⃣Torres Blancas

Architect
#SaenzdeOiza
City #Madrid
Country #Spain #EU

🔤Initially planned as a twin-tower complex, only one was built due to municipal restrictions. Structurally, it features a monolithic reinforced concrete core, cylindrical forms, and cantilevered balconies resembling the organic growth patterns of trees: the main volumes are conceived through cylindrical shapes that are born in small circular shapes.

The upper levels include communal amenities and a rooftop pool inspired by Le Corbusier’s terraces. Initially met with mixed reactions, it later received the European Excellence Award in 1974. Blending organic design with high-rise innovation, Torres Blancas remains a defining feature of Madrid’s skyline.

🔤
Material #rawconcrete
Function #residential
Feature #retro #skyscraper #adminvisited
Address: Av. de América, 37, Chamartín, 28002 Madrid, Spain
Google street
Google earth

©️
pics by #ClementeVergara
text by architecturelab.net and Clemente Vergara

*simoderna google map

*️⃣Guggenheim museum

Architect #Wright #FrankLloydWright
City #NewYork
Country #USA #NA

🔤In 1943, Rebay and Guggenheim wrote a letter to Frank Lloyd Wright asking him to design a structure to house and display the collection. Rebay thought the 76-year-old Wright was dead, but Guggenheim's wife Irene Rothschild Guggenheim knew better and suggested that Rebay contact him.

Wright accepted the opportunity to experiment with his "organic" style in an urban setting, saying that he had never seen a museum that was "properly designed". It took him 15 years, more than 700 sketches and six sets of working drawings to create and complete the museum, after a series of difficulties and delays.

In his notes, he indicated that he wanted a "well proportioned floor space from bottom to top—a wheel chair going around and up and down". His original concept was called an inverted "ziggurat", because it resembled the steep steps on the ziggurats built in ancient Mesopotamia.

Wright’s masterpiece opened to the public on October 21, 1959, six months after his death. The museum building's design was controversial when it was completed but was widely praised afterward.

🔤
Colour #white
Material #concrete
Function #public #museum
Feature #retro
Address: 1071 5th Ave, New York, NY 10128, United States
Google street
Interior google street
Roof google street
Google earth

©️
pics by #DavidHeald
text by Wikipedia and guggenheim.org

#bonus@simoderna (Men in black and The international movie had scenes filmed here)

*️⃣ Grüner Bunker

Architect #INTERPOL Studios
City #Hamburg
Country #Germany #EU

🔤The "Grüne Bunker" (Green Bunker) in Hamburg is a flak tower built during World War II that, eight decades later, was raised by around 20 meters and covered with plants.

After the bunker was converted into a "media bunker" in the 1990s, it was expanded between 2019 and 2024 with five additional floors, adding around 20 meters in height. In addition to the businesses that remained in the core of the former media bunker, the expansion added a rooftop garden, a hotel, restaurants, and a sports and event hall.

The central element of the concept is a 560m-long, publicly accessible ramp, that winds around the building from the base to a height of 60m, similar to a mountain trail. It was inspirated by the winding ramp that connects the Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Niterói by Oscar Niemeyer´s and by the High Line in New York, a former elevated railway line that has been converted into a park.

🔤
Material #rawconcrete
Function #mixeduse #public #park #entertainment #concerthall #hospitality #hotel
Feature #refurbishment #greenery
Address: Feldstraße 66, 20359 Hamburg, Germany
Google street
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©️
pics by Pinterest and #Meichsner
text by Wikipedia and architects

*️⃣Universita station

Architect #Rashid #KarimRashid and #AlessandroMendini #Mendini
City #Naples
Country #Italy #EU

🔤"The University of Naples subway station is highly trafficked by a multi-cultural, academic community of thousands of passengers a day. For the station we designed a creative concept that communicates and embodies knowledge in the new digital age."

This is the changing Italy and Universita station is a metaphor of this new wired global condition. Intersecting the space between the benches is an abstracted, SYNPOSIS sculpture reflecting the nodes of the brain and the synapses which occur within.

The platform level of the subway station is where the people spend the most static time. Seating is provided in the form of landscape forms. The walls of the subway platform feature backlit artwork, providing a continuous soft glow in the space. The digital artwork becomes “animated” through persistence of vision as commuters pass by on the train.

🔤
Colour #mixed #blue #pink
Material #stainedglass
Function #transportation #metro
Feature #interior
Address: Piazza Giovanni Bovio, 80133 Napoli NA, Italy
Google street

©️
pics by #IwanBaan
text by e-architect.com

channel map

*️⃣Johnson Wax Headquarters

Architect #Wright #FrankLloydWright
City #Racine close to #Milwaukee
Country #USA #NA

🔤Designed by renowned American architect Frank Lloyd Wright, the building was constructed between 1936 and 1939. The construction of this building played a significant role in reviving Wright’s career, which was facing a downturn.

The building showcases Wright’s interpretation of the Art Moderne style popular in the 1930s, with its many curvilinear forms created by over 200 curved “Cherokee red” bricks. The white stone trim and dendriform columns provide a striking contrast. All of the furniture, designed by Wright complements the building’s design.

The entrance's low ceiling creates a sense of compression, which is released upon entering the main building, where the tall dendriform columns create the illusion of more space. This concept of compression and release is present in many of Wright’s designs, including the Guggenheim Museum in New York City.

🔤
Colour #coral
Material #brick
Function #office
Feature #retro #interior #nightlight
Address: 1525 Howe St, Racine, WI 53403, United States
Google street
Parking google street
Google earth

©️
pics by #IwanBaan
text by Archeyes.com

⭐️this is 200th publication in the archive