Atelier Katharina Große

Berlin Three | Atelier Katharina Große

One of the keystone projects of the Spring 2012 semester was a case study in the city of Berlin.  My partners and I chose the private residence/studio of artist Katharina Große, designed by augustin und frank architekten, completed in 2007.  The building anchors the corner of an historic industrial neighborhood, and is surrounded by established Prussian brick buildings.  The site was once occupied by a tailor shop, on which the current building's foundation now rests; while the atelier itself hovers over the remaining exterior brick wall of the shop that stood there before.  

While in Berlin we were able to make a site visit to the building that we had spent weeks modeling at 1:50 scale (photos after the break) and see it in its full glory.  And my how glorious she was.  Not only were we able to get a much more intimate viewing of the building we had studied so deeply; but we were also fortunate enough to meet Katharina Große herself!  Unfortunately, we were not able to take a tour of the building, but she was gracious enough to come to the door and politely turn down our request. 

Click through for more photos

Interbau '57

Berlin One  | Hansaviertel IBA '57

Boldly responding to the socialist developments of the GDR and East Germany, West Germany celebrated democracy and modernity through the International Building Exhibition Interbau.  Opening July, 1957, the IBA brought together world renowned architects for housing in the Hansaviertel neighborhood; which was nearly destroyed during World War II.  With designs from Oscar Niemeyer (above), Fritz Jaenecke and Sten Samuelson, Alvar Aalto, and more; Hansaviertel became a destination for over one million visitors.  With a chairlift meandering through the projects, the IBA was a spectacle of the modernization of the west.  

More photos of the Oscar Niemeyer project after the break, as well as projects by Jaenecke, Samuelson, and Aalto.

MiniCard Mania

 

Hooray!  My Moo MiniCards arrived last week, several days earlier than expected.  These little guys are about half the size of standard business cards, and a bargain at twenty bucks for a box of one hundred.  The great thing about the Moo MiniCards and business cards is that they can serve as a portfolio for artists and designers.  With Moo's clever uploading process that they have dubbed as 'printfinity', each card in a pack of whatever amount you choose can display a different image (the same option is not available for the details side, unfortunately).  However, the reverse details side can be customized several different ways: personalized Moo template from their web page, or an uploaded custom design.

Pieces of Sky

Absolutely gorgeous video from the amazing artist Eskmo.



Here's to a flicker of inspiration amongst all of the current madness.  Release yourself for a few moments and enjoy.

Eskmo "Cloudlight" (Ninja Tune) (Official Video) from ESKMO on Vimeo.

Monday in Review

Parametric Shadow, originally uploaded by Design.Her.

This semester, our final architecture studio is concentrating on designing a sculpture museum to be retrofitted into an old rail yard building in a historic part of the city. After little sleep, and long hours staring at the computer, I don't even want to think about anything related to either architecture or sculpture.  However... I wouldn't mind taking a seat in this nice chair from the SFMoMA.  Pretty, pretty, parametric.