Barcelona Pavilion

A prime example of modernist architecture, Barcelona Pavilion by German architect Mies van der Rohe, to me clearly shows how architects think in lines, something I very much personally relate to. It is lines that create a sense of purpose in the positioning of elements in any design.

van der Rohe is known as one of the founding fathers of modern day architecture, as opposed to the architecture that was dominant up to the first and second decade of the 20th century.

Barcelona Pavilion was constructed for the 1929 World Fair in Barcelona, to me it is the simplicity in the design that gives it it's intricate complexity. Sometimes it takes something that looks insanely simple but is in fact unimaginably ingenious.

Here are some of my favorite shots and angles taken from danda.be and here











He achieved this magic floating like look to the building by very smart positioning of walls that carry the structure to make it appear as if they are not, while at the same time making it look like very thin beams are carrying instead.

Also take note of the awesome Barcelona Chair (I know, he's an architect, names appear to not be his strongest point)

1970 modernist architecture

Ran across an example of some sweet modernist architecture yesterday, Villa Spies built on a small island off the coast of Stockholm, Sweden. "Googie" as the style is named after the first coffeeshop that used this style featured many buildings representing the fast paces car-age times with a desire for the galaxy.



At the time many people expected to be living in space colonies by 2001. "Googie" was prominent in the 40's, 50's and 60's and I suspect Villa Spies to be built in a related futurist style on the haydays of this stream. Although this might have been built in the dying days of this awesome architectural style, I still think this is one of the most beautiful examples of Jetson-esque architecture. The round shapes are made in the phylosophy of creating a house around a person rather than placing a person in the more regular square box homes. I just wish there were more homes designed like this so I could actually look forward to living in a futurist Jetson-esque home one day.

If you want to read more, you might want to check out this awesome book, it's not cheap but I think I'll order it for inspiration sake.