Putting the ART in ARTchitecture, Part III

Okay, so here’s the final installment of my favorite architecture … This stuff I’ve actually seen first-hand also (they don’t make it easy for most Americans travel to Cuba). Below are some pictures from a recent trip to Venezuela.

These buildings are all in Caracas, and are rather unremarkable by that city’s standards:

But they are something remarkable to me. Maybe because America was not building much at all during this time (1930’s). Maybe because everything I see now is either ugly and unremarkable or some neo- version of something past (neo-Mediterranean, neo-Classical, neo-Colonial). Blech!

This architecture, aside from being new to me, was something new to the entire world. Nothing like it had ever existed. It truly was a unique and creative path in architecture. New technology at the time revoutionzied building techniques and abilities. These buildings / architects were able to take full advantage of that fact. They didn’t create anything to be a look-alike. They worked within the means of this new technology to make something totally unique.

Here are some other links to see examples of this architecture elsewhere in the Spanish-speaking world:

Racionalismo en Buenos Aires, Argentina

Exposiciones: Damian Flores Arquitectura Racionalista en Madrid, Espana

Putting the ART in ARTchitecture, Part II

Well … We can hardly talk about Miami without also mentioning the unmentionable evil twin 90+ miles south (note the tinge of sarcasm).

Vamos a CUBA !!!!

The houses and buildings below are what really made me fall in love with Arte Moderne architecture:

Some of my personal favorites:

All available at: http://www.decopix.com/ (a wonderful site!)

No major commentary for this one, just basking in the beauty of Arte Moderne architecture. Ahhhhhh … How could you not agree with me?!

(leave a comment!)

Putting the ART in ARTchitecture

Wow! You know when you think something is so beautiful that you can’t possibly imagine someone disagreeing with you? Among other things, that’s how I feel about Art Moderne architecture (and Art Deco to a lesser extent). My first exposure was an impromptu outing to South Beach after a miserable trek through Miami’s equivalent of the inland empire. What a fresh breath! What tropical vibrancy!

Wow! Again … I absolutely love South Beach! A quick spin around the Web yielded a few good articles on South Beach:

Art Deco South Beach (Architecture Week)

South Beach Photo Gallery (I love photo galleries!) (University of South Florida)

Evolution of South Beach (Miami Herald)

That last article points to some pretty specific issues hat I’m not done with yet … Like when we save these great places, what happens to them? Sure the models, coffee shops, tourists, dance clubs, boutiques etc. are all great, but when is it too much of a good thing? What is our barometer for declaring that these places have lost their charm and character? Is it a money thing? Is it a looking-too-nice thing? Is it a tourist thing?

Because there is more of this amazingly beautiful architecture around the world and I don’t want it to be ruined … but nor do I want it to be hyper-polished and gentrified out of its original character … In Florida, we’re quite familiar and particularly sensitive to another much larger cultural phenomenon: “the mouse” and disneyfication – yikes!.

More on this later.