Category: Architecture

Architecture – The Art of Living & Surviving & Designing

Living in the open or in caves, used to be for thousands of years the modus operandi, the normal thing. With the accumulation of wealth, pretty artful building was possible. Likewise, with the decline of wealth of the working class (AKA: middle class), once pretty and well livable homes fall apart and show the scars of time.

Old and Pretty: I was born in this little town, Waldenburg. With its simple medieval architecture, it survived for more than 800 years, adding artfully new onto old.

And then there are those homes that had charm years ago, before wealth and living conditions declined.

And then there are the wonderful cities, like San Francisco, where a cheap apartment starts at $1.2 millions with no limit to the top.

Cruising by Alcatraz, former Federal Penitentiary

From 1939 until 1963, Alcatraz housed the most fearsome prisoners in the US. By inmates, often called “Hellcatraz” for its brutal living conditions. An unknown writer described Alcatraz as “the great garbage can of the San Francisco Bay, into which every federal prison dumped its most rotten apples.” Here, in this picture you see the Warden’s House and the Lighthouse. A house of luxury, the warden’s house often held lavish cocktail parties. In 1970, the island was occupied by Native Americans, and the Warden’s House burned down, before Red Power Activists were forcefully removed from the island. The protest group chose the name Indians of All Tribes (IAT). IAT claimed that, under the treaty of Fort Laramie between the U.S. and the Lakota, all retired, abandoned, or out of use federal land was to be returned to the indigenous peoples.

Bauhaus

Die modern anmutende Siedlung “Italienischer Garten” in Celle wurde vom Architekten Otto Haesler bereits 1924/25 entworfen und gebaut. Er war ein Vertreter der Bauhaus-Architektur.

The modern-looking estate “Italian Garden” in Celle was designed and built by the architect Otto Haesler as early as 1924/25. He was a representative of Bauhaus architecture.

Strukuren

Eigentlich ein sinnfreies Foto. Es ist nur eine Wendeltreppe, die ins Untergeschoss führt. Trotzdem hat mich das Ganze mit seinen Farben und Strukuren zu einem Foto animiert.

Actually a meaningless photo. It is only a spiral staircase that leads to the basement. Nevertheless, the whole thing with its colors and structures animated me to take a photo.