Categoria: Scapes

Designing as unveiling (relational) landscapes’ opportunities hidden into the folds of obvious. Nice conversation with Alberto Iacovoni about the photomontage of stills from the movie Le Mepris.

Photomontage of stills from the movie Le Mepris (1963) by Jean-Luc Godard. The building shot is Casa Malaparte (1938-1943) by Adalberto Libera for Curzio Malaparte (Kurt Sucker), located in Punta Masullo, Capri (Photomontage by Daniele Mancini)

As usual, I’ve asked friends advises for my 21 days long staying in London …

1. Pieces of best architectures in London
2. Extraordinary places in London
3. Things to be absolutely done
4. One thing to buy
5. A book to read, a movie to watch
6. Somebody worth to talk with

thanks to Phil, Gillian, Stefano, Ombretta, Andrea, Angelo, Matteo, Gianfranco, Furio, Benedict, Tony

Pieces of best architectures in London

The Aviary in the London Zoo by Cedric Price – Pontoon Bridge by Future Systems, Canary Wharf- The Palm House by Decimus Burton and Richard Turner, Kew Gardens – Foster’s buildings all around London – Sir John Soane’s Museum – LLoyds building by Rogers – Economist building by A+P Smithson – Robin Hood Gardens by A+P Smithson– Tottenham Court Center Point Building – Christ Church Spitalfields – Royal Festival Hall – John Nash’s Park Crescent at the north end of Portland Place or Bedford Square in Bloomsbury – Brunswick Centre, Bloomsbury – Regenerated brutalist housing project – Alexandra Road housing in Camden – David Adjaye‘s Rivington visual arts centre in Shoreditch – David Adjaye‘s Idea Store in Whitechapel – David Adjaye‘s Idea Store in Hamlet Tower – Truman Tower at Brick Lane – South Bank Centre – London Eye (the big wheel: go up in it to introduce yourself to London) – Millennium Bridge – Tate Modern – Olimpic Park

Via Benedict: Houses of Parliament – Westminster Abbey – LLoyds Building – the Wapping Project – a re-used hydraulic pumping station in thedocklands – nice. – The Art Nouveau Blackfriars pub beside the Blackfriars Bridge – the Victoria and Albert Museum, refreshment rooms (you will see why..)

Extraordinary places in London

Picadilly circus – Brixton – Regent’s park – Apple store – National gallery – Science Museum – Flood Barriers on the Thames – Kew Gardens – Dover street market – Foster + Partners Associates Office – Hampton court – Ghetto – Cyberdog at Camden town – Markets (Brick Lane, Camden, Portobello) – Prime Minister’s Questions (House of Commons) – Southbank bike ride – The Tower – Tate Modern Museum – Sir John Soane’s Museum – Highgate Cemetery – Brunel’s under Thames tunnel – Greenwich – Hyde Park (walk through and on to Mayfair and Green Park) – Shoreditch – Walk the West End – Taking in as many as possible of the following: Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, St. James’s Palace, Piccadilly Circus, Leicester Square, Trafalgar Square, Covent Garden (they are all touristy but they are LONDON) – Battersea Power station

Via Benedict: Go to a village in the countryside – we can talk about this. – Do go to the Wallace collection in Manchester Square and marvel at thepaintings there. – Piero Della Francesca in the National Gallery.

Things to be absolutely done

Go to a concert – Footbal match at Pub – Go to Aby Warburg archive – Flagship store by Crispin Jones on the thames – Get Fish and Chips – Go to the Karl Marx house – Take a picture to Lady D at Harrods – Take a beer at Dove Pub at Hammersmith – Eating cakes at Covent Garden – Drink to much beer! – Spend a sunny afternoon in a London park – Watch a play at the Globe Theatre – Take the boat along the Thames to Greenwich: visit the Queen’s House, Royal Observatory and Naval Museum (but not the town) – Visit Harrod’s – Go to a traditional pub for a Sunday Roast lunch – Go to RIBA near Regents Park

Via Benedict: Borrow a bicycle and pedal around and see how the city fits together. (I was much impressed with the bike share scheme in Roma) – Swim in the Hampstead Men’s Pond. – Swim in the Serpentine! – Swim in the Oasis swimming pool – Wine in Gordon’s wine bar, old vaults under the Charing Cross Station – Consider coming to my sketching club on Tite Street in Chelsea, ‘TheLondon Sketch Club’ founded in 1890, we meet on Tuesday evenings at 6:30pm

One thing to buy

Vinile (in camden town or HMV) – Latex suit in Camden Town – 70’s vinile collection in Brick Lane – OYSTER CARD – Dr Martin boots/shoes (in Camden) – Stilton from the Food Hall in Harrod’s – Should find something at Camden Market or RIBA

Via Benedict: 8 ‘Polychromos’ pencils from Cornellisons!

A book to read a movie to see

“Performance”(a movie) by Nicolas Roeg and Donald Cammell – “if…” (a movie) by Lindsay Anderson – White Teeth” by Zadie Smith. That’s modern London – http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/features/londoninmaps/homepage.html – “Notes from a Small Island”, Bill Bryson – Hanish Kureishi’s novel “Buddha Of Suburbia”

Via Benedict: one of the many books on the architecture of London at the AA, probably the Buildings of England London: Westminster, ‘the introduction’

Via Tony: Forget Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, a real movie about London and Nil By Mouth by Gary Oldman with Kathy Burke and Ray Winston. Be warned though, it’s very harsh, but excellent

Via Mirti: if you have iPhone a spectacular app you can’t miss! http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/MuseumOfLondon/Resources/app/you-are-here-app/index.html

Somebody worth to talk with

The Queen – David Bowie – Peter Cook – Crispin Jones – Usman Haque – One of the AOC –

Yesterday 24 of July 2008 has collapsed one of the most beautiful building in Rome, unfortunately left to deperished after the Olympic game of 1960. UNPACKED was there grabbing pictures in 2005

Now we’re ready to go! We’ve got from friends suggestions about these following points for our 15 days in Japan. We’ll be first visiting the Expo in Aichi due to the Italian Pavillon. Irene was part of the design team. Then we’ll take our time for a short study trip.

• 1 place to visit in Japan
• 1 architecture to visit in Japan
• 2 peculiar places in Tokyo
• 5 pieces of architecture in Tokyo
• 1 friend to meet
• 1 museum
• 1 movie
• 1 book
• 1 thing to buy

Keep reading to know more about friend’s reactions, and enjoy!

1 posto in giappone

> il mercato del pesce di tsukiji la prima notte con il jetlag perche’ alle 4 del mattino (anna barbara)
> tsukiji. mercato del pesce di tokyo. andarci alle 4, 5 del mattino (stefano mirti)
> mercato del pesce a tsukiji alle 4:00AM (luca poncellini)
> Mercato del pesce tsukiji, devi andare all’alba (claudia lizier)
> JR central station una passeggiata a mount inari a kyoto (luca poncellini)
> la citta’ di Nara (vicino a Kyoto) per me molto bella con templi antichi giardini e i cerbiatti che girano liberi x i parchi (claudia lizier)
> Nara e Ise per il giappone che non esiste piu’ ma che ci ha fatti illudere tutti (anna barbara)
> la spiaggia finta (od era la montagna finta) in edificio (maria teresa aprile)
> Cerca di vedere un pò di campagna giapponese, magari qualche località come Kamakura (joshua spafford)
> inside the Shinkansen bullet train ! (raphael meyer)

1 architettura in giappone

> aereoporto di kansai, Renzo Piano
> terminal a yokoama, FOA
> mediateca di sendai, Ito
> torre dei venti di yokoama, Ito
> salire in cima alle torri gemelle dello sky umeda building di Osaka (luca poncellini)
> se vai a Kyoto il gingaku-ji il tempio dorato (claudia lizier)
> palazzo dentsu di Kenzo Tange a Osaka
> fukuoka, abitazioni rem K. (magari non ti piace lui, ma quest’edificio merita) (maria teresa aprile)
> golden pavillion a kyoto (stefano mirti)
> katsura a kyoto (albert ferrè + Tomoko Sakamoto)
> tokyo is an ugly-sexy city. (Raphael meyer)

2 posti a tokyo

> tokyu hands che è un supermercato delle cazzate spettacolare (anna barbara)
> girare a zonzo e perdersi nei dedali dei vicoli, partendo da punto A e puntando a punto B
(tanto prima o poi si trova sempre un punto C da cui riorientarsi) (luca poncellini)
> trovare una banda di amici giapponesi e farsi portare al karaoke a shibuya (luca poncellini)
> i sexy-shop nel quartiere un po’ porno di kabuki-cho, dietro shinjuku (luca poncellini)
> il mercato delle cose elettriche e elettroniche al piano terra della stazione di akihabara (luca pocellini)
> asia – a shibuya (luca poncellini)
> Il tempio shintoista di Meuji Jungu con il parco e li’vicino puoi fare un salto nella via delle shopping dei teenagers (claudia lizier)
>Takeshita dori (con le japanese-girls in divisa scolastita e altro…) (claudia lizier)
> Il tempio buddista di Asakusa e il quartiere tipico giapo (claudia lizier)
> L’attraversamento ad X a Shibuya
> La statua del budda a Kamakura (claudia lizier)
> La citta’ di Hakone(1 ora e 1/2) per vedere il Fuji (claudia lizier)
> venus fort in odaiba + shibuya area in tokyo
> il karaoke e le vetrine di un ristorante sushi vero (con il sushi di plastica in vetrina) (maria teresa aprile)
> in Yanaka district (near Nippori station on the Yamanote line): the cemetery, and “SCAI the Bathhouse” Art Gallery ( www.scaithebathhouse.com ) (albert ferrè)

5 architetture a tokyo

> baia di tokyo con annessi e connessi (anna barbara)
> il fuji television building di kenzo tange, venus fort, l’exhibition center con le piramidi rovesciate – odaiba island (luca poncellini)
> la centennial hall di shinohara – ookayama (luca poncellini)
> l’ambasciata del kuwait di kenzo tange – dalle parti di shinbashi (luca poncellini)
> la police station di kazuo sejima a chofu (luca poncellini)
> kenzo tange, kuwait embassy + office in ginza, + passeggiata tra omotesando e aoyama dove trovi tods di ito, sejima, jun aoki, tadao ando, etc.etc. (stefano mirti)
> of course, tod’s in omotesando of toyo ito. (rachaporn choochuey)
> Omotesando (Prada, Todds, Louis Vuitton, Dior…)
> Tokyo Forum monument to the bubble
> Stacked bars/clubs in Shibuya
> Roppongi Hills Mori Art Museum,
> Gli stadi olimpici di Kenzo Tange, 2-1-1 Jinnan, Shibuya-ku (joshua spafford)
> Torri del municipio di Tange a Shinjuku. Dalla terrazza di osservazione ti rendi conto di cosa cazzo � Tokyo. 2 Nishishinjuku, Shinjuku-ku (joshua spafford)
> “Collezione”, forse l’unico edificio di Ando a Tokyo (per dire che ci sei stato), 6-1-3 Minamiaoyama, Minato-ku (joshua spafford)
> Hayashibara 5th building di� Richard Rogers, 2-1-5 Kabuki-cho, Shinjuku-kuï (joshua spafford)
> Tokyo International Forum (una borata), Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku (joshua spafford)
> Nagakin Capsule Tower (un classico di Kisho Kurokawa), 8-16-10 Ginza, Chuo-ku (joshua spafford)
> Diciamo che le prime 4 sono abbastanza vicine tra loro come lo sono anche le ultime 2. Cerca di fare un salto al parco vicino algli stadi. mi pare si chiami Yoyogi, ci sono dei templi. Ma ripeto, molte cose le vedrai per caso magari andando nei posti che hai sulla lista (joshua spafford)

1 persona da incontrare

> una ragazza kokeshi ad akihabara sabato pomeriggio (anna barbara)
> il mio amico Kazuhiko Takahashi parla inglese e un pò di italiano, gli mando la tua email e cosi’ magari vi sentite… (claudia lazier)
> koen klinker (stefano mirti)
> Purtroppo non credo tu ne abbia i mezzi (neanch’io) ma se puoi fatti sponsorizzare cena e conversazione con gheisha di classe. Tu cantale “tat’ami, tat’ami, tat’ami”, ritornello in voga ai tempi della visita di F.L.W. (andrea vidotto)
> a stranger in Yoyogi park (raphael meyer)

1 museo da visitare

> fanno mediamente cagare tutti, se vuoi schiantarti dal ridere vai al museo nazionale d’arte a tokyo nel parco di Ueno vicino all’edificio di Le Corbusier (anna barbara)
> I musei di Ueno mi sono piaciuti,sull’ arte giapponese (claudia lizier)
> the gallery of horyuji treasure (in ueno park), di y. taniguchi. anche, il museo della guerra nel yasukuni shrine (il tempio dove ogni anno vanno a onorare i criminali di guerra) (stefano mirti)
> nezu art museum at the end of omotesando street. (rachaporn choochuey)
> Kanazawa, lontano da Tokyo (SANAA) e Tomohiro Museum, anche lontano (Makoto Yokomizo) National Treasure Museum in Ueno (Tanaguchi) + Western Art Museum (Corbu) (Albert Ferre�)

1 libro da leggere

> i fumetti di osamu testuka e yunighiro taniguvhi (anna barbara)
> baburu – i figli della grande bolla (luca poncellini)
> uno di Banana Yoshimoto, Kitchen o Lucertola (claudia lizier)
> you might have known already haruki murakami, his latest book on kafka is quite entertaining and interesting. the most controversial book could be the school book on their history with china and korea, but you would not be able to read it!
> if u have time : the Wind-Up Bird Chronicles – Haruki Murakami
anyways : L’empire des signes – Roland Barthes
> p. k. dick: la svastica sul sole (stefano mirti)

1 film da vedere

> quelli di takeshi kitano ma anche lost in translation (anna barbara)
> lost in translation (luca poncellini)
> Lost in translation (Claudia lizier)
> scontato ma vedrei di nuovo lost in traslation (mta)
> porno. con minorenni. li trovi a shinjuku o nell’uscita posteriore di ueno (stefano mirti)
> ozu (tokyo story), woman of the dunes… (racha)
> “Daremo shiranai” (Nobody knows) di Hirokazu Kore-eda. Appena uscito, triste. (af)
> the eel – Shohei Imamura (rm)

1 cosa da comprare

> mangiare gli onighiri che li vendono in tutti i 24 hours open che sono l’essenza del giappone (anna barbara)
> Ci sono delle cose particolari in questi 2 negozi,Tokyu Hands(tutto x il bricolage,materiali ecc, 7 piani) e Loft(dalla cartoleria all’oggettistica) sono due negozi di Shibuya (claudia lizier)
>un kimono originale (anche questo scontato, ma sono troppo meravigliosi) ed una tinta per capelli (i colori che hanno i giapponesi sono battuti solo da quello di carnaby street. (mta)
> onighiri (triangolini di riso ricoperti di alghe, in qualsiasi seven-eleven) (stefano mirti)
> clothes and tennis shoes things from Muji? Electronics in Akihabara? (albert ferrè)
> A fortune paper in a temple ( 100 Yen ) (raphael meyer)
> Comprare? Akihabara il quartiere dell’elettronica ma io l’ho trovato un po’ deludente, tu potresti trovarci qualcosa di particolare, chissà. (joshua spafford)