mas photos

I was walking back from UBA today when a peice of American architecture finally clicked for me. Adam and I were talking, and he told me that he'd read somewhere that ASU's Gammage Auditorium was originally intended to be built in Baghdad, Iraq. Suddenly, it all fit. Frank Lloyd Wright wasn't completely ignoring the context of Tempe and ASU, its just completely misplaced. Having visited Abu Dhabi, I could easily see that building in the city, or one of the desert islands or ajoining the Sheik's palaces. The absolute determinism of the circular geometry, the repeteated collumns, and even the stylized curtains in the arches, it remains now even more of a tragedy of a building as I think a Wright building really needs the wright place. It would have been interesting to see if Wright's building would have galvanized and modernized Islamic desert architecture in the same way Le Corbusier did with Latin American architecture.

I have one month left before I head back to the United States. I can't believe the time has gone like this. One thing I won't miss, however, is the sidewalks. The sidewalks are all maintained and constructed by the plot owner, so no two adjacent sidewalks are alike without a great deal of coordination or luck. Typically, concrete tiles of various sizes are laid on top of rough concrete or dirt base, and occationally, they'll cement it down. Every morning, I see all the shop and house domestics lazily hosing off the sidewalk in front of thier properties, probably to remove whatever the dogs have left from the day before. Most of this water runs into the street but some of it floods the spaces under loose pavers. When you step on these pavers, they shoot a mini geyser of nasty water all over your feet and your pants. Which is why I rarely see Portenos in sandals.

Anyway, we were over at UBA FADU(architecture school) printing plans and sections for our project. It's about a quarter of the price I'd pay to plot at ASU. While we were waiting to print, I wandered downstairs. On the mezzanine level, they stuck in a small cafeterria. Below that on the bottom floor was a series of massive spaces crammed with classrooms, vehicles, chairs, models, more kiosks selling candy cigarettes, cokes, etc. The building with the students never ceases to amaze me. Something about the combination of thousands of design students, politically charged, rushing around to get stuff printed, exchanging besitos rapidos, every surface covered with political posters and banners, the grit, the enthusiasm, and the air of innovation and design, all crammed within a tower with its own economy of cafes, cafeterias, kiosks, and booksellers, is like a William Gibson novel all in itself.


by archalec

Above, a picture of the main central atrium at UBA FADU.
Also, added some new pictures from daily life here in Buenos Aires, just skip ahead to the back of the album after you click on the picture above.