[As requested by Señor F, this is the first of what will be several reposts from the first incarnation of Line of Sight. Originally published as “often overlooked” on 05 Apr 2007.]
Read More »buenos aires: ministerio de obras públicas
Last year’s ad campaign for a new Hugo Boss cologne caught my eye… not only because Jonathan Rhys-Meyers appears front & center. Anyone who has been to Buenos Aires can easily recognize the background as Diagonal Sur as seen from Plaza de Mayo. My question is: why did they decide to erase the guys who strike the bell on the Siemens building?
Read More »found: buenos aires photoshopped
King Carlos III of Spain declared burials inside or beside churches illegal in 1787, but the American colonies waited awhile to implement those new rules. Old habits are hard to break. Buenos Aires opened Recoleta Cemetery in 1822, but Bogotá inaugurated their first public cemetery much earlier in 1791. The same plan for that first cemetery was used for the layout of the Cementerio Central, opening in 1825.
Read More »bogotá: cementerio central
Bogotá’s growth as a city seemed to be outward rather than upward. Its relative lack of tall buildings point to the fact that acquiring new land was more economic than tearing down older structures & constructing taller ones in their place. Also, the fact that the region is prone to earthquakes made building low a priority. Good examples of colonial buildings dot La Candelaria. The biggest wow for me was the Franciscan Iglesia La Tercera, with construction beginning in 1760 & full of exquisite Rococo carvings… probably of walnut, very dark & sensual:
Read More »bogotá: architecture
Barrio Juan Perón • Saavedra
Andonaegui & Larralde
Wow. That took forever to draw… I guess it’s worth the effort since this 1949 project represents the first successful attempt to think outside the standard, Buenos Aires grid plan. No government-sponsored housing project had ever been attempted on such a large scale. The layout is not symmetrical, but it comes close. City limits obviously cramped the design since Avenida General Paz slices through the “U,” so planners extended the left (actually southwest) side slightly to compensate.
Read More »housing for the masses: barrio juan perón, 1949
Barrio 1º de Marzo • Saavedra
Galván & Larralde
In the same year that the concrete blocks of Barrio Balbastro housed families in Bajo Flores, a completely new idea popped up in Saavedra: the chalet californiano, single story houses set back from the street with terracotta roofs & wooden shutters. Based on Jesuit missions in California, a certain sector of the upper class loved this imported & definitely foreign style. The Perón government brought it to the people.
Read More »housing for the masses: barrio 1º de marzo, 1948