#postwar architecture

[wolfman-al]

Last Monday I took a daytrip to Nürnberg. A historic city that is relatively close to Frankfurt, but that I have never been to before.

The rather dissapointing city hall of Nürnberg on the market square.

[cyhsal]

Saint George Slaying the Dragon (2024) 🗡️

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[starzec]

Białostocka, July 2024

[dashalbrundezimmer]

merheimer straße // köln nippes

designing with geometric shapes can be so simple. as is so often the case, elegance lies in simplicity

gestalten mit geometrischen formen kann so einfach sein. eleganz liegt wie so oft in der schlichtheit.

[pazdera]

La Barceloneta, José Antonio Coderch, 1951, Barcelona, ES

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04/2023

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[itsfullofstars]

[chicago-geniza]

Got too worked up at ADHD group so I am reading about postwar Polish residential construction to calm down. Here is one of my current favorite apartment complexes in Warsaw, which was designed in 1969 and built between 1971-73 for single Polytechnic students, one of the first for individuals rather than families; it served as a model for a couple of other now-iconic residential buildings, one of which, iirc, became an assisted living facility for disabled adults. Worth reading if you can read Polish!

[restauranthistorian]

California coffee shops

A vivid style of modern restaurant architecture in Southern California carried vibrations from WWII and the atom bomb.

With the end of World War II, the United States became the undisputed world power as well as the leading economy, producing the largest share of the world’s goods. Many changes took place in American society as the soldiers returned. Suburbs sprang up with housing for growing families, shopping centers appeared, and many workers enjoyed prosperity. And a new type of eating place came into being,…

[featuresofinterest]

the church i grew up in was built in 1958 so every time i see midcentury modern house content i can't help but think "oh this place has church vibes" agabsvs

[mopsburgfalls]

office messaging

[germanpostwarmodern]

Although it had its origins in the 1920s and 1930s, the large-scale production of prefabricated housing really took flight after the Second World War. Especially in the Socialist parts of the postwar world the „Plattenbau“ helped remedy the housing shortage but also resulted in often monotonous development areas. Behind the Plattenbau often stood a utopian vision of progress and a new communal life that was diametrically opposed to what the areas turned out to be.

Drawn to the Plattenbau by the contrast between vision and reality photographer Christoph Montebelli set out to document four Plattenbau housing estates on four continents, namely in Berlin, Hong Kong, Havana and Zanzibar. On site Montebelli not only focused on the architecture but also on the inhabitants and the surroundings of each of the estates. What emerges are very lively portraits of architectural visions that despite many similarities significantly differ as Montebelli explains in the brief texts prefacing each photo series: to Zanzibar the Plattenbau came as a diplomatic trade-off between the GDR and President Karume who in exchange for the diplomatic recognition of the East German state received technical assistance in the construction of modern apartment blocks. Although they weren’t made from prefabricated concrete elements but from brick they are referred to in the imported German term and furnished with GDR imports. And as Montebelli’s photographs show they over time have been absorbed by the locals and represent anchor points in their bustling surroundings.

The Berlin Plattenbau estate on the other hand has fared quite differently: while the GDR still existed the housing blocks were occupied by a multifaceted mix of people ranging from workers to teachers, engineers and professors. All of them valued the modern accommodations of the Plattenbau that provided so much more comfort than old buildings and consequently were in high demand. After the fall of the Berlin Wall the situation changed drastically, the social mix dissolved, the „Platte“ fell into disrepair and was partially dismantled. Today the dismantled apartments are badly needed.

In his book „Plattenbau Promenades“, recently published by Kerber, Christoph Montebelli underscores the perseverance of the Plattenbau who easily outlive(d) the visions of their commissioning governments but remain lively cues of the past, emphatically documented in powerful photographs.

[cyhsal]

Powell and Moya v. City of London ⚔️

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[starzec]

Warszawa-Grochów, February 2025

[lair-of-the-white-worm]

Hey guys! Some useless but fascinating Oddworld trivia for you!

Someone in the OWI Discord came across the photograph below and recognized it from the opening cutscene of Abe's Oddysee, so I did some digging!

So, this looks like a photograph taken by Bernard Becher and Hilla Wobeser, better known as Bernd und Hilla.

They were conceptual artists and photographers from Germany. They did a lot of photography/typology of postwar industrial structures around the world, starting their work as early as the 1950s. They've had photography exhibits all around the world displaying their accumulated works, it's all very impressive!

This particular photograph is actually from a set of three photographs, known as Drei Hochöfen (Three Blast Furnaces) and the photos were each taken between 1980 and 1984. Each photograph was taken in a different part of the world.

The one that has seemingly been kitbashed into the opening cutscene is the first one, taken in Youngstown, Ohio USA (at what I presume was the Republic Iron and Steel Company).

I wouldn't be shocked if much of Bernd und Hilla's photographs were used as a reference for the industrial architecture in Oddworld. Their portfolio is massive and worth the browse if you're interested in that sort of stuff!

[pazdera]

Walden 7, Ricardo Bofill, 1975, Barcelona, ES

4/2023

[itsfullofstars]