Scanning Slides: Italian Postcards

I finally scanned all of my slides. I had about 1500. Most were from my semester abroad in Italy, and some were from the later 1990's, after school but before the very wide advent of digital photography.

A few things are clear to me looking at my slides. First, I used actual film, so I took far fewer pictures than I do now, since film was costly to buy and develop. I took about 100 pictures per week then, and about 100 per day now when travelling. Second, since I had slide film, I took mostly pictures of buildings and not my friends. This was dumb and a big mistake. Third, it was probably silly to use slide film. But I thought I might end up teaching, and teachers use slides in their lectures, right? Fourth, most of my detail shots are blurry. And any attempt I made to photograph artwork or drawings was a disaster. Fifth, my interior photography was bad, and my night photography was worse, and too many of my pictures are crooked. It might have been the camera, but it was probably the operator, since all of these characteristics plague my digital pictures too.

Last, what was I thinking? I look through the slides, and I wonder, what was I looking at, and why? Why was I compelled by these things, that seem quite a bit less interesting now? I was fascinated by doorways, framed openings, the contrast of darkness and daylight, modern interventions in historic settings, unusual details, and buildings designed by a short roster of deceased architects - and some of these themes still captivate me. I was not very interested in capturing the quality of life and human experiences, like food, shopping, atmosphere, social events, crowds, what it feels like to be there.

Total selfies? Two. Lessons learned? Hopefully more.

What follows are choice pictures from my semester abroad, just over 20 years ago. They are mostly from the cities and towns of Italy. Some are from the bits of traveling during beaks, mostly focused on seeing as many projects by Le Corbusier as possible, those in Paris and those much further beyond the pale. Have you been to Firminy-Vert yet?

Postcard From Karl Marx Hof

In Vienna I convinced Sabra that including some social housing in our vacation plans could really expand our understanding of mid-war, central European socialist democratic city planning policy. So we went to Karl Marx Hof, one of the grandest of all public housing projects.

Karl Marx Hof is a massive public housing project from the late 1920's. The housing complex, with over 1,300 units, is located just north of the historic city center and includes kindergartens, some commercial areas, and great access to transit (train, tram and bus). The monumentally-scaled public square - a grand civic gesture - is balanced by a series of residential courtyards, which are big enough on their own to host a Bayern Munich v. Chelsea football match.

 

 

Karl Marx Hof is essentially one giant, continuous building, the longest single residential building in the world: 5 blocks long, spanning four tram stops and 1.1 kilometers. Its bold forms and distinct color palette have given it an enduring, iconic quality. Vienna's extensive program of public housing in the 1920's is chronicled in Eve Blau's book "The Architecture of Red Vienna”.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sea Ranch

Travel By Collage

I made a few collages in architecture school. I started making them again soon after school when I moved to New York City. I used to do them on cardboard to reinforce a notion that collage is not quite fine art. Plus it was sturdy and cheap and available - my favorite source was FedEx boxes. Now I do collages on white paper, probably because they feel more precious and delicate to me.

Like drawing or any other extra-curricular endeavor, my collage making has been sporadic over short periods but fairly constant over the longer haul. I've averaged about 1 per week for over 15 years. Collectively they form a sort of visual diary. Most collages are individual works, exercises in color and composition, in line, form, image, text. Some are made for special occasions, gifts for family and friends. And some collages are part of a series. These usually occur paralleling a project in another discipline, or following the intense itinerary of international travel. These four collages, below, are from a Summer 2015 visit to Budapest, the capital of Hungary.