Moscow Metro, palaces of the people

15 January 2025 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Architecture Reading Time:  8 minutes

Novoslobodskaya Station © flickr.com - Kandukuru Nagarjun/cc-by-2.0

Novoslobodskaya Station © flickr.com – Kandukuru Nagarjun/cc-by-2.0

The Moscow Metro is a metro system serving the Russian capital of Moscow as well as the neighbouring cities of Krasnogorsk, Reutov, Lyubertsy and Kotelniki in Moscow Oblast. Opened in 1935 with one 11-kilometre (6.8 mi) line and 13 stations, it was the first underground railway system in the Soviet Union.   read more…

Settlements of the Moravian Church

27 December 2024 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Architecture, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  8 minutes

Moravian Gemein House in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, USA © flickr.com - w_lemay/cc-by-sa-2.0

Moravian Gemein House in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, USA © flickr.com – w_lemay/cc-by-sa-2.0

The Moravian Brethren Settlements are a group of historic settlements founded by the Moravian Brethren, an evangelical free church. These settlements were recognized as a transnational World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2024. The World Heritage Site includes the settlements of Christiansfeld in Denmark, Bethlehem in the USA, Gracehill in Northern Ireland and Herrnhut in Germany.   read more…

Windcatcher

2 December 2024 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Architecture Reading Time:  10 minutes

Aghazade mansion in Abarkooh, Iran © Amir.salehkhah/cc-by-sa-4.0

Aghazade mansion in Abarkooh, Iran © Amir.salehkhah/cc-by-sa-4.0

A windcatcher, wind tower, or wind scoop is a traditional architectural element (Persian architecture) used to create cross ventilation and passive cooling in buildings. Windcatchers come in various designs, depending on whether local prevailing winds are unidirectional, bidirectional, or multidirectional, on how they change with altitude, on the daily temperature cycle, on humidity, and on how much dust needs to be removed.   read more…

Googie architecture

19 November 2024 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Architecture, Greater Los Angeles Area Reading Time:  6 minutes

McDonalds in Saugus, Massachusetts © Anthony92931/cc-by-sa-3.0

McDonalds in Saugus, Massachusetts © Anthony92931/cc-by-sa-3.0

Googie architecture is a type of futurist architecture influenced by car culture, jets, the Atomic Age and the Space Age. It originated in Southern California from the Streamline Moderne architecture of the 1930s, and was popular in the United States from roughly 1945 to the early 1970s.   read more…

Derzhprom in Kharkiv

30 October 2024 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Architecture, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  4 minutes

© Dmitry Glazunov/cc-by-sa-4.0

© Dmitry Glazunov/cc-by-sa-4.0

The Derzhprom building is an office building located on Freedom Square in Kharkiv, Ukraine. Built in the Constructivist style, it was the first modern skyscraper building in the Soviet Union upon its completion in 1928. Its name is an abbreviation of two words that, taken together, mean State Industry. In English the structure is known as the State Industry Building or the Palace of Industry.   read more…

Portrait: Vitruvius, a Roman architect and engineer

23 October 2024 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: Architecture, Portrait Reading Time:  12 minutes

Vitruvius - De architectura © Mark Pellegrini/cc-by-sa-2.5

Vitruvius – De architectura © Mark Pellegrini/cc-by-sa-2.5

Vitruvius was a Roman architect and engineer during the 1st century BC, known for his multi-volume work titled De architectura. As the only treatise on architecture to survive from antiquity, it has been regarded since the Renaissance as the first book on architectural theory, as well as a major source on the canon of classical architecture. It is not clear to what extent his contemporaries regarded his book as original or important.   read more…

Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein

1 October 2024 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Architecture, Design & Products, House of the Month, Museums, Exhibitions Reading Time:  8 minutes

© Kotivalo/cc-by-sa-3.0

© Kotivalo/cc-by-sa-3.0

The Vitra Design Museum is a privately owned museum for design in Weil am Rhein, Germany. Former Vitra CEO, and son of Vitra founders Willi and Erika Fehlbaum, Rolf Fehlbaum founded the museum in 1989 as an independent private foundation. The Vitra corporation provides it with a financial subsidy, the use of Vitra architecture, and organizational cooperation.   read more…

Upper Eastside in Miami

17 September 2024 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Architecture, Miami / South Florida Reading Time:  19 minutes

Bay Shore Historic District © Pietro/cc-by-sa-3.0

Bay Shore Historic District © Pietro/cc-by-sa-3.0

The Upper Eastside (alternatively called East Side and commonly referred to as Northeast Miami) is a neighborhood in Miami, Florida. It is north of Edgewater, east of Little Haiti, south of the village of Miami Shores, and sits on Biscayne Bay. In geographical order from south to north and east to west, it contains the subdivisions of Magnolia Park, Bay Point, Morningside, Bayside, Belle Meade, Shorecrest, and Palm Grove. The MiMo District along Biscayne Boulevard in the area is host to many art galleries, shops and restaurants.   read more…

Swiss chalet style

14 September 2024 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Architecture Reading Time:  6 minutes

Prince of Wales Hotel, Waterton Lakes, Canada © flickr.com - Greg Willis/cc-by-sa-2.0

Prince of Wales Hotel, Waterton Lakes, Canada © flickr.com – Greg Willis/cc-by-sa-2.0

Swiss chalet style (German: Schweizerstil, Norwegian: Sveitserstil) is an architectural style of Late Historicism, originally inspired by rural chalets in Switzerland and the Alpine (mountainous) regions of Central Europe. The style refers to traditional building designs characterised by widely projecting roofs and facades richly decorated with wooden balconies and carved ornaments. It spread over Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy, France and Scandinavia during the Belle Époque era.   read more…

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