Architecture and Culture

Altare della Patria, Rome Photo: Alvesgaspar/Wikimedia Commons Altare della Patria ("Altar of the Fatherland") is a monument built to honor the first king of the newly unified Italy, Victor Emmanual. The monument was designed by Giuseppe Sacconi in 1885. The final structure was inaugurated in 1911 and construction was completed in 1925. It is built in the neoclassical style and incorporates Corinthian columns, fountains, equestrian statues of Victor Emmanual and statues of the goddess Victoria riding quadrigas. Its enormous size of the monument has had its fair share of criticism both for its conspicuousness, size, and pompous design. Its construction also destroyed large parts of the ancient Roman Capitoline Hill. Arc De Triomphe, Paris Photo: Dietmar Rabich/Wikimedia Commons The Arc De Triomphe is probably the world's most famous Triumphal Arch and one of Paris's most iconic landmarks. It stands at the western end of the Champs-Élysées at the center of Pla...

Parasitic architecture gallery

The Green Exhibition House appeared in Rotterdam in 2001, designed as an experiment in assembling a prefabricated structure onto an existing building. In true parasitic fashion, the water pipes, sewage and electricity were all tapped from existing connections in the base building (By: Korteknie Stuhlmacher Architecten) Manifest Destiny, by artist Mark Reigelman, is a tiny cabin affixed to the side of a hotel in downtown San Francisco. Designed to envision the “romantic spirit of the Western myth”, this interesting structure positions itself as an compelling juxtaposition between the old and the new (By: Mark Reigelman) The Parasite office in Moscow from Za Bor architects utilizes the abandoned space between buildings to create a multistory office environment. The structure sits above the laneway between the buildings and resembles an organic growth seemingly joining up the two disparate buildings on either side (By: Peter Zaytsev) From Stefan Eberstadt the Rucksack Ho...

European cities for art deco design

Art deco’s straight lines and bold shapes were an expression of early-20th-century belief in technology and progress. Here are cities around Europe that showcase this exuberance. Bucharest ’s premier arts centre, the whitewashed ArCub, is one of the country’s finest art-deco buildings, with the trademark combination of elongated banner windows and steamship portholes. Bucharest was known as Little Paris for its cultural and cosmopolitan reputation, as well as having its own Arcul de Triumf. Oil and food exports brought great wealth to the city between the wars, and the period was characterised by the construction of many art-deco buildings, a style that symbolised this capitalist success. The 1934 Telephone Palace on Calea Victoriei was the first building with a steel structure in Romania. Art-deco apartment blocks, doors, gates, glass canopies, fountains and clocks can be seen all over the city. Amzei Square’s shops and the Judecătoria (courthouse) on Stirbei Voda are also in th...

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