Tag: architecture

Travel Tuesday

Insights from a walk around Boston Seaport with a camera’s eye view. We catch the Art Deco United Shoe Machinery Building at 160 Federal Street as a highlight of this image.

Sometimes our travel doesn’t need to take us very far to cause us to have interesting observations. For this installment, the travel was just my commute to work, and the opportunity to walk around the Boston Seaport area with camera in hand.

Here’s one of the views from my saunter…

Boston Skyscape

What caught my attention, as you can well imagine, is the shining roof of the art deco building. This building is located at 160 Federal Street in Boston, and was built in 1930 as the United Shoe Machinery Building. At 24 floors, it actually was the tallest office building in Boston for 20 years. As you can tell, it is no longer that.

What really attracted me to this skycap was the contrast of varying styles and eras of building construction. It’s always interesting to see how architecture evolves and how differences can come together. Sounds like a great concept for many other facets of society.

iPhone Friday

The city of Rotterdam has a lot of gems, including this futuristic architecture from 1977!

Some weeks I simply get stuck in a single country while going through my photos. I guess it’s the Netherlands for this week, as this installment of iPhone Friday gets us to Rotterdam. During a visit in 2017, I found myself walking through the city of my birth. There’s always something new to see in the city!

Here’s one of my favorite views that you don’t see everywhere…

Plan C

Although these houses were already 40 years old at the time of this photo, they still look futuristic. Architect Piet Blom came up with this design, of which there are several locations. The first set were built in the city of Helmond in 1972, and these in Rotterdam started in 1977. The Rotterdam collection has 38 cubes and 2 super-cubes, all of which are attached to each other.

As they were (and are) quite the novelty, residents were often asked by passers-by to let them see the inside. So one of the residents opened their house as a “show cube”, and makes a living offering tours of their interesting abode. I have taken the tour and can tell you that hanging art on the walls requires additional attachment points!

Another NYC Moment

Last Sunday, one of the highlights was Vessel, a 150-foot copper-clad structure with 154 flights of stairs.

As I’m enjoying a relaxing Sunday, I thought it might be nice to share another moment from last Sunday. At that time, I was exploring High Line park and found some interesting photo subjects. Dinosaur was definitely one of those, and, of course, there is no escaping the Urban Landscape! Or maybe those high-rise buildings that act like Glass Pincers…

Here’s another unusual structure I ran into…

Vessel

The name of this copper-clad structure is Vessel, and it’s definitely an eye-catcher! It rises 150 feet into the air and has 154 flights of stairs with a total of 2,500 steps and 80 landings. And, yes, there is an elevator that takes you to the top, so you only have to go down those steps.

Next time that I am in the Hudson Yards area, I will make sure I have a ticket so that I can take some photos from different angles!

Urban Landscape

Observations from my visit to New York City, highlighting contrasts between old and new architecture.

As I explored a little bit of New York City this weekend, there were definitely some things that struck me, as a tourist. I’m sure that for residents, these are normal, everyday non-observations, but for me they stood out. As I came prepared with my trusty Fuji X-H2 in hand, I have a significant number of images.

I’ll kick off with this one…

Old vs. New

This is a view from the High Line Park and what struck me here is that the old and the new construction are so radically different and contrasting. The solidity of brick against the fluidity of glass surfaces, and the chimney, which has no modern equivalent, as we hide those details. I expect that over time more of the brick facades will disappear and be replaced with multiple angles of glass and shiny surfaces.

Much more to come!

A View from 24

A view from the 24th floor, reaching across avenues and streets toward a landscape of structural giants.

I’m making a short visit to New York City, where I am always intrigued by the vistas. Being surrounded by skyscrapers gives me a sense of being in an otherworldly landscape, as their size and angles appear beyond what feels human.

So here’s a view from my hotel room…

Surfaces to the Sky

A landscape of angles, juxtaposition of directional language, as if it is looking to outdo their neighbors. Each is built to impress, make a statement of the importance of what is happening inside each edifice. If these structures could speak they might tell us epic sagas of great achievement, or would they?

Wednesday Window – pt 14

The Harpa Concert Hall in Reykjavik features a stunning façade with more than 700 embedded LED strip lights, which create a visual art installation at night.

We’re back at Reykjavik’s Harpa Concert Hall and Convention Centre.  There is much more to Harpa’s intriguing facade than the collection of windows of different types of glass. Artist Olafur Eliasson led the facade design and created a massive art installation! In last week’s post we covered the dichroic glass and the interesting colors that this provides. This week we go into the dark side of Harpa!

Here’s an image from the video below…

Harpa at Night

There are more than 700 LED strip lights embedded in the building’s façade, each approximately 1.5 meters (4.6 feet) long. Each fixture is incorporated into a slim aluminum extrusion, specifically designed to match the geometry of its specific quasi-brick glass and mounted to the rear vertical profile of the steelwork. This placement avoids overwhelming people inside the foyer with too much light, while offering the best diffuse and indirect light distribution. The fixtures’ optics are composed of a series of filters, diffusers, and lenses and were developed for the project in collaboration with lighting manufacturer Zumtobel.

Harpa’s Night Art

This video shows a short segment of the windows changing colors. As it was rather windy, I have removed the audio.

Much appreciation to Architect Magazine for their September 17, 2012 article titled Harpa-Reykjavik Concert Hall and Conference Centre.

This is my mid-week contribution to the Monday Window thread, a creation of Ludwig Keck. To read more about Ludwig, check this page.

Wednesday Window – pt 13

The Harpa Concert Hall features a unique glass facade with ten different types of glass, including three dichroic varieties that reflect vibrant colors during the day.

After last week’s reception of the Harpa Concert Hall and Convention Centre, I’ll reprise this amazing structure with a bit of a detail view. One of the unique features of the glass facade is that it provides bits of color. Yes, there are a large number of same sized panes of glass. No, that doesn’t mean there is no variation.

Here’s a more detailed look…

Harpa Details

There are 10 different types of glass used across the building’s facades, including three dichroic glasses. These dichroic glasses are yellow, green and orange, so that they reflect blue, red and purple. These create a nice touch during daylight hours, as you can see in the image.

Next week, I’ll focus on the night time view, which is thanks to the efforts of artist Olafur Eliasson.

This is my mid-week contribution to the Monday Window thread, a creation of Ludwig Keck. To read more about Ludwig, check this page.

Wednesday Window – pt 12

We explore an aspect of Iceland’s renowned Harpa Concert Hall and Convention Centre in Reykjavik; a truly inspiring visual gem!

In this episode we’re going back to Iceland and a specific building in Reykjavik that is a photographer’s dream. The Harpa Concert Hall and Convention Centre is an amazing and award-winning structure by the city’s waterfront. The shapes that are created through this amazing glass-clad environment are eye-catching both from the outside and the interior.

Today, we take a look from the exterior…

Harpa Windows

A myriad of windows adorn the facade, which becomes even more interesting at night, as colors play across them (might be a future post). Just imagine the approach that was taken to construct such an outer shell. From any angle, there are visual stimuli that interest many photographers and will keep us coming back to experience the views under different light and weather conditions.

This is my mid-week contribution to the Monday Window thread, a creation of Ludwig Keck. To read more about Ludwig, check this page.

Wednesday Window – pt.4

Combining form and function, a window captured in the picturesque town of Speyer in Germany.

In last week’s post on Wednesday Window – pt.3, we looked at the effects that the weather might have on the window and building. Today, let’s take a look at a window from a bit more in the past, which combines form and function; let’s visit Speyer in Germany!

The town of Speyer is a lovely, picturesque city on the Rhine river with a rich history dating back to its founding by the ancient Romans as part of their fortifications on the northern frontiers of the empire…

Stadthaus Fenster

Speyer was one of the cities that my wife and I visited as part of our Viking River cruise from Amsterdam to Basel in 2022. We spent time sauntering through the old streets, admiring much of the architecture and taking in the great variety of periods represented throughout.

This image is a detail of the town hall, presenting some of the decorative aspects of windows, as they often will have a flower box to enhance their look. I also wonder if flowers were put in windows, so that they could enhance the smells coming into the house, as during olden times there may have been less than pleasant scents emanating from the streets…

Saturday Activities

A Saturday of discovery!

As I sit here watching a bit of Premier League football after breakfast, a quick post to provide an idea for a Saturday if you happen to be in the Netherlands…

Institute of Sound+Vision

The Institute of Sound & Vision in Hilversum is an architecturally stunning building, both on the outside and the inside, as captured in this image. Striking colors and angles make this a sight to behold!

Additionally, the exhibits are always thought, ear and eye provoking making this a wonderful visit.