Architecture
Spring/Summer 2010 | Volume IX, Number 2
Table of Contents
Editor’s Letter →
by June Carolyn Erlick
History
A Tale of Three Buildings
Greek columns, in Thomas Jefferson’s designs for the University of Virginia, might evoke democracy. In Albert Speer’s designs for Berlin during the Third Reich, similar columns serve to…
Productive Workers for the Nation
In 1954, Colombian architect Alberto Valencia took a short trip to the small town of Anolaima, two hours away from Bogotá. An architect at the Inter-American Housing Center—a joint project…
A Practice in Full
Oscar Niemeyer’s gaze reveals nothing as the ten of us make our way through the throng of architecture students towards the rows of seats that fan out from his facing central chair. Loosely…
Havana Modern
When you think of Havana and architecture, you may envision Old Havana’s restored colonial buildings. Through the notable efforts of the Office of the City Historian, hundreds of structures…
Brasilia
Dislocating the capital to Brazil’s interior highlands is a long standing project in the country’s history. The project was first linked to the transfer of the royal court from Lisbon to Portuguese…
Thinking Spaces, Urban Places
Working in the Antipodes
I was asked by ReVista to write an article on my own work, specifically about the fact that I do simultaneous work on social housing and high-profile architectural projects, something that is, to…
Three Tall Buildings
I used to hate the three tall towers that thrust against the verdant mountains. I used to think that the red brick towers dug into the landscape, belonging to some other city and some other space, created a scar of modernity…
Mexico City, Again
After seven years of graduate school, first in London and then at Harvard, I finally came back to Mexico City, my hometown. During the summer months, with the generous support of a DRCLAS…
On Haiti
Emergency and planning become one word. While dealing with emergency in Haiti, planning for the future must take place simultaneously…
Fables of Reconstruction
On May 3, 2008, the 5,000 villagers in the small but thriving town of Chaitén, Chile, were awakened by the fierce eruption of the volcano of the same name just three miles to the north…
Diadema, SP, Brazil
Prestigious British magazine The Economist recently featured Brazilian business and finance in a 14-page special report. Under the headline “Brazil takes off,” an article entitled “A better today”…
Designing Urban Opportunities
magine a gaggle of eight-year-olds chasing each other on a playground they helped design themselves. Imagine an enthusiastic team of teenagers trying to kick a ball just like their soccer…
On Conflict Resolution
Throughout Latin America, divisions and conflicts in the first decade of the 21st century have separated countries, communities, friends and family members, adding to the polarization and…
Living the Environment
The (Not Yet) Dialogue Project
So I have another sip of my coffee while looking out and enjoying the Chilean view. From here the city movement below seems to be in slow motion. The view is kind of foggy, not very crisp…
Modernity in Peru
When one thinks of Peru, one might think of colonial plazas or the splendid pre-Columbian Incan masterpiece of Macchu Picchu…
Latinotopia
The Moors settled, lived and thrived in southern Spain for 700 years. Puerto Ricans have settled, lived, and thrived in New York City for almost 100 years now. With 600 more years to go, the…
Extreme Architecture
While visiting family in Chile in December 2009 I decided to find out about new architectural developments here. I discovered that construction of the Costanera Center project had…
Difference and Repetition
Although jocular in tone the remark by Robert E. Somol, a leading architecture critic and historian, alludes to the status of the Argentines as a distinct group in architectural culture. The…
Beyond Nature
The Parque del Este in Caracas, Venezuela, was designed by noted Brazilian landscape architect Roberto Burle Marx (1909-1994). Built between 1956 and 1961, it opened at a critical time in…
Autonomy Revisited
Not so long ago settlements and dwellings throughout the globe were altogether autonomous, dependent only on nature’s shifting generosity and relying on effectively and intelligently making…
Making a Difference
Making a Difference: Summer Camp in Las Terrenas, Dominican Republic
It was 7 o’clock on a Monday morning and I was in a familiar place, the Dominican Republic. My mother is Dominican, and has made sure my brother Diego and I are able to fully immerse…
Making a Difference: Insect Lessons
Juan José was the first to spot the katydid’s quivering antenna, then suddenly he made a quick grab and the green, squirming insect was his. One advantage to this tropical place is being…
Book Talk
Poverty and Poverty Alleviation Strategies in North America
The eight essays in this volume, coedited by Mary Jo Bane, Thornton Bradshaw Professor of Public Policy and Management at the Harvard Kennedy School, and René Zenteno, Professor at…
Lizards in an Evolutionary Tree
In the natural and social sciences, as in any other scholarly discipline, certain researchers become intimately associated with the study of particular topics. Think about Walter Álvarez and…
Consolidating Mexico’s Democracy
On Mexico’s presidential election night, July 2, 2006, I stood with reporters in a brightly lit room in the Federal Electoral Institute, the sprawling nerve center located in Mexico City’s outskirts. The…
All About Almodóvar: A Passion for Cinema
Pedro Almodóvar films, as any fan knows, are fastidiously designed and art-directed to the nth degree. They provide grist for mills aesthetic and ideological, emotional and intellectual, on…