Dear Blog,
On Glass
I now understand the European fascination with glass buildings: the poor people live in concrete apartments. The glass offices and such are a reaction to that aftereffect of fascism, communism and socialism: they are anti-egalitarian statements wrought in liquefied sand. They are a coming of age movie. A first car. An expression of freedom. They mean "we are wealthy enough not to live in concrete". Concrete in most of the world has become a replacement for mud-brick and thatch. personally I hate glass buildings. They're loud, they're hot or cold, and you can see almost straight down. Gimme brick, stone or concrete, preferably two feet thick or more, and an air conditioner. I want it quite, and cool. Besides, and this should be important to Italians: sculpture is an extension of architecture. The reason that concrete doesn't look good is the absence of sculpture. Build concrete buildings and make sculptures to adorn them. Cast them in concrete like they did in the nineteenth century. but rebuild your craft in concrete and stone. Glass is simply an anti-human building material that destroys the craft that sculpture prolongs: the visual mythology it communicates, and creates uncomfortable spaces the are hard on energy consumption.
nothing like stumbling through a city after too many becherovka's and admiring the functionalism architecture. i am all for your sculpture concept, but from what i've seen, they never took the time. build it fast, make it last, erase the past as the saying goes. working with concrete will suck the moisture from your soul, so will looking at too much of it. wishing i was traveling...
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