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  • SOVIET-ERA sanatoriums

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    18 April 2019







    Hi MLE,

    Those vast complexes built under Stalin and subsequent leaders... I've had my eye on these for a few years, ever since various photographers have been using them as subject matter for books and galleries.

    In Russia, Ukraine, and other former Soviet Union republics, the term 'sanatorium' is generally used for a combination resort/recreational facility and a medical facility to provide short-term complex rest and medical services. Unlike western holidays, which the Soviets perceived as lavish and idle, holidays in the USSR were entirely purposeful: their function was to provide rest and recuperation so that workers could remain efficient and productive. 

    Eligible individuals received vouchers to stay at particular sanatoriums for a specified period of time, either at subsidised rates or for free. In principle, industrial workers and those with medical conditions were to be given priority, but in practice those with money and connections were prioritised instead. Today, guests consist of a large number of second world war veterans and pensioners who are treated free of charge for stays of up to a number of weeks.

    In the early days, every aspect of sanatorium life was controlled and monitored by staff in accordance with a strict schedule. Guests would start with a visit to the resident doctor, who would draw up a tailor-made programme of mandatory callisthenics, dietary recommendations and treatments. Gradually, a more relaxed sanatorium culture developed over the course of a century, and today guests can even undertake whatever treatment they like and come and go as they please.

    What I find really amazing is the treatments, that are still available today. Please see the images above, from top to bottom (yes these photos were taken just a couple years ago):

    Crude oil bath for 10 minutes
    Magnetic therapy
    Mineral water bath
    Oxygen bath
    Parafin wax treatment
    Salt air treatment
    Ultraviolet light nose and throat disinfectant

    There were 1,829 new sanatoriums built across the USSR by 1939, and they continued to be built right up to the 80s. In their peak, these sanatoriums were visited by millions of citizens across the USSR each year. Dozens are still open for business.

    But those open for business are hard to find... However, after a search I have discovered Hotel Aurora Issyk-Kul, in Kyrgyzstan. This might be an option. It was built in 1979, not as old as I would like, but it does offer most of the therapies above. I would love to go:

    Hotel Aurora Issyk-Kul, TripAdvisor

    Suzan
    Posted in: travel architecture
    -Tags: Sanatoriums
  • WESTLAND London

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    18 January 2019






    Hi MLE,

    I just discovered the most amazing shop! It's easy to miss, as it is hidden in a beautiful Grade I listed church right in the middle of busy Shoreditch, near our studio. The church itself (a maze with its mezzanine and chapels), is the perfect backdrop to the gorgeous 18th and 19th century architectural items from around Europe. 

    It's actually more like stepping into the back room of a museum, where pieces are getting ready for presentation.  

    It's fun to walk around and imagine what what the residences and owners of all these items must have been like...  I discovered it on a walk back from lunch and ended up getting stuck in there for over an hour!  

    On my way out, I found this plaque near the door:

    IN LOVING MEMORY OF GEOFF WESTLAND, 1940 - 2013
    FOUNDER OF WESTLAND LONDON
    "There is a need for our civilisation not to trash and rationalise everything. Once the soul departs from a concern and it is viewed only as a brand or a product and left to the blinkered herd of fiscal or commercial professionals - the game is over."

    Westland London.  Let's go when you're here next,

    Suzan 
    Posted in: interiors architecture
    -Tags: westland london
  • cesar MANRIQUE

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    7 April 2017

    Hello MLE,

    As you know, I was on the the Canary Islands the past couple weeks. While on the island of Lanzarote, I have come across local artist who is very famous over here, and who more people should know about. I really admire him the more I learn about him and I thought you may like to hear his story.

    Many people warned me about the Canary Islands: “there are too many greasy busloads of budget holiday makers who have ruined it.” Well, I wanted to see for myself. And I learned that if you take a drive into the interior of Lanzarote, and look at it through the eyes of this local artist (and one of the world’s great tourism innovators) you won’t see a cheap package destination - rather you’ll see what the future was meant to look like.

    This local artist is Cesar Manrique - who was a true multidisciplinarian: a painter, a sculptor, an architect, a town planner, an ecologist, a landscape gardener and (most interestingly to me) a campaigner.

    He was born in Lanzarote in 1919 to well-off middle-class family. He studied architecture for a few years before studying fine art in Madrid.  After graduating, he lived in New York where he rubbed shoulders with the celebs of the day, including Andy Warhol. He became a very successful artist, with a number of exhibitions in New York - but he chose not stay there.  Luckily for Lanzarote, he chose to return. In the 1970s this island was one of the very first places in Europe to introduce package holidays, and his home needed him…

    In Cesar’s own words: “When I returned from New York, I came with the intention of turning my native island into one of the most beautiful places in the planet, due to the endless possibilities that Lanzarote had to offer… I made it a point to show Lanzarote to the world.”

    Lanzarote today would be little more than an all-inclusive tourist trap, but it has more than this, and we all have Cesar Manrique to thank. Cesar Manrique is inexplicable without Lanzarote; Lanzarote is also inexplicable without Cesar Manrique.

    Cesar was one of these people who was deemed eccentric, but he was really only way ahead of his time. For example, he lobbied authorities to develop sensitive “intelligent tourism” - something that was relatively unheard of in the 60s and 70s. In his words: “We had to do things correctly, thinking of the tourists that come here to see what they can’t see in other places.” 

    Thanks to him even today, advertising is strictly controlled: “I think this is the first place in Europe where all the advertisements have been removed from the landscape. I used to go around at night destroying the adverts. We have advertising in the press, on the radio, on TV, and also when you go to see the nature? Enough!”

    Building is also controlled: Unlike the other islands, Lanzarote is mostly 2 storey, and some 4 storey buildings in the traditional white with green trim. Says Alejandro Gonzalez of the Cesar Manrique Foundation: “…he was trying to educate the local people to build their houses using traditional techniques, reshaping the landscape as they had for hundreds of years instead of using cheap new materials. They were very sceptical at first, but now when you ask any of the old timers about Manrique they will tell you he is a master, a genius.”

    Finally, unlike most people at the time (and even today), Cesar was deeply concerned about the environment, and felt frightened and pessimistic for the future that he saw being carved out ahead of him. 

    Over time, he peppered Lanzarote with sculptures, fantastical attractions, signs and stunning pieces of architecture:

    Jameos Del Agua (pictured above), is a volcanic tunnel turned cultural centre that features a concert hall, two dance floors, three bars, an underground lake filled with blind albino crabs, and a swimming pool that only the King of Spain is allowed to swim in.

    Says Pepin Ramirez, one of Manrique’s childhood friends, who had become a prominent politician: “The Jameos would have been much cheaper to build then, because the skilled labour and knowledge of handcraft was more readily available. Today it would be impossible.”

    Taro de Tahiche, was Cesar’s private home (also pictured above) between 1968 and 1990. It is dug out of five underground volcanic bubbles, and like so much of his work, sympathetically blends in with it’s natural environment. 

    Cesar faced his biggest challenge in the 80s, when the Canaries really started to become popular as a budget tourist destination. The developers really pushed their way in, and so began a relentless tide of soulless construction that threatened to destroy everything he had worked for. 

    Manrique began protesting at the building sites, lobbying the government and fighting to resist this development. “I don’t have any kind of patriotic romanticism,” he said in the early 90s. “I am a citizen of the world, and we have to have a feeling for the future, not a stupid and provincial mentality. I think the most beautiful feeling is to be a citizen of the world. But there is a speculative mafia in Lanzarote that I hate from the deepest place of my soul. Even Mussolini would not have allowed this fascist architecture, because it is horrible, terrible! But there is hope. Berlin was destroyed during the war, it has been rebuilt into an extraordinary city. Even though we destroy the Canary Islands, there is always hope from people with fantasies, good and enthusiastic people.” 

    The resorts of Puerto del Carmen and Costa Teguise continued to expand regardless of Cesar’s protestations, albeit without the massive high-rise apartment blocks that have plagued the other Canary Islands.

    After his death, the Fundaçion Cesar Manrique was established to continue Manrique’s work for the island, and in recent years they have brought to light a number of illegally built hotels. However, they have not been able to stop the development of Playa Blanca, the island’s third resort, which has expanded rapidly in recent years. “It used to be just a pretty little fishing village,” explains Jose Amigo, owner of the small rustic hotel Casona de Yaiza in the middle of the island. “But instead of keeping the old town and developing it outwards, keeping the feel of the traditional buildings and creating high quality accommodation, they tore it all down and started to build massive budget hotels. Cesar wanted Lanzarote to be an island where there would be a queue to get in – but how can you create that kind of place when you build hotels that have 800 rooms?” 

    I’m sure if Cesar saw Lanzarote today, he would be very sad about some parts of it. But as soon as you leave those parts, the beautiful island that he helped to create is pretty much as he left it. 

    Suzan

    Posted in: travel art architecture environment
    -Tags: cesar manrique Canary Islands
  • A HOUSE FOR ESSEX grayson perry

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    4 November 2016




    Hi Emelie,

    Artist Grayson Perry’s first building. It tells the fictional story of an Essex woman whose husband had the house built as a shrine on her death. It is covered in green and white tiles that depict Julie pregnant and naked. Grayson Perry’s artwork is all over the inside include tapestries detailing Julie’s life, ceramics, mosaics. All featured in a BBC Channel 4 documentary. Some will roll their eyes.

    However, I see this house about once a month when I get my Living Architecture newsletter (which I subscribe to as I was trying to get a place at A Room for London). And I just like it.

    Have a nice weekend!

    Suzan
    Posted in: art architecture
    -Tags: grayson perry a house for essex
  • SEVEN doors

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    22 April 2016














    Hi MLE,

    This project brings back memories of our happy days at art school. Not at all because the project seems inexperienced, but rather because it is all about concepting rather than just the final product, and that is nice to see.

    Seven door designs commemorates the 70th anniversary of Abe Kogyo, a Japanese manufacturer of wooden front and interior doors, partitions, fixtures and custom-made furniture.

    From top to bottom:

    1. slide
    Much like a window blind, this door can create small spaces to let light in, to let a breeze through, and to create a greater sense of connectivity between rooms.

    2. hang
    A door fitted with internal 2.5mm magnet sheet, allowing the user to attach various accessories to it such as trays, dust bins, flower pots, vases, and other containers. This design feature has given a new function to the door as a storage device, rather than just a thing to go in and out of.

    3. kumiko
    A door that applies kumiko, a technique of assembling wooden interior lattices without nails, most often used in creating door fixtures for traditional Japanese tatami rooms.

    4. wall
    By covering this door with shelves and picture frames that one would usually fit to a wall, this unit dims the very concept of a door, allowing it to blend into the wall to an unprecedented extent.

    5. corner
    A door that allows the user to enter and exit through corners of a room, transforming the way we think about interior layout. As this door opens particularly wide, an additional practical result of this design

    6. baby
    Abe Kogyo also manufactures various interior fittings for nurseries and pre-schools, and this gave rise to the idea of having adults and children walk through doors that match their respective sizes.

    7. lamp
    A door and lighting fixture in one, employing the wiring techniques used in electronic locks.
    More info can be found on the Nendo’s site, where I found this project.

    Have a nice weekend!

    Suzan
    Posted in: interiors architecture
    -Tags: nendo seven doors