Any architecture enthusiasts?

[Wrymouth3]

Hey there!

I was wondering if people wanted to share some of their favorite works of architecture in this thread. Can't admit i'm too big of an architecture expert overall, but certainly find some places really cool. I'll start by sharing some of my favorite buildings.

-Rotunda at the University of Virginia
-Schonbrunn Palace
-Marienburg Fortress
-Sydney Opera House

 

[Kyriakos]

I think some images (preferably of medium size) would be helpful in this thread

Here are some Greek/Byzantine monuments:



I have modelled in 3d this building a lot of times. I find it to be magnificent...

St. Demetrios of Thessalonike:



I love this cathedral too and visit it often. Modelled it as well

The Panagia Chalkeon:



This is a late Byzantine church in Thessalonike. I love it too and modelled it as well

Church of Pantocrator, in Patrae:



Always liked this church in Patrae (biggest city in the Peloponnese). It is a fairly modern church, built in the 19th century.

The Aristotelous complex, in Thessalonike:



It is a series of a number of buildings built around or near the square of Aristotle, in Thessalonike, mostly in the 1920s.

 

[rugbyLEAGUEfan]

I suggest you PM Art Van Der Lay

 

[schlaufuchs]

Meh I prefer the early Gothic stuff to the Byzantine stuff.











I'm a big fan of the intricately carved towers, the statuary, and the beautiful vaulted ceilings and quires that the gothic churches tended to sport:

 

[Kyriakos]

The Duomo of Milan is great, i agree

I still think that the greatest Gothic building ever is the Parliament of Hungary (in Budapest) :



I saw it when i was there, many years ago. I was only 14 then i think. It made a very lasting impression on me

 

[rugbyLEAGUEfan]

Fantastic photos. Owen, What church is that third from the bottom? It's quite epic.

Nothing had topped the Sydney Opera House for me until I went here

I enjoyed this one too, unique

And in Spain yet again

 

[schlaufuchs]

Fantastic photos. Owen, What church is that third from the bottom? It's quite epic.

That's the Duomo di Milano. It's a little more "classical Gothic" than your usual Italian-Gothic fare. The first one, the Basilica de San Francesco di Assisi is a quintessential Italian-Gothic building.

 

[JohannaK]

Gothis works are truly magnificent. This style has something of special, doesn't it?

Here a building which name I can't remember in Bruxelles which I just reminded. Not sure if Hôtel de Ville or the building just opposite to it:


The inner side of the Francis I wing of the Château de Blois. I fell in love with that monumental staircase:


And the outside:

And in Spain yet again

Sagrada Familia from the inside. It's simply marvelous.

 

[North King]

The Sydney Opera House is probably my favorite building of the modern era; potentially my favorite of all time. In general, I like buildings from a lot of different periods, but since I feel like most people here probably already know of the buildings I would pick from ancient or medieval times, I'm gonna list off some modern buildings that I think could use more PR:

The Glass House


The Hundertwasserhaus


The Sagrada Familia

EDIT: Didn't notice others already mentioned it.

 

[JohannaK]

The Sydney Opera House is probably my favorite building of the modern era; potentially my favorite of all time. In general, I like buildings from a lot of different periods, but since I feel like most people here probably already know of the buildings I would pick from ancient or medieval times, I'm gonna list off some modern buildings that I think could use more PR:

The Glass House

Awesome.

 

[Formaldehyde]

Here are some interesting apartment buildings:









I discovered what is now my favorite house for the "brutalist" thread. It overlooks the Atlantic Ocean in South Africa:

 

[dragonprobably]

@Form Ah, how I love abstract architecture.

 

[JohannaK]

I must say, what Gaudí did here was mainly a refurbishing of the façade.

 

[North King]

Forma, I dunno if that qualifies as "brutalist", I think it's really just modernist. After all, isn't brutalism usually characterized by excessive concrete and soul-crippling depression?

And JoanK, I think the facade is the only notable part of the building, and indeed one of the only notable parts of any building that has to fit that neatly into a city block.

 

[Kyriakos]

Its not brutalist, indeed.

This is brutalist:



It looks like it will transform into some kind of huge robot in a minute.

 

[JohannaK]

And JoanK, I think the facade is the only notable part of the building, and indeed one of the only notable parts of any building that has to fit that neatly into a city block.

It is indeed the only notable part of THAT building, but a building should have a certain harmony between the façade and the interior, and all of its elements in general. Like this piece of earlier work by Gaudí himself:



Heavily inspired in the mossarab art of the peninsula (I remember Teruel's cathedral, lovely brickwork) it also incorporates these tiles, which is what his customer did for a living: produce and sell tiles. The interior is too characterised by these Arabic influences:

 

[North King]

Eh, I dunno. I get that you're approaching it from the respected angle (Wright, yeah?) where the artist designs everything from the facade to the furniture, but I never really bought into that. It's impossible to tell what people are going to do with the space you're giving them -- you can only give them the space.

And I don't think even that one is brutalist, Kyriakos. Typically they look more regimented, like this (do not click unless you hate your eyes).

EDIT: Okay, yes, yours is pictured on the wiki article for brutalism, but I think it's a little different from the norm.

 

[JohannaK]

Yeah, well, Gaudí was known to do everything from the building to all of the furniture, as was Wright. But you don't have to go that far. I simply mean that the structure and the space inside must relate to the façade. If you build a square block and put a painted chalk façade with wave shapes, you are all but lying to the inhabitants or users or even occasional guests and passer-bys.

 

[North King]

Yeah, well, Gaudí was known to do everything from the building to all of the furniture, as was Wright. But you don't have to go that far. I simply mean that the structure and the space inside must relate to the façade. If you build a square block and put a painted chalk façade with wave shapes, you are all but lying to the inhabitants or users or even occasional guests and passer-bys.

Maybe it's a brilliantly subtle statement on the illusiveness of the disconformity of the self in the inescapable claws of social realities.

 

[JohannaK]

Definitely. Architecture is as valid a mean to transmit a message as writing.