University of California-Santa Barbara’s Visual Resource Collection Image News
Various sources report that a construction company in Belize has razed most of the 2,30
0-year-old Nohmul temple. Only one small section of the Mayan temple core remains standing (picture at left). The company was apparently gathering crushed rock for a road project.
via 7 News Belize, BBC News, and Huffington Post (with pictures)
The team at the Media Center for Art History at Columbia University have, over the past five years, put together a wonderful catalogue of photos, drawings, and plans of French Gothic architecture. The site, Mapping Gothic France, lets the end user explore the content through the dimensions of Space, Time and Narrative. The site also includes interactive maps, panoramas, and plans that show the angle and position of each photo. And – the tools allow the user to do building comparisons (e.g. by nave height, aisle width, floor plan, elevation, and more). A really wonderful use of new technologies.
Enjoy!
hat tip to archdaily
The Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin, Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz now hosts an online catalogue of their significant collection of drawings, watercolors, gouaches and prints by the architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel (1781-1841). The project, Das Erbe Schinkels (Schinkel’s Legacy) contains almost 6,500 entries. Users can search either in English or German, including Iconclass and bibliography keywords. The project, developed in part with the exhibition Karl Friedrich Schinkel. History and Poetry (7 September 2012 – 6 January 2013 at Kupferstichkabinett im Kulturforum, Berlin), also aims to fit works within both a timeline of Schinkel’s artistic techniques and preferred materials as well as the broader issue of long-term user access.
The Basilica of Santa Croce in Florence announced the reopening of its main chapel with the completion of its extensive restoration. If you find yourself in Florence within the next year, the scaffolding used for the restoration remains and visitors can have a rare opportunity to see upper registers up close. However, even those of us who won’t be traveling to Italy soon can still view the before/during/after process of the restoration on the basilica’s website, along with previous projects. The software used to digitally document the work, Modus Operandi, allows users to zoom in on details of Angolo Gaddi’s brushwork from the 1380s as well as the restoration.
via artdaily.org
Brazilian-born architect Oscar Niemeyer died on Wednesday at a hospital in Rio de Janeiro, just shy of his 105th birthday.
via BBC and New York Times; photo and written tributes at ArchDaily
A Slate essay revisits the iconic Charles and Ray Eames nine-minute film Powers of Ten created for IBM and narrated by physicist Philip Morrison. Illustrated with the video and a “Making of…” slideshow, the essay discusses the ground breaking process behind the awe-inspiring still and aerial photography that captures Chicago.
Palm Springs Modernism Week isn’t until 2013 (February 14-24, 2013, to be exact), but organizers are offering “an early taste” of the annual event when they announced they’re joining in the 6th Annual Docomomo US Tour Day Saturday, October 6, 2012. In fact, Modernism Week is holding four days of events the weekend of October 5-8, including the popular Double Decker Architecture Bus Tour. Docomomo US is dedicated to the “documentation and conservation…of the modern movement, ” and the tour day is a national event with participation throughout the country by local organizations and enthusiasts of American modern architecture.
The Frank Lloyd Wright Conservancy has set up an ONLINE PETITION to help urge Phoenix in designating the David S. and Gladys Wright House (Arcadia, 1950) as a historical landmark. A unique residence created for Wright’s son, the house is at risk of demolition by developers. The spiral design predates the Guggenheim by six years and with its “concrete-block detailing, and interior design, the house was (and still is) considered to be one of Wright’s most ‘remarkable and praiseworthy’ efforts since Fallingwater.”
via ArchDaily
UPDATE (25 September 2012): On September 17, the Phoenix Historic Preservation Commission voted unanimously to recommend Landmark designation for the David and Gladys Wright House. More information here.
Google’s World Wonders Project, together with partners UNESCO and World Monuments Fund among others, offers armchair travelers an opportunity to experience the built environment in far flung places throughout the globe. The project, once again utilizing Street View, is searchable by location or theme. Additionally, many sites feature videos and user-submitted photography.
