Day 82 of the 100 Day Studio: Hans van der Heijden talks about his longstanding fascination for brick buildings in Rotterdam which were built between the nineteen thirties and fifties. The reciprocity between their tectonic features and the urban space they shape is particularly noteworthy.
City View
Presence of mind
and realism squared
celebrate unshakeably
in a broken-up street
High and cast-iron the heaven
with a gleaming sun or
black and low in wild crowding
along skeletons of concrete
Through shaded Venetian blinds
towering the housing estates
stacking to close the horizon
Post-historic panorama –
Rotterdam hewn from marble
stumbling in the backlight
J.A. Deelder
Night Mayor of Rotterdam
Translated by Hans van der Heijden
100 DAY STUDIO
The 100 Day Studio is a new series of online lectures, interviews, building tours and panel discussions, organised by The Architecture Foundation. For 100 weekdays from Monday April 6th 2020 to Thursday August 27th 2020, the 100 Day Studio will host many of best architects and architectural thinkers in the world, broadcast live and uploaded here on this channel. The curriculum for the week ahead will be announced each Friday at architecturefoundation.org.uk/news/100-day-studio
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