To All the Architects I've Loved Before
This article is a tribute to the 5 architects that have died and that I personally consider that they have left a legacy through their designs, regardless of the time or context they were in, they managed to emphasize developing the daily idea of what architecture is.
1. Bartolomeo Francesco Rastrelli
This Architect were born in 1700, Paris, France—died April 1771, St. Petersburg, Russia. Rastelli is the Inventor of the Baroque architecture in Russia, that combined elements of Rococo (of furniture or architecture in baroque style) whit the traditional elements of the Russian culture, creating multicolored and decorative ornamentation on all facade.
"The Winter Palace in St. Petersburg (1754–62) was the pinnacle of Rastrelli’s creation. The three-story building is in the form of a quadrangle: the powerful square expanses are united with one another at their corners by wide three-storied galleries in which antechambers and living quarters were located. The abundance of ornament gives the facades a feel of surging inner power. The palace is the pinnacle of Russian architectural Baroque and the beginning of its end."
- Andrei D. Sarabianov, Bibliography of Bartolomeo Rastrelli. (www.britanica.com)
The Winter Palace is a true example of Russian opulence, and you will have an open mouth when entering this monumental building, it gives a sensation of power, but at the same time a balance and beauty among the materials, that makes all the visitors to admire the architecture. Currently the Winter Palace is the headquarters of the Hermitage, the second largest museum in the world with more than two million works of art and is open to the public in the City of St. Petersburg.
2. Charles Garnier
If I had the opportunity to write a letter to this architect I would say thank you for giving humanity the romanticism that the world deserves. His full name is Jean-Louis-Charles Garnier, born November 6, 1825, and also born in France—died August 3, 1898, Paris, Garnier is known as the architect of the Beaux-Arts style, famed as the creator of the Paris Opera House. He was admitted to the École des Beaux-Arts in 1842 and was awarded the Grand Prix de Rome in 1848 to study in Italy.
When I start to analyze this building, I have a mixture of feelings, of admiration, but at the same time of skepticism, and I ask myself, How is it possible that a person has been able to think so many details?, but at the end, it only remains to admire his talent and that he could design a monument like this, and even today stills as one of the most emblematic buildings of the second French Empire.
3. Le Corbusier
Every architecture student knows who Le Corbusier is, probably for sure the best teacher of the modern era. And personally I do not identify with the building projects with him, but his diagrams taught me from proportion to know how to analyze the human body, and that foundations, you have no idea how many time I've spent reading his books, and that made me the architecture student that I am today, he is just so accurate by posting his ideas on paper.
Hes Full name is Charles-Edouard Jeanneret, born October 6,1887, in the city of La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, and died August 27, 1965, Cap Martin France. This Swiss architect was recognized by his unusual and futuristic designs and city planning, with a sculptural expressionism.
4. Oscar Niemeyer
When I began to study architecture on a larger scale, I was introduced to the work of Oscar Niemeyer, and I was amazed to see how this architect had the ability to plan the city of Brasilia, being his masterpiece.
His full name is Oscar Ribeiro de Almeida Niemeyer Soares Filho, born December 15, 1907, Rio de Janeiro. Died December 5, 2012 in the same city, and if you haven't figured out his age, he died at 104 years old.
Being a pioneer of design in the modern era, characterized by a white, clean and solid freestyle, accentuating the architecture with tools such as contrasted of color or refraction of light, this architect makes me admire his talent and willingness to truly express himself by giving his own style to the City of Brasilia.
5. Zaha Hadid
One of the most powerful women I have ever seen in my life, when she showed her attitude, her designs, and the way people talk about her, she was undoubtedly a revolutionary woman. Personally, I compare her as the Meryl Streep architecture. Her full name was Dame Zaha Hadid, born October 31, 1950, Baghdad, Iraq—died March 31, 2016, Miami, Florida, U.S.
"Iraqi-born British architect known for her radical deconstructivist designs. In 2004 she became the first woman to be awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize."
- John Zukowsky, The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica.
When you start trying to understand the designs of this amazing woman, you just cannot understand them, and to define it as a single word I would say "Curves", in her last 20 years of career we are amazed with a series of curved spaces, when you get inside the place you will not see any straight line (exception of the ground floor), and this style of design makes you feel welcome and comfortable in delicate, white and naturally illuminated spaces.
And that is how I finish the blog of this day, and I have to clarify that I had learned from all of them and they have been significant for my foundation as an architect. I had the need to pay tribute to architects who are no longer alive, but when you see their projects I feel like they still are, because we can witness, experience and interact with their legacy.
To all the Architects that I've Loved Before,
Thank you,
From a Architecture Student.
