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Criticalista

Rafael Gómez-Moriana's architecture blog

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Category: Comparative analysis

Reassessing the Street-in-the-Sky in Times of Coronavirus

As Covid 19 spreads its way around the world, a fear of urban density is similarly catching on, with suburbs, … More

Alison and Peter Smithson, climate change, corrala, COVID-19, Cromwell Building, Edwin Lutyens, exterior access, housing, Jean Nouvel, Mario Fiorentini, megastructure, Michiel Brinkman, Moshe Safdie, Stanley Kubrick, urban sprawl, urbanism

For Greener Cities

[Originally published in RocaGallery.com. Versión en castellano sigue a continuación] Urban mobility is becoming ever more diverse: electric cars, trucks, … More

bicycling, infrastructure, rocagallery.com, sustainability, urban mobility

Architecture and Design Reboot

[Originally published in RocaGallery.com. Versión en castellano sigue a continuación] Recycling is great…in theory. In practice however, it is only … More

design, interior design, materials, re-use, recycling, rocagallery.com

Dialectical Destinations: Two Solo Houses

[A version of this text was originally published in Baumeister December 2017] Contemporary architecture has become such an intrinsic component … More

Baumeister, countryside, court yard house, forest, Office KGDVS, overtourism, Pezo Von Ellrichshausen, romantic gaze, Solo Houses, Spain, touristic architecture, wilderness

Three Roles Played by Architecture in Three Recent Films

[Originally published in O magazine] Buildings are as ubiquitous in films as they are in our lives. Even in the most … More

Aloys film, architecture, film, High Rise film, Koolhaas, O Magazine, REM documentary

Cycling Barcelona versus Copenhagen: an Experiential Comparison

The other day I read an interesting critique of Barcelona’s cycling infrastructure titled “The Arrogance of Space”, by the Copenhagenize … More

activism, automobile, Barcelona, bicycling, Copenhagen, politics, public space, urban mobility, urbanism

Multiple Discovery, Idea Theft, or Tweaking?

Having an original idea is everything in architecture. Its history is one of innovations and breakthroughs; of new ideas, materials, and … More

Angelo Roventa, authenticity, furniture, housing, idea theft, multiple discovery, PKMN, tweaking

Observations on Attitude

[Originally published in Log Journal #32] Visiting “Fair Enough,” the satirical exhibition in the Russian Pavilion, I was reminded of … More

architecture, art, General Idea, Log Journal, Russian Pavilion, USA Pavilion, Venice Biennale

Drawing Conclusions

Catalonia, drawing, la senyera, politics, representation

Reality Check: Spain

[Text originally published in Mark Magazine #50] Revisiting architecture is always a good thing to do, especially when the work … More

architecture, Cloud 9, criticism, history, Jürgen Mayer H., Jean Nouvel, Mark Magazine, media, Peter Eisenman, politics, post-occupancy, Spain, theory

From Bauhaus to Vitrahaus and Beyond: a new Meme?

Bauhaus, Herzog de Meuron, meme, Sou Fujimoto, WAM Architecten

Product Placement / Emplazamiento publicitario

Product Placement [Originally published in Arquitectura Viva #153 under the title “Marcas y contextos”. Translation: Eduardo Prieto] “Designed by Apple … More

architecture, Arquitectura Viva, Barcelona, design, MBM, site-specificity

The Forest Metaphor

The Drassanes Reials (royal shipyard) of Barcelona has recently reopened after a lengthy renovation by architects Robert and Esteve Terradas. … More

Barcelona, Córdoba, Comparative analysis, forest, metaphor, mosque, shipyard

Pseudo-Choice

Potato chips, or crisps, come in a fantastic panoply of artificial flavors. BBQ, Ketchup, or “regular” are standards the world … More

branding, facadism, merchandizing, packaging, politics

Strange Bedfellows

The image at left shows the construction of the “Instant City” during the congress of the International Council of Societies … More

activism, Almería, beach, coast, corruption, crap, hotel, Ibiza, politics, resort, seashore, tourism, utopia

Not So Different

“Spain is Different” was a tourism campaign slogan coined in the mid-1960s by dictator Francisco Franco’s Ministry of Information and Tourism (!), … More

Apple, branding, Manuel Fraga, politics

The Cantilever Race

The skyscraper race is over. It’s been won hands down by an absurdly high building in Dubai which doesn’t look … More

Barcelona, cantilever, Josep Lluis Mateo, space race, spectacle

Pop Architecture

Ordinary, everyday objects — that’s what most popular nicknames for buildings refer to. A gherkin, a paperclip, a typewriter, a … More

architecture, art, Claes Oldenburg, popular culture, semiotics

Winnipeg: One Great Situation-Normal (1)

[Originally published in Winnipeg Art Gallery exhibition publication Sit(e)ings: Trajectories for a Future] “Incredible…one can actually order ‘a cup of coffee’ … More

art, authenticity, cultural identity, D.I.Y., housing, popular culture, WAG, Winnipeg

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Criticalista collects Rafael Gomez-Moriana's writings on architecture and the built environment. All photographs by the author unless indicated otherwise.

©2014 Rafael Gomez-Moriana. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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