Truogoli di Santa Brigida

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Truogoli di Santa Brigida (Santa Brigida washing places)
Piazza dei Truogoli di Santa Brigida
Genoa, April 2016

“Piazza dei Truogoli of Santa Brigida is the place of the ancient wash houses: from Via Balbi it descends towards Via Pré and is surrounded by renovated and coloured old houses, with a sacred aedicule on a wall. At the centre of the square there is iron roofing covering the ‘truogoli’, the washhouses, where until a few decades ago, women in the neighbourhood used to meet to wash clothes and socialize. The old Genoese people said that in Santa Brigida ‘the water was wasted’ because the fountain of the washhouse was always open. The square and the ‘truogoli’ are named after the convent of Santa Brigida, now disappeared, which was situated on the uphill side of the square. Nowadays this is one of the most beautiful squares of the old town centre, it's charming when it's empty and quiet and it’s lively when there are many people visiting its restaurants, bookshops and shops.” (I Truogoli di Santa Brigida, Comune di Genova)

One Pancras Square

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One Pancras Square by David Chipperfield, 2013
Pancras Square, King's Cross
London, September 2016

“So elemental is the expression of the little office block that David Chipperfield Architects has completed at King’s Cross that its configuration can be described, pretty comprehensively, in a couple of sentences. Nine slabs of the same rectangular plan span between a core and a peristyle of evenly distributed columns. Glazing is recessed from the column line at ground level – forming a continuous colonnade – and across the entirety of the major south-facing elevation – forming balconies – but elsewhere structure and glass align. Judged as diagram, the design of One Pancras Square could scarcely be more economical and yet, for all its cultivated simplicity, the reality proves surprisingly ambiguous in tectonic effect and rich in historic association. Fundamental to that complexity is the energy that the architect has invested in the design of the columns.” (One Pancras Square, The Architect's Journal)

BNCF Rotunda

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Detail of the Rotunda seen from Via Antonio Magliabechi
Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze (BNCF)
(National Central Library of Florence)
Florence, May 2017

“The library was founded in 1714 when scholar Antonio Magliabechi bequeathed his entire collection of books, encompassing approximately 30,000 volumes, to the city of Florence. By 1743, it was required that a copy of every work published in Tuscany be submitted to the library. Originally known as the Magliabechiana, the library was opened to the public in 1747. Its holdings were combined with those of the Biblioteca Palatina Lorenese in 1861, and by 1885, the library had been renamed as the National Central Library of Florence, or the BNCF. Since 1870, the library has collected copies of all Italian publications. Since 1935, the collections have been housed in a building designed by Cesare Bazzani and V. Mazzei, located along the Arno River in the quarter of Santa Croce. Before this, they were found in various rooms belonging to the Uffizi Gallery. The National Library System (SBN), located in the BNCF, is responsible for the automation of library services and the indexing of national holdings. Unfortunately, a major flood of the Arno River in 1966 damaged nearly one-third of the library's holdings, most notably its periodicals and Palatine and Magliabechi collections. The Restoration Center was subsequently established and may be credited with saving many of these priceless artifacts. However, much work remains to be done and some items are forever lost.” (National Central Library, Wikipedia)

Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin

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Facade of the Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin by Oscar de la Chardonnière (architect)
and Jacques-Hyacinthe Chevalier (sculptor), 1873
Boulevard Saint-Martin
Quartier de la Porte-Saint-Martin, 10th arrondissement
Paris, July 2010

“The Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin is a venerable theatre and opera house at 18, Boulevard Saint-Martin in the 10th arrondissement of Paris. It was first built very rapidly in 1781 under the direction of Nicolas Lenoir (fr) (1726–1810) to house the Paris Opéra, whose previous home, the second Salle du Palais-Royal, had burned down on 8 June 1781. The new theatre had a capacity of about 2,000 spectators and included a parterre with the lowest-priced tickets sold only to males who stood throughout the performances, an amphitheatre, and four rows of boxes. The Opéra used the theatre from 27 October 1781 until August 1794. The theatre was destroyed by fire during the Paris Commune of 1871 and replaced in 1873 with a building designed by the architect Oscar de la Chardonnière (d. 1881), who enlisted the aid of the sculptor Jacques-Hyacinthe Chevalier (1825–1895) in the design of the new facade. The new interior was designed by H. Chevalier. With relatively brief interruptions, the theatre has been in continuous operation since.” (Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin, Wikipedia)

Neptune

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Statue of Neptune by Giambologna, 1567
Fountain of Neptune
Piazza del Nettuno
Bologna, June 2015

“The Fountain of Neptune (Italian: Fontana di Nettuno) is a monumental civic fountain located in the eponymous square, Piazza del Nettuno, next to Piazza Maggiore, in Bologna, Italy. Its bronze figure of Neptune, extending his reach in a lordly gesture of stilling and controlling the waters, is an early work by Giambologna, completed about 1567. An innovation of Giambologna's fountain designs is the fantastic and non-geometrical forms he gave to the basins into which water splashed and flowed, ‘curiously folded, bulging and elastic in form’, as Rosalind Grippi remarked. The fountain is a model example of Mannerist taste of the courtly elite in the mid-sixteenth century: construction of the statue was commissioned by the Cardinal Legate of the city, Charles Borromeo, to symbolize the fortunate recent election of Borromeo's uncle as Pope Pius IV. The work was designed by the Palermitan architect Tommaso Laureti in 1563, with an over-lifesize bronze of the god Neptune on the top, executed by Giambologna, who had submitted a model for the fountain of Neptune in Florence, but had lost the commission to Baccio Bandinelli. Before the fountain was built, an entire edifice was demolished to make space for it. The fountain was completed in 1565, and the Neptune was fixed in place within a couple of years.” (Fountain of Neptune, Wikipedia)

Big 4

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“Big 4” by Freestate & Atelier One, 2007
Channel Four Television Corporation
Horseferry Road
London, September 2016

“The design and construction of the Big 4 was a collaboration between Mike Smith Studio, Freestate and Atelier One, and was designed to show Channel 4's logo when the statue is correctly aligned. The statue itself is made out of steel bars, and the structure was Fabricated by Mike Smith Studio. The intention was to allow other artists to use the framework of the statue for art installations. The statue is located outside the headquarters of Channel Four Television Corporation on Horseferry Road, London. It was unveiled on 16 October 2007 by Culture Minister Margaret Hodge, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Channel 4 and to coincide with the television series The Big Art Project.” (Big 4, Wikipedia)

Dante

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Detail of Dante Alighieri by Enrico Pazzi, 1865
Piazza di Santa Croce
Florence, May 2017