Great Vancouver public art work titled “Nothing Happens in Good Weather” by the Instant Coffee collective, curated by Barbara Cole of Other Sights. Photos by Kate Armstrong and Kelly Lycan via the Goethe Institut’s Goethe Satellite. I hope this is a permanent installation.
Lieselotte Lehman, Klaus-Dieter Lehmann, Jinhan Ko, Sonja Greigoschewski, Barbara Cole, Jenifer Paparao, Kate Armstrong. Photo by Kelly Lycan
Last week I was at City Hall for public hearings. The issue is an urban planning fiasco that the B.C. provincial government is trying to force upon the City of Vancouver—a giant slot machine palace smack in the middle of the downtown core. Due to the crowd of opposers of this idiotic plan I had to wend my way to City Hall’s basement to find a bathroom, and that’s when I saw this cool mural from 1972. I don’t know who Graham Warrington is, but the fact that this mural hasn’t been painted over in 39 years suggests it’s now heritage, which is pleasing. Seeing it was a nice change from the disingenuous gambling industry presentations going on upstairs. Note: City Hall is being renovated, hence the mess.
Often the “before” shot is better than the “after,” but not here. Above is a nice use of nearly black paint on an old plaster wall in this Hemet, California midcentury cinderblock house. Via the blog The Brick House. Read the entertaining FAQ, in which the homeowners talk about buying nothing for more than $100 (except the house of course). And they’ve done this great simple exterior which looks so much better than the earlier raw cinderblock.
Patterned concrete walls by the firm Erwin Hauer. Top three photos show a loadbearing cast stone wall in a church in Erdberg, Vienna, Austria. Architect is Robert Kramreiter. Below are two Standard Hotel lobbies and other projects. Most of these walls look 60s or contemporary to me, rather than midcentury modern which is the era more associated with patterned concrete. The Hauer walls are more biomorphic and smooth – some of them perhaps a little smooth or fluid for my liking – but the screen wall at top is perfect. It has just enough angularity to make it interesting, maybe by virtue of its double thickness, with each hole creating a frame for the geometric shapes behind.
I’m developing a taste for these. There are lots of dinky suburban tract versions of these perforated walls, but when the scale and placement are well thought out, they can be the building’s most arresting feature. This collection is a mix of decorative landscaping walls or actual exterior treatments on buildings. Either way, the fact that they afford both privacy and light is nice. See also the entry on patterned concrete blocks. Above, “the white room” by Dag4 (‘m not sure if that one is concrete, technically, but it’s the same idea). Below, Racquet Club Tract, Palmer & Krisel. Architect: William Krisel. Palm Springs. American Cement building, and office building, all by Chimay Bleue.
Below, another shot of the Parker Hotel, Palm Springs, by schafphoto:
Photos below by how_long_it_takes, one0one0one, Fernando Stankuns, and Michael-D(new works). Click on photos for more info.
Concrete block and perforated screen fetishists should visit this Flickr pool. The wall above and below is at the abandoned Besser Vibrapac office, a building that served as a display of the company’s own concrete blocks. Besser Vibrapac by The Mover, on Flickr. Click on photos to read more. And see this.
Above, “Empty midcentury modern building in Ft. Meade, FL. It has 2 of my favorite things. Circles and squares.” By JennRation.
Above, Frank Lloyd Wright patterned blocks, by Usonian. Below, Vancouver’s Planetarium (by me), and Blomberg Windows, Sacramento, CA by atomicpear.
Above, Penticton Fire Hall, photo by Drew Makepeace. Below, Mexico City facade, “Concrete Lace,” by VonMurr.
