Aung Kyaw Thein

Imagination is more important than knowledge.

[stoicremains-deactivated2017102]

it’s too late either for love or for poetry.

Charles Bukowski, “a literary romance” (via whyallcaps)

[leaerostat]

Glashaus (under Construction). Cologne, Germany 1914. Bruno Taut

[vivirenmexico]

[searchofthesublime]

[archisketchbook]

Plan of the Athens Propylaeum P. Titeux & L. Chaudet (1846)

[aungkyawthein]

"Rationalism is the enemy of art, though necessary as a basis for architecture".

Arthur Erickson

[yangonarchitecture]

Isaac and Meyer Sofaer were Baghdadi Jews who had come to Rangoon as boys. They set up a trading business together in the late 19th century, mainly importing alcohol and specialty foods. Their building opened in 1906. Isaac Sofaer, who also professed as an architect, made the drawings together with Thomas Swales, who had already left quite an imprint on Rangoon despite his relatively young age (Swales was born in 1877).

[aungkyawthein]

"He remembers those vanished years. As though looking through a dusty window pane,     the past is something he could see, but not touch. And everything he sees is blurred and indistinct".

(in the Mood for Love)

[yangonarchitecture]

Another school building in Dagon township is the Basic Education High School No. 1. It used to be known as Methodist English High School. It moved to its current location in 1894, when it was still a girls’ school (boys were only admitted gradually). The Victorian-era main building got destroyed by Japanese bombs during the war. It was rebuilt under the direction of Methodist missionary Frank Manton and former principal Doreen Logie, and thanks to generous donations from the Methodist community, after Burmese independence. The next door English Methodist Church had been spared from Japanese bombs as it served as the Burma headquarters for Bose’s anti-British Indian National Army. The school reopened in 1947, and the few students that showed up were taught from inside the church before the new main building was ready by 1948/49. After the nationalisation campaign of Ne Win, the school was renamed but retained its reputation as one of the country’s elite institutions. Today the school has more than 6,000 students, making it the largest of its kind in Myanmar. Its alumni are scattered around the world and have regular reunions.

[aungkyawthein]

I think that the ideal space must contain elements of magic, serenity, sorcery and mystery.

Luis Barragan

[aungkyawthein]

I believe in God, only I spell it Nature.

Frank Lloyd Wright

[aungkyawthein]

"If a building becomes architecture, then it is art. Clearly, if a building is not functionally and technically in order, then it isn’t architecture either, it’s just a building. (...) If architecture had nothing to do with art, it would be astonishingly easy to build houses, but the architect’s task – his most difficult task – is always that of selecting. (...) In addressing a task, one almost always has several possible options, sometimes only a few, and they may all be practical and functional. But they lack the aesthetic aspect that raises it to architecture. That is the artistic task: To choose the best from these solutions"

Arne Jacobsen

[yangonarchitecture]

The financial year 1916/1917 saw two major colonial administration buildings being completed. Both of them were designed by John Begg, Consulting Architect to the Government of India. One was the Government Telegraph Office, on which we reported yesterday. The other, today’s building, was the Custom House on Strand Road. Strategically located just across some of the city’s main wharfs, officials here were charged with collecting customs from commercial shipping. Some of the Customs staff were on call 24 hours and thus were assigned apartments on the top floor of the building. Sarah Rooney, in her “30 Heritage Buildings of Yangon”, explains the role of the “Rummaging Staff”. They were charged with searching for contraband on ships. The ingenuity of smugglers was astounding, although the officials knew their trade, too. Contraband drugs, gold, gems and other goods “were hidden behind bulkheads, inside ventilators, lifeboats, lavatory cisterns, bath and washbasin drainage bends, in remote spaces in cargo holds, the list is endless and they all had to be looked into.” The Custom House continues to be in use today, and there are usually droves of people out on the sidewalk waiting with papers in their hands. The building has been freshly repainted recently.

[mostlymies]

Edith & her dog, during the construction of her house.

(Farnsworth, of course.)

[lecabinetdarchitecture]

[nrqarq]

La chapelle Notre-Dame-du-Haut à Ronchamp (1950-55)

Le Corbusier (1887-1965)

The chapel was built on the hill of Bourlémont in the town of Ronchamp. The old chapel was destroyed during the fighting in 1944. In 1950, the church plans to build a new chapel. Le Corbusier is the architect. The foundation stone will be laid in the year 1954. Stone, so the stone! The masonry of the chapel is made of rubble stones recovered from the ruins. (Translated from the french)

Photography by Lucien Hervé and Albert Mozer

[neko-grrl]

kabukicho 3 by children of the neon god on Flickr.

I love doing this effect.

[toadelevatingmoment]

[yangonarchitecture]

Just five years after independence, U Nu’s government embarked on a very ambitious building project. On the occasion of the Sixth Great Buddhist Synod (or Council) held in Rangoon from 1954 to 1956, the Kabar Aye (World Peace) Pagoda was built alongside a huge artificial cave as well as a library, pictured above. Despite being part of the complex of Kabar Aye Pagoda few tourists ever venture far enough to the north to find the Pitaka Taik and/or Theravada Buddhist Library (clarifications welcome), though. A huge rosetta window is facing a small forest in the back. In front of the building there is an oval pond and a manicured hilly landscape. The building also houses a small Buddhist art museum.