the wonderful world of raepo

an occasional photo blog chock-full of architecture- and sometimes wacky adventures!

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First Christian Church, Columbus, Indiana. Look at the finish on those bricks! And the coursing on that grid! And those paneled doors! Love it.

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From the top: a fire house; a pigeon visiting a Kevin Roche building; three views inside an I.M. Pei library; a war memorial by Maryann Thompson. All in Columbus, Indiana.

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North Christian Church, Columbus, Indiana.

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Miller House, Columbus, Indiana. 

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Maekawa’s modernist concert hall in Ueno Park, the Bunka Kaikan, blew me away. It out-Corbued the heck out of the LeCorbusier theater across the park. Until next time, Japan!

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We stopped by Yamashita’s striking From First retail space in Omotesando, Tokyo.

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Visited the Asakura Museum in Tokyo, which is devoted to that sculptor’s work, which seems to mostly be about cats. Also there was a rad roof garden!

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We popped into Kurokawa’s National Art Center in Roppongi, Tokyo for postcard/gift shop fun. Check out those cones though!

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Walking through Maekawa’s ROHM Theater in Kyoto after the rain

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The first day in Tokyo, we stumbled upon this pre-war Frank Lloyd Wright building, the Jiyu Gakuen Girls’ School. Some pretty bizarre, acrobatic details in that place.

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While traveling through Nagano, we visited Matsumoto castle, then hiked along the old Tokugawa-era samurai path from Tsumago to Magome in the Kiso valley. Greg found a satsumaimo sweet potato, and we learned that animals won’t eat the persimmons that are strung up outside to dry. Also, Nagano showed us wonderful oyaki dumplings and a lot of things you can do with a chestnut.

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We communed with the snow monkeys of Yamanouchi, then explored the mountain resort town that supports that park.

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We visited Taniguchi’s D.T. Suzuki Museum in Kanazawa on the way to Kiso.

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We took a train to Kanazawa and visited SANAA’s 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art. So many good reflections! So much blinding direct light.

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Walking around Kyoto, we spotted a Fukihimo Maki-designed office, a face-facade, and a troop of uniformed children on a field trip.

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This temple had an amazing system in place called the nightingale floor. Give it a listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJThECzA1bc

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Still damp and slippery outside, next we visited Shorenin(?) temple. The wet stone and landscape seem especially vivid against the overcast backdrop.