An architectural delight in Prague

Architecture is inextricably woven with travel. Apart from landscapes and natural vistas, majority of iconic landmarks and tourist attractions are buildings. Buildings are inherent in cityscapes and urban landscapes. Moreover, cityscapes are draw cards for travellers in their itinerary for adventure - whether its churches, bridges, museums, hotels or even some retail therapy.

Prague, like most cities in Europe, is a city of visual delight. In preparation for the trip, I have browsed through numerous travel and photography monographs on the city's architecture that seeing firsthand Prague's landmarks was awe-inspiring. As an architect and a bibliophile, akin to reading and turning the actual pages of an interesting book, seeing these enthralling edifices is a tactile experience.

Art Nouveau, also known as Style Moderne or Jugendstil is an architectural style which flourished in major European cities between 1890 and 1914. My interest in this movement was through studying the works of American architects Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright and Scottish architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh. In Prague, the movement was led by Czech painter and decorative artist Alphonse Mucha (1860-1939).

It was surprising to me that there are quite a large number of remarkable and well-preserved buildings in Art Nouveau style in Prague. I learned that as there haven't been any destruction/reconstruction programs in Prague as in much of western Europe, nearly all the original Art Nouveau buildings have remained. However, these buildings remain unknown to tourists as they mostly pay attention to the popular Prague Castle and Charles Bridge. But if you know what to look out for, the Old Town, the Jewish Quarter and Wenceslas Square are dotted with Art Nouveau style buildings. Looking up these buildings will treat oneself to beautiful architectural details and decorations. Perhaps the most well-known building is the Municipal House at Namesti republiky 5.

I stayed in one of the first Art Nouveau buildings in Prague which is just a few metres from the Municipal House and the Powder Tower. The former Hotel Central built 1898-1900 is now the K+K Hotel Central at Hybernská. This 4*-boutique hotel in the city centre of Praque is located within a short walking distance from the Main Train Station (Hlavní nádraží) and Old Town Square. Designed by Bedřich Ohmann (1858-1927) and his students Bedřich Bendelmayer (1872-1932) and Alois Dryák, unique Jugendstil architectural details adorn this very stylish hotel.

Although the well appointed hotel displays a contemporary interior design with modern amenities, the Art Nouveau details have been preserved particularly on its front facade, the delicate details of metal railings, ornate light fixtures, curved mouldings of the breakfast restaurant which used to be a theatre hall c 1900 and the glass elevator.

Apart from its proximity to the sights of the Old Town Square, this architectural gem will certainly delight the architectural traveller.

Orange Penguins

Popular Penguins, an imprint of the Penguin Group (Australia), has published 50 bestselling titles dressed in the distinctive 1935 orange and white livery.

Titles in the collection include Alain de Botton's The Consolations of Philosophy, Michel Foucault's The History of Sexuality: Volume 1 and Richard P Feynman's Six Easy Pieces.



The Popular Penguins is a reprise of the Allen Lane's brainchild in 1935 when he published then contemporary titles and made readily available by selling them at the affordable cost of sixpence (which was the cost of a pack of cigarettes then).

The 2008 Orange Penguins are likewise priced at an attractive cost of AU$9.95. Grab a couple of titles for a bit of fun reading over the holidays. With 50 to choose from, you are bound to find one (or more) that would interest you. Enjoy!

Flickr tags in graphics

This image shows all the Flickr tags I have used to date compiled using Rev Dan Catt's text generator for Wordle.



As seen at Mowling's Flickr photostream and Michael Surtee's DesignNotes.

Exploring Adelaide's architectural marvels

This morning I took part in a walking tour of art deco architectural highlights of Adelaide CBD hosted by the Art Deco Society - Adelaide Chapter.

The tour revealed a number of architectural gems tucked away in the city's side streets. Notable and my favourites are the Laubman and Pank Optometrists and Gritti Palace, Bank of South Australia, Fletcher Jones Building and the Gilbert Place Apartments.

Architectural examples of this early 20th century international movement have
always held some fascination along with the Bauhaus style, Arts and Crafts Movement and Art Nouveau.

In the Philippines, particularly Manila, Art Deco is associated with American colonial architecture. This architectural style flourished when the country was an American colony. Buildings that I fondly remember include the Metropolitan Theatre and Far Eastern University. However, a number of the buildings were destroyed in the Second World War or have been demolished.

In Adelaide, impressive examples that remain almost in their original designs include cinemas, residences and commercial buildings.

Architecture in Shoe Design

I was amused by DesignNotes' comparison of one of the shoes in this year's Gucci collection to building design and architecture. I was reminded of this short film on the design of Nike shoes.


This Gucci Newton high heel peekaboo bootie is part of Gucci's 2008 spring summer collection. They certainly look like a piece of architectural art - streamlined design with the sleek patent black leather evoking fluid motion, elegantly embellished with the understated light gold back and with stature to boot with those pencil thin 4-1/2" heels.


Even with the whopping price of US$795, these Gucci's with killer heels are in popular demand.

Women and their shoes:
"High heels let you cheat at the gym. In the time it takes you to slide your feet into a great pair of heels, you not only get great-looking legs, you also get a butt lift of approximately twenty-five percent. What exercise equipment can beat that?" - Leanne Banks (2005)

*images as seen at DesignNotes and Zesty Perspective.

On design methodology

I have been asked to design my sister's first house and in doing the design sketches, I found myself thinking about my thought / design process in coming up with schematics for any design project. It has been over six years since I designed something (architecturally speaking). The last design project I was involved in was in 2001 before I decided to enter graduate school and work on the PhD research - albeit still within the discipline of architecture. Even though, I have been working in an architectural firm for the past two years and have been part of a design team, my role in design projects is essentially collaborating with the design architect in terms of providing essential background material for the design solution, sustainability research and clarifiying / expounding the project brief.


Doing the initial schemes for the house, I was amazed at how the concepts I had toyed with the last few weeks took on a concrete orthographic form on paper. Having practiced and worked on predominantly residential projects for 10 years prior to graduate school, I was familiar with the design norms, code requirements, etc. But having been more research-oriented and on a totally different subject area in architecture, I didn't think that the commonsense 'design' rules I learned which have guided my design process and framed my methodology would come into play so naturally. Michael Surtees wrote a similar thing about his design process in graphics design, "the sketch of a logo may have only taken a moment to draw, but it took 25 years of observation to get those five seconds of inspiration".

In a similar vein, recent collaboration with another design team within the practice, I was reminded of this passage from Matthew Frederick's 101 Things I Learned in Architecture School (2007): "Being process-oriented, not product driven, is the most important and difficult skill for a designer to develop ...[and] being process-oriented means [among others], seeking to understand a design problem before chasing after solutions."

Perhaps a segue into another discourse but not really off on a tangent, what are these commonsense rules? How do these rules become entrenched in a designer's psyche or consciousness?

Again, DesignNotes pointed to a fitting post with an education bent - from an essay by Lorraine Wild, ‘That Was Then, and This Is Now: But What Is Next?’ in Looking Closer Four: Critical Writings on Graphic Design (2002).


Although refering to graphic design, Tod Roeth's How to be schooled, elaborated on the text above and is most certainly applicable to the architectural design process: "if a person wants to be the author of thoughtful, professional, and effective ... design then they must draw on their ability to exercise some real foresight, critical thinking, and common sense if they want to be ... designers."

Roeth adds, "...good designers need to first be human beings with a lot of – literally – common sense. Designers need to be students of all corners of their culture’s playing field. Designers need to have a sense of business. Designers need to have a sense of politics. Designers need to have a sense of stereotypes. Designers need to have a sense of religion, philosophy, current events and history. Designers need to have a sense of urban lifestyles, agrarian lifestyles, and minority lifestyles. Designers need have a sense of conservative viewpoints. Designers need to understand liberal viewpoints."

"Designers need a lot of common sense. In short, effective ... designers need to be able to be sensible and conscious of different viewpoints, and different styles of language (verbal and non-verbal) within their culture and the types of mindsets that speak them. Furthermore, ... designers then need to draw from their body of knowledge and experience, and employ it to cleverly, shrewdly, and creatively solve the problems graphic designers are challenged to confront."

"And that common sense is free to all who have the passion – or at least, the wherewithal – to seek it, but priceless when obtained."