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Category: GUIDES

Misfits’ travel guides to buildings around the world.


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Misfits’ Guide to NANTONG

Misfits’ Guide to NANTONG
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History, Location and Geography How old can a city be? Where Nantong is now was the site of neolithic settlements 5,000 years ago but they disappeared when the sea level rose 4,000 years ago. During the Han Dynasty (approx. 2,000 years ago) the land rose and continued to rise during the Song Dynasty and the […]

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Misfits’ Guide to VIENNA

Misfits’ Guide to VIENNA
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I didn’t go out of my way to look for Otto Wagner’s Karlsplatz Stadtbahn Station. I just got off the train and there it was. And I didn’t seek out Josef Maria Olbrich’s Secession Hall but there it was at the other end of Karsplatz. A few days later I encountered Otto Wagner’s Schützenhaus (1904-1908), […]

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Misfits’ Guide to HONG KONG

Misfits’ Guide to HONG KONG
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The previous post began with an exhibition about the Japanese house, architecture and life after 1945. This one begins with an exhibition about the Hong Kong apartment, buildings and living after 1945. Housing Authority Exhibition Centre 4F, Block 3, Housing Authority Headquarters, 80 Fat Kwong St, Ho Man Tin, Kowloon The exhibition deals with the story of public housing […]

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Misfits’ Guide to PARIS

Misfits’ Guide to PARIS
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1902 rue Franklin Apartments Auguste Perret rue Benjamin Franklin, Paris We all know about the concrete frame, its concealment and subsequent re-expression of its presence but the reason for the shape of this frontage tends to be neglected. Modernist space maybe, “inspired by statutory light courts” perhaps, but why would someone want to do that? […]

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Misfits’ Guide to PERTH

Misfits’ Guide to PERTH
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As an intermittent returnee to Perth I’m often asked “Hasn’t The City changed?” The question refers to the skyline and usually something is different but, every fifteen years or so, along comes a building that dramatically alters the shape and scale of the city in the same way Minoru Yamasaki’s World Trade Center did for New York in 1970 or Rafael Viñoly […]

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Misfits’ Guide to MILAN

Misfits’ Guide to MILAN
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The 20th century chronology of attention-getting buildings is over represented by America. It was only Le Corbusier who presented a sustained individual challenge to total American architectural dominance. Sustained national challenges were mounted by Scandinavia, Japan and Italy but, whether we were paying attention or not, Italy never ceased being a source of architectural intelligence and construction excellence. In Milan, I will look for evidence to back […]

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Misfits’ Guide to VENICE

Misfits’ Guide to VENICE
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First, make your way to Fondamenta Zattere and see Ignazio Gardella’s Casa alle Zattere built 1953–1958. To say it pre-empted post modernism is to do it and Gardella a disservice for, with this building, Gardella did nothing more (or less) than respond to what was already there, continuing a tradition rather than proposing something new. Better than intellectual, it’s intelligent […]

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Misfits’ Guide to DUBAI

Misfits’ Guide to DUBAI
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Following on from Misfits’ Guide to New York and Misfits’ Guide to Moscow, this third Misfits’ Guide takes a look around this city better known for some of its other buildings. First up is the tall building in the distance in this 1978 photo. Dubai World Trade Centre Completed that year, the Dubai World Trade Centre building is 39 storeys […]

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Misfits’ Guide to NEW YORK

Misfits’ Guide to NEW YORK
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Here’s some different things to check out next time you’re in New York or, if for those not that different, maybe a new way of looking at them. Cherokee Apartments The building is organised as four courtyard blocks with stairwells naturally lit and ventilated. All apartments are double sided for better light and ventilation. All windows are large and have […]