Show Us Around Your Neighbourhood

[Foxy2 8,924]

On 8/20/2021 at 10:03 AM, Double 0 Soul said:

I seem to have a mystery benefactor in regards to a lovely book which landed on my doorstep yesterday.

Using my Poirot-esque powers of deduction.. i think somebody here could be the prime suspect, if so thank you, you're very kind, it's a lovely gesture!!

https://www.martindust.photography/store/p/brutalsheffield

..if not, i'm stumped! ive already sent a few emails to the usual suspects...

You mean something like that?

I hope you like it…

[Double 0 Soul 11,649]

10 hours ago, Foxy2 said:

I hope you like it…

I love it!!

it's all the things which bring me joy....in book form

Ive done pretty well recently, got a pile of denim books from @Maynard Friedman which was a nice surprise, some sneaks from @Flash and i got a couple of collectable beers and No39 of the modernist.

Sheff Uni have commissioned an artist friend of mine to paint 4 of their buildings on concrete, I framed them for her..

.. i did it on a "WillWork4Art" basis so no £££ changed hands but ive got a couple of her paintings earmarked which will be coming my way after an upcoming exhibition, I painted all 4 frames white when they were finished.

I emailed her last week asking if the 'Brutal Sheffield' book was from her, she said "no but coincidentally i do have a gift for you which i'll leave in your outside toilet, albeit's nowhere near as good as the brutalist book" which i where i found the beers from 2005 which bear her artwork and the modernist magazine.

Thanks Kaj..

People can be so nice sometimes

Edited August 21, 2021 by Double 0 Soul

[Foxy2 8,924]

That’s great!

That cover picture - recent edition of the modernist magazine - is a building here in West-Berlin.

It’s called the mice bunker (=Mäusebunker) and there was quite recently a public debate about its future. Not sure if it is easily accessible right now, but I’ll try to snap some pictures over the next few days.

[Foxy2 8,924]

managed to get out to Steglitz today to catch up on the current state of Mäusebunker...

designed by Gerd Hänska around 1965 to 1967, construction started in 1971. it was finished in 1981.

part of the Charite Berlin it was a research centre for experimental medicine, but initially it the central lab for animal experiments.
we used to demonstrate here in the early 80's.

the building is currently empty and it was decided last year for it to be demolished.

it status as an iconic brutalist building has triggered a public debate trying to secure, preserve and repurpose the building.

https://www.greyscape.com/the-inspiring-fight-on-the-ground-to-save-berlins-at-risk-brutalism/

http://mäusebunker.de

part of this debate is also the opposite building - Hygieneinstitut

Edited August 23, 2021 by Foxy2

[Foxy2 8,924]

here it is - Institut für Hygiene und Umweltmedizin der Charite

the model and a bird view...

designed by Fehling+Gogel, build 1966 to 1974.

those lines and details...

the staircase...

the hall...

Edited August 23, 2021 by Foxy2

[Foxy2 8,924]

some interior shots from both buildings that I stole...

[Foxy2 8,924]

while out in the neighbourhood I couldn't miss stopping by another architectural monster - Klinikum Steglitz (now Charite Campus Benjamin Franklin) opened in 1968.
The entrance...

on the way to the hospital...

and the hospital...

[Foxy2 8,924]

some pics stolen from the net...

and some literature regarding these buildings...

[Double 0 Soul 11,649]

...additional from the modernist

 

[Foxy2 8,924]

Since the “Bierpinsel” popped up in one of the shots from the books…

 

stolen shots from the past with original paint…

interior shots from one of the recent remodelling phases…

 
 

the current plan is to revert back to the original paint & colour scheme.

[Double 0 Soul 11,649]

It looked amazing in red, what was it's original purpose? ..there doesn't look to be much room inside

[Maynard Friedman 569,898]

It looked good when shiny, red and new. It looks horrendous now, like a provincial shopping centre control room, enviously straining to catch a glimpse of the new out of town retail park in the distance…

Edited September 4, 2021 by Maynard Friedman

[Duke Mantee 13,157]

I’ve been there - seem to recall it was a restaurant when it opened but I’m not sure if that was the true purpose, or if it even had a true purpose

[Maynard Friedman 569,898]

You’re right Duke, it opened as the Steglitz Tower restaurant. Now, simply a brutalist folly.

[Duke Mantee 13,157]

The new-ish Glasgow Colleges always reminded me of the Benjamin Franklin Campus - that inspiration was denied when asked

[Foxy2 8,924]

Building begann in 1972 and it got finished in 1976, but the planning began in 1966/67 with the architects being responsible for the 2 crossing tube stations underneath, the street and the highway bridge above it. The tower itself is anchored by the underground train stations.

Here is an interesting interview with the surviving architect - unfortunately, it’s in German…

https://www.moderne-regional.de/interview-ursulina-schueler-witte-zum-bierpinsel/

The initial setup was a nightclub, a bar and a restaurant.

It was empty for some time after 2002 and got sprayed in 2009. The architects tried to prevent that from happening.

Empty ever since and still not returned to the red coat…

[Thanks_M8 3,131]

Took a stroll around the old airfield 2 minutes away from my block. Its situated between the old canadian and US quarters in Karlsruhe and is now a nature conservation area for birds and insects. Lots of rabbits live here and get hunted with falcons to control the population. Goats are used to mow the grass. Else it's mostly bushes and weeds

[smoothsailor 2,377]

Some helloween stuff around here, all kind off scarecrows made from denim

[Maynard Friedman 569,898]

Out walking the hound this evening and passed the local Hindu temple lit up beautifully for Diwali

 

Edited November 4, 2021 by Maynard Friedman

[smoothsailor 2,377]

Watched an episode off the office yesterday, where there was a Diwalie celebration.

never heard of it

[Double 0 Soul 11,649]

This place down the street from us came up for sale a few months ago, i ride past it every day but in the 3-4yrs ive lived there ive never seen anybody come or go..

..being a nosey cnut, i checked it out on rightmove pictures of folks in white robes in the foyer.. there's chairs in a semicircle and pictures of some dude who you can kneel down and worship, i instantly thought that it was some ex-doomsday cult who's followers had transended to heaven but it turned out to be some boring old Brahma Kumaris meditation center..

[Maynard Friedman 569,898]

I wish I'd bought that house in 1998!

Here's the Brahma Kumaris university just up the road from me...

On 4/16/2020 at 12:30 PM, Maynard Friedman said:

A few more, taken from an essential shopping trip this morning.

Brahma Kumaris university - religious, spiritual organisation with its roots in Hinduism and provides a prominent role for women (I always see them strolling about in their white robes, usually with a smile on their face)

 

[Duke Mantee 13,157]

^ all that 12 inch high lettering sure take the fun out of being a nosy cnut …

[Double 0 Soul 11,649]

24 minutes ago, Maynard Friedman said:

I wish I'd bought that house in 1998!

Surely that can't be right, i bought our old house in 1996 and even though we were in deep recession it still cost me close to £60,000, that was out in sticksville and wank in comparison to that^ beauty.. i rekon Lekhraj Kripalani passed it onto one of his worshipers for the cost of the solicitors and chucked in some red function room chairs to sweeten the deal... these meditation folks obviously feel more at peace 'with' material wealth.

[Double 0 Soul 11,649]

David Mellor (the designer, not the tory philanderer) old house is up for sale, this is a nice bit of mid-century lovelyness, it's just up the road from our house.

https://www.themodernhouse.com/sales-list/park-lane/

If it was the other David Mellor you could probably expect a large Sam Fox poster above the mantle, polishing an Escort XR3i, strategically positioned bubbles over her nipples wearing a lumo-pink headband and white stilleto heels...

 

Edited November 23, 2021 by Double 0 Soul

[Maynard Friedman 569,898]

…and a Chelsea shirt!

[MJF9 9,159]

Very nice... the house, not the Chelski shirt... and a nice bit of Hans J Wegner in the mix  

[Maynard Friedman 569,898]

Here’s the local secondary school, designed by Sir Norman Foster (my kids don’t go there though!). It looks a bit like an airport.

Also a memorial bench in our local park (Roundwood).

Edited November 27, 2021 by Maynard Friedman

[Maynard Friedman 569,898]

[smoothsailor 2,377]

How crazy is it?