The Quixotic Cathedral

Don Justo

“It was his great good fortune to live a madman, and die sane.”

       The epitaph of Don Quixote in Miguel de Cervantes' Don Quixote

For the past 50 years Justo Gallego, 85 and affectionately known as Don Justo, has been building a cathedral on the outskirts of Madrid, Spain.  The first question may center around why it has taken him so long to build a cathedral.  Did he run out of money?  Did an investor pull out of the project?  Does he not have enough workers?  Was a part of the cathedral destroyed, and has the rebuilding taken longer than envisioned?  Europe is no longer in the Dark Ages, so a cathedral should easily be able to be constructed in ones lifetime.  The American in me at first wanted to know why it has taken so long for Don Justo to build his cathedral, and then I found out that the cathedral was not finished, but simply nearly finished.  This project of Don Justo's appears to not make any sense, but that is where the beauty resides.

Don Justo for the past 50 years has been building The Cathedral for Our Lady of the Pillar by hand and on his own.  He mixes his own cement.  He erects his own dangerously below construction code regulations scaffolding to reach the top of the cathedral's 200ft dome.  He constructs the cathedral from his own imagination, and has never drawn up any blueprints.  For years he would wander the streets of his tiny Madrid suburb and gather bricks for his cathedral.  He has done this for 50 years and for most of the time he was regarded as "El Loco" and received no support.  Now the world is catching up with Don Justo and although he may still be insane he may also be a genius.

In response all Don Justo can say is,

“I am a simple man. But I hope people will come to worship here, and I think they will realize this is a splendid and unique place.”

The only aspect missing from this great story is a finished cathedral.  Don Justo is 85 years old now, and it is getting harder and harder for him to get out of bed in the morning.  It takes him longer to climb the scaffolding.  His body is wearing down, but the cathedral needs to be completed.  He needs some help, and luckily for him a trusty assistant arrived a couple of years ago in Angel Lopez Sanchez, 43.  Angel saw the ruins of a cathedral from his balcony and decided to investigate the ruins.  Upon arriving Don Justo asked him what he thought of the cathedral and Angel thought "What cathedral?".  However, from that point on Angel decided "I'm going to help you." and he has been Don Justo's assistant much like Don Quixote has Sancho Panza.

Don Justo and Angel are now on a race against time and age to complete one man's crazy dream, a dream that everyone thought was impossible, but one that will undoubtedly be appreciated upon its completion.  I enjoy stores where people work to achieve their dreams and disregard the naysayers.  Sometimes people succeed in their dreams and sometimes they fail, but in all situations they learn something valuable from the journey.  When Don Justo finishes The Cathedral for Our Lady of the Pillar he intends to give it to the Church.  Upon its completion I hope believers and non-believers alike are inspired to follow their dreams.

The Cathedral for Our Lady of the Pillar

For more info on Don Justo vist The Times

Sallywood

Read more about the new Sallywood formerly Hollywood sign here.

An Erect Challenge to the German Press

Leftist German newspaper Taz wrote a satirical article about how right-wing German newspaper Bild's editor Kai Diekmann had a botched penis enlargement surgery that sadly resulted in castration.  Kai Diekmann then sued Taz for libel, and lost.  To celebrate their victory, Taz erected the image below on the face of their building, which happens to be directly across the street from Bild.

However, Taz's new editor does not approve of the sculpture, but there is little she can do since Taz makes decisions in a democratic process and more people approve than disapprove of the sculpture.  On the matter she had this to say,

"I'm going to have to lock up my bike every morning under a six-meter-long schlong for the next two years," says Ines Pohl, the recently appointed editor-in-chief of the Taz.

Sometimes you have to love media wars, regardless of how immature they may be.

For more info on the Taz, Bild feud visit Gawker HERE and Spiegel International HERE.

57% of the Swiss say "No" to minarets

Apparently 4 minarets, and the fear that one day minarets may number in the tens, constitutes a threat to the security of Switzerland.  

Fear appears to be replacing love as the emotion that can conquer all.

To Ban Minarets or Not. The Swiss Will Decide.

A Swiss Minaret

Today Switzerland is going to the voting booths to decide whether to ban Islamic minarets (the tower most mosques use to call Islamic followers for prayer) from the country.  Currently there are only four minarets in all of Switzerland, yet to some the fear of an Islamic invasion seems imminent.  Of Switzerland's 7.5 million citizens 1.6 million are foreigners, and only 400,000 are muslim.  Muslims make up roughly 5% of the population, yet this is a force that the Swiss People's Party feels all of Switzerland needs to fear.  This does not even make sense, yet the impracticality of the act of trying to ban minarets from the country is not a surprise.

The far-right Swiss People's Party (SVP) is currently headed by Christoph Blocher and is the ruling party in the Swiss Parliament.  Since Blocher took control of the SVP and then the parliament he has advocated an isolationist platform.  An increased amount of crime was based on an influx of foreigners.  Thus the SVP put forth a referendum to make it harder for foreigners to obtain citizenship.  Under this referendum all citizens would have to be approved through secret ballot, and therefore the SVP could without supervision or possible reprimand reject citizenship requests for any reason:  race, gender, religion.  Some 64 percent of Swiss voters rejected this referendum.  64% of the Swiss public disagreed with the ruling party.

Below are some of the posters the SVP used to advocate their platform.

The French headline reads, "Open the door to abuse? No!"

This one above indicates how the evil black foreigners are intent on destroying Switzerland.

The German headline reads, "Create Security"This one indicates that Switzerland will be better once the superior white sheep kick out the lesser black sheep.

The SVP has come under international scrutiny for their racist posters and isolationist platform, but they remain unfazed.  Thus this minaret referendum remains insane, yet not surprising.  In most societies when changes occur the first reaction is to look at that which is different and then place the blame on those who are different.  This allows people to rally around an idyllic image of their home land that existed before the existence of this new influence.  For a mountainous country like Switzerland it must have been hard for many foreigners to invade due to the topography, yet its central European location made it inevitable that invasion would occur.  It may not be easy for foreigners to arrive, but they will.  The fact that the country has three national languages (French, German, & Italian) and additionally has large areas that speak predominately Romanian shows that they have had many foreigners in their time.  These groups of foreigners are okay, but this influx of southern Europeans and muslim refugees from the Balkan Wars is too much to handle.  I find this hard to believe, but would argue that their may be regions of the world that are over playing the threat Islam has to Western Civilization.

For example France has a very large muslim population and they are frequently having to find ways to integrate this new demographic without sacrificing French culture.  A good example would be their ban on religious attire in government buildings including schools.  Traditional Islamic clothing was considered a violation on this policy, so obviously the french muslim population did not approve of this law.  They should not be happy about this law, an integral part of their life would change, so I would not expect immediate approval.  Yet the difference between France's policy and SVP's proposed minarets ban is that France has a ban on everything.  The SVP only wants to ban minarets.  They do not want to ban construction on places of worship for Christian, Jewish, or even the Sikh people.  France wanted to sustain their national identity, while the SVP aims to cultivate a national Swiss identity that is against Islam.  That is just not right.

Here is their latest poster to support their ban on minarets referendum.

The German headline reads, "Stop, Yes"

If you had any wonder about the agenda or the perspective of the SVP, I think this poster makes it blatantly clear.  Minarets have been transformed into missiles, and muslims are being depicted as cloaked in black.  Muslims to them are the enemy, and they are intent on destroying Switzerland and the Swiss culture.  These are despicable tactics by Christoph Blocher and the SVP, and I hope that Switzerland votes against this referendum.  They scary thing about all of this is that muslims only make up 5% of the population.  They are not a big enough group the defeat this one on their own.  They will need the Swiss people to believe that all Swiss should have the right to peacefully practice their religion.  Lets just hope that this fear of Islam will not blind people of the fact that other people, especially those in their country, need to have the same right that they themselves enjoy.

I think most Americans should be able to understand how fear can become rationalized to a degree that can blind judgement, and lead to costly decisions.  Lets just hope that the Swiss do not make the same mistakes.

Potsdamer Platz & Renzo Piano

Potsdamer Platz resides in the city center of Berlin in between the Brandenburg Gate and the Reichstag (German Parliament building) and is an important square and center of commerce for Berlin, yet in the early 1990's it required a total redevelopment.  During World War II the whole area was bombed to the ground, and remained that way after the war and throughout the Cold War when the Berlin Wall bisected its location.  However, once the wall fell the German government decided to rebuild Potsdamer Platz, named after the city of Potsdam located 25 kilometers south of Berlin.  They created a competition and eventually chose four architects to redesign the area.  One of those four was Renzo Piano.  In total 18 buildings were made on the 600,000 square meter territory and eight of which were made by Renzo Piano's Building Workshop.  Check some of them out below.

The beauty of inventive city planning can often get overlooked in America since we have so much space, and that few of our spaces have been destroyed.  With all the space that we have, we do not need to be creative in what we build.  We can always try again in the next suburb.  We do have parts of cities that are becoming dilapidated and need renovating, but those areas usually are not city centers.  They are secondary sectors that need more of a facelift instead of the heart of a city that aims to be one of the focal points.  Potsdamer Platz is not that insignificant suburb, or that rundown part of town people try to ignore.  It is the center of town, and the people chose to be audacious in its reconstruction.  This should be appreciated.  

Enjoy the great vision of the people of Berlin and the architecture of Renzo Piano in the pictures below.

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Life Size Lego House

It is a two story palace, with a working bathroom, comprised of over 816 million Legos.  I do not know whether to be impressed or bemused.  Legos are cool and everything, but sometimes you just need to stop.  This is on the level of adults playing and being really good at Guitar Hero or Rock Band.  Being good at something is impressive, but shouldn't you have better things to do.

Anyways this house is cool, but I would hate to live in it. 

To see more pictures of the house go HERE.

In With the Old & In With the New

Hearst Tower

When famed architect Norman Foster, and his Foster + Partners firm, were commissioned with creating the new headquarters for Hearst Publishing they could have demolished the old building and started anew, yet they did not.  Instead they opted to partner the past with the future to make a brilliant present.  Sure you may have to gut the entire building, reenforce the walls, and find a way to build a building within a building, but the benefit is there for all to see.  If you are ever in New York you should check out the Hearst Tower.

Below is a picture of the interior lobby.

Taking the High Line

This week the High Line opened up in New York City.  The High Line is an elevated park situated on an abandoned railway track that weaves throughout the urban sprawl.  I'm a big fan of green roofs, and although this does not seem to exactly be a green roof, it is a stark improvement over an abandoned railway line.  I love maximizing resources, and when you can do that and improve the environment, I really love it.

To find out more about the High Line visit their website HERE.

Get on the Bus

Famed architecture firm Foster + Partners has teamed up with Aston Martin to design the new london double decker bus named the Routemaster.  Looks pretty cool.  Additionally Foster + Partners also aims to be environmentally friendly in all of their projects.  For more information on the Routemaster double decker bus visit HERE.

Alamillo Bridge

Designed by architect Santiago Calatrava

for more information click HERE

A very cool place to work.

For more pics of this incredible office go here.

Où Vert

About a year ago I ventured to Clemson University to speak to a class about the importance of green roofs. (In a previous post I also mentioned the importance of green roofs.) At the time I was not much of an environmentalist, and still today I feel the need to be more educated and involved on this issue, but I was well aware of the importance of sustaining a healthy environment. Thus, I went to Clemson to speak about the only issue I felt I was well enough versed on to provide an almost hour long lecture. However, the best part about the trip was not my lecture, but instead the people I met on my trip.

My friend Holly from college had organized an earth week on Clemson's campus and me, the relative environmental novice, met many young people who are incredibly passionate environmental issues. The main issues seem to be reducing CO2 emissions, and alternative forms of energy. Those two issues do work hand in hand, but remain separate. Over the course of a weekend with my new environmentalist friends I could tell that my interests and education grew, and that was something I have greatly appreciated. That is my short little story. I'm telling this story because I am not an expert. I am just a citizen who cares about this issue, who also feels the need to learn more, and then care more.

Every Wednesday, I'm going to find something to talk about concerning the environment. I'm not doing this because I am an expert, but because I want to learn more. This segment will be titled Où Vert. It is a french to english translation pun. Où means where, Vert means green and Ouvert means open. We need to be open minded to green alternatives, and we need to know where to find them. Additionally, I think it sounds cool.

Lastly, please check out 1sky and 350 to get more informed and join the movement.

Flat Facade - Kanamara Matsuri

On the 1st Sunday in April the town of Kawasaki, Japan host the Kanamara Matsuri. The Kanamara Matsuri is also known to foreigners as "The Penis Festival." The parade and festival are centered around a series of penis statues or floats that parade through the town, and who according to legend help protect visitors from sexually transmitted diseases. Currently, the festival is used as a resource to generate funds for HIV research.

Below I will include a couple of photos from the festival (NSFW) and a link to Japan Photo Guide were more photos can be viewed, and a first hand opinion of the festival can be read.

However, now I must rant.

Japan has always been a country that I have wanted to visit. I've had many friends from college who have taught english in Japan and they all enjoyed the country. The desire to buy electronics that have not made it stateside yet frequently entices me, but I have yet to make the trip. I also would like to be in the audience of a Japanese game show. They are incredible. Additionally, I once read an article that described Japan as a country that looks up to America, almost as a father figure. After World War II and the renunciation of divinity by Emperor Showa (Hirohito) the writer stated that Japan needed a new figure to emulate, and America became that figure. I have no idea about the validity of this belief, but idea of a country as different as Japan trying to emulate the United States intrigues me. It makes me want to go to there. That is my rant and here are your picks (remember NSFW stands for Not Safe For Work).

Also the Kanamara Matsuri not only features giant phallic floats, but also small penises that one can ride and pose for for pictures, penis and vagina shaped lollipops, and almost any kind of penis and vagina shaped toy one could imagine.

FUN FACT: Brazil has the highest concentration of Japanese people of any country except Japan.

Flat Facade will be my weekly post about world events.

 

More pics

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Things I Like - Green Roofs

The ACROS Fukuoka building

I have long been a fan of green roofs, and I hope their popularity grows.  I became a fan of green roofs because they work and they are simple.  You do not need to be a fan of the environment to be a fan of green roofs and that is the beauty of the idea.  Green roofs save people money and require very little effort to do so.  How great is that.  You save money, improve the environment, and do next to nothing to accomplish this feet.  Few things are this beautiful.

So this is how you save money.  The green roof on the top of your building, the one that you do not even need to water, acts as insulation for the structure.  In the summer the plants absorb the heat from the sun and thus the building stays cooler.  Now you do not need to spend as much money on air conditioning.  In the winter, the plants insulate the roof where most heat escapes, and now you do not spend nearly as much money heating the building.  Not only do you save money, but you do not even need to know how to do it.  You just exist in the structure and saving money occurs.  That is just gorgeous.

In addition to the money one saves, green roofs also improve the environment.  It is simple.  More plants equals more oxygen and less carbon monoxide.  That is good.  Also the black roofs on many buildings can get extremely hot, and this heat gets released into the atmosphere, and now temperatures in entire cities can rise.

Lastly, I must say that they look cool.  There are many uglier and far worse ideas than gardens on roofs.  Check out green roofs.

www.greenroofs.com

Huffington Post - Green Roofs

www.swye.net