Supply carrier carefully aproaching the gasstation

The Exploited: Wattie Buchan (vocals) performing live in the SO36, Berlin, 27.10.19, singer, Sänger

 

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Exploitant : SETRAM

Réseau : SETRAM

Ligne : 11

Lieu : Chêne Vert (Le Mans, F-72)

Lien TC Infos : tc-infos.fr/id/5646

Mirit Ben-Nun uses lines and points as an expressive resource and does so by exploiting nuances and associations to their fullest. Some forms follow the same direction and others change constantly, even urgently. Its language is visual and independent of its expressiveness; it lies in the value and organization of its elements.

 

The 'things' of the visual world are unimportant, the point is the achievement of reproduction of the world and human nature. Constantly encouraging creativity. In this case pointillism conveys emotions by the effect of using color, points, lines and thus capturing the attention of the observer.

 

Dora Woda

One of three relief panels from a triumphal arch which depict the exploits of the emperor Marcus Aurelius. The presumed monument is thought to be the lost Arch of Marcus Aurelius which was erected in the Forum Romanum in 176 CE to celebrate the emperor's victories over the Germanic peoples and the Sarmatians. In the 6th century CE, the arch seems to have been dismantled, and the reliefs were inserted into the walls of the church of S. Martina, which was erected in the forum on the ruins of the Secretarium Senatus, a hall of the Curia Julia, site of a penal tribunal (established in the 4th century CE). The reliefs were brought to the Palazzo dei Conservatori in 1515 on the orders of Pope Leo X and initially added to the walls of the courtyard. In 1572, they were moved to their current location in the wall of the staircase of the palace.

 

ca. 177-180 CE. From Rome, church of SS. Luca e Martina.

 

Musei Capitolini, Palazzo dei Conservatori (inv. MC0808)

Deutschland / Baden-Württemberg - Mainau

 

Mainau [ˈmaɪnaʊ] also referred to as Mav(e)no(w), Maienowe (in 1242), Maienow (in 1357), Maienau, Mainowe (in 1394) and Mainaw (in 1580) is an island in Lake Constance (on the Southern shore of the Überlinger See near the city of Konstanz, Baden-Württemberg, Germany). It is maintained as a garden island and a model of excellent environmental practices. Administratively, the island has been a part of Konstanz since December 1, 1971, when the municipality of Litzelstetten, of which Mainau was part, was incorporated into Konstanz. Mainau is still part of Litzelstetten, now one of 15 wards (administrative subdivisions) of Konstanz.

 

The island belongs to the Lennart Bernadotte-Stiftung (eng. The Lennart Bernadotte Foundation), an entity created by Prince Lennart Bernadotte, Count of Wisborg, originally a Prince of Sweden and Duke of Småland. It is one of the main tourist attractions of Lake Constance. Beside flowers there is a park landscape with views on the lake. There is a greenhouse as well with tropical climate and thousands of butterflies.

 

Mainau Bay is the location of their university's sailing club.

 

Geography

 

Position

 

The island averages out at a height between 395 metres (1,296 ft) (roughly equals the lake’s average medium water-level) and 425 meters (1,394 ft) above sea level. Its highest peak is located at the Großherzog-Friedrich Terrace (historic water reservoir). Mainau Island is 610 metres (2,000 ft) long from North to South and a 1,050 meters (3,440 ft) wide from West to East. The island’s circumference is about three kilometers (1.9 mi). The shortest distance between the downwelling molasse slice and the lake’s shore is about 130 meters (430 ft).

 

Population

 

Few people inhabit Mainau Island. Due to its small amount of inhabitants, it is considered a hamlet. Meyer’s Lexikon’s issue of 1888 declared that 28 people lived on Mainau Island. During the census of 1961, a population of 123 was verified. Count Björn Bernadotte is living in the castle on Mainau Island.

 

Parks and gardens

 

Mainau Island is a "flowering island" notable for its parks and gardens. Frederick I, Grand Duke of Baden, created the island's arboretum, which now contains 500 species of deciduous and coniferous trees, many exotic and valuable, including fine specimens of Sequoiadendron giganteum (1864) and Metasequoia glyptostroboides (1952). The island also contains about 200 rhododendron and azalea varieties.

 

Due to the advantageous climate at the lake, palm trees and other Mediterranean plants can grow on the drop-shaped island. Because of its rich subtropical and partly even tropical vegetation, Mainau Island is also called "flowering island in the Lake Constance". Count Lennart Bernadotte, who died in 2004, liked to call his island "Blumenschiff" (engl. flower ship). He also described the famous destination as follows: "She is a coquettish little Lady, Mainau Island, who constantly demands much attention, even more love and ceaselessly new clothes." - Lennart Bernadotte. By "new clothes", he probably meant the blossoms, plants and flower-beds which are constantly renewed by the gardeners.

 

Apart from the historic buildings, the centerpiece of Mainau Island is the Arboretum with its 500 different types of rare and valuable broad-leaved trees and conifers, which was created in 1856 by grand duke Friedrich I. Among those is one of Germany's "oldest" dawn redwood trees (Metasequoia glyptostroboides). The tree, which originated from China, was planted on the island in 1952, when it was just 70 centimeters (28 in) tall. Particularly mighty are some exemplars of the giant redwood (Sequoiadendron giganteum). Their seeds came from California in 1853 and were planted on the island in 1864, which makes them one of the oldest of their kind in Europe. You can find the above-mentioned giant redwoods as well as Cedars, Dawn Redwoods and Tulip Poplars on the island. The Arboretum expands towards the north-west of the island.

 

Spring marks the beginning of the "Blumenjahr" (eng. Flower Year) with an exhibition of orchids. From March to May you can see several types of flowers in full bloom, like Tulips, Daffodils, Primroses, Forget-Me-Nots and Hyacinths. To show the full beauty of all these flowers the so-called „Frühlingsallee“ (eng. Spring Alley) was opened, which is a path across the island surrounded by beds of these plants. From May to June over 200 kinds of Rhododendrons and Azaleas are in full bloom. To the west of the "Comturey-Keller" you can find an Italian rose garden commissioned by Friedrich I. This rose garden is strictly geometric and consists of pergolas, sculptures and fountains. In general, over 1200 kinds of roses can be found on the island.

 

„Frühlingsallee“ leads to „Mediterran-Terrassen“ (eng. Mediterranean Terrace) where exotic plants such as palm families, agaves, cacti and bougainvillea are presented in pails during summer. Lake Constance and its surroundings as well as the Alps can be seen in a panoramic view from here. In July the blossoms of brugmansia and hibiscus are blooming on Mainau Island and in August the blossoms of passion flowers bloom.

 

On the southern end you can find “Südgarten” (eng. South Garden) where in autumn fields of dahlia with approximately 20,000 dahlia bushes and 250 varieties gleam from September until October. Spring and summer flowers such as different kinds of fuchsia are growing on the affiliated shore garden to the eastern side of “Südgarten”.

 

The “Bodenseerelief” (eng. Relief of Lake Constance) is a very popular photo motive. It is a relief with the picture of a flower which is changed by season. A small harbor with a landing place is situated to the northern side of Mainau Island. Excursion boats lay in here and another entrance to “Frühlingsallee” can be found here.

 

History

 

Until the Napoleonic mediatisations and secularisations of small German fiefs this island belonged to the Order of Teutonic Knights. It was later sold into private ownership. In 1853 Grand Duke Frederick I of Baden purchased the island as his personal property and used the palace built by the Teutonic Knights as summer palace. At the end of World War I Baden became a republic with the abdication of Grand Duke Frederick II, son of Frederick I. The former Grand Duke retained his private property including Mainau. When he died childless in 1928 the island passed to his sister Victoria of Baden, wife of King Gustaf V of Sweden. Upon her death two years later she bequeathed the island to her second son Prince Wilhelm, Duke of Södermanland and his descendants. In 1932 Prince Wilhem gave Mainau to his only child Lennart Bernadotte who owned it until 1974 when he transferred the island to a foundation. Count Bernadotte formed Enterprise Mainau GmbH in 1991 as a private enterprise to manage the island for the benefit of the Lennart Bernadotte-Stiftung. The Count remained active in managing Mainau until his death in 2004 but had appointed his second wife Sonja co-manager in 2001. Widowed, she and their children ran both the foundation and the management company until 2007. Since January 2007 Bettina Bernadotte, the eldest daughter of Lennart and Sonja, directs the Mainau GmbH as current manager, and since 2011 her brother Björn Bernadotte has joined her.

 

Pre- and Early History

 

In 1862, signs of an earlier population were discovered along the south banks of Mainau and soon exploited by domain administrator Walter: among the items were wedges, a potsherd, flint splinters, an axe and a muller. The pile dwelling settlement made up of six houses was uncovered in the 1930s and dated back to the Neolithic Age ( 3.000 b.c.). Lake-dwelling settlements of the Neolithic and the Bronze Age were located along the northern shore and the southwestern island along the shallow water zone.

 

(Wikipedia)

 

Die Insel Mainau, als Mav(e)no(w), Maienowe (1242) bzw. Maienow (1357), Maienau, Mainowe (1394) und Mainaw (1580) erwähnt, ist mit etwa 45 Hektar Fläche die drittgrößte Insel im Bodensee. Der Molassekalkfelsen befindet sich im Überlinger See genannten, nordwestlichen Teil des Bodensees. Sie ist vom Südufer des Überlinger Sees über eine Brücke zu erreichen und verfügt über einen Schiffsanleger, der von Kurs- und Ausflugsschiffen der Weißen Flotte bedient wird. Die nächsten größeren Städte sind Konstanz, Meersburg und Überlingen. Die Insel gehört zum Stadtteil Litzelstetten der Stadt Konstanz und befindet sich seit 1974 im Besitz der von Graf Lennart Bernadotte gegründeten gemeinnützigen „Lennart-Bernadotte-Stiftung“. Die gräfliche Familie ist bis heute wichtiger Teil der Attraktion der Mainau. Die Insel liegt an der Oberschwäbischen Barockstraße.

 

Geographie

 

Lage

 

Die Insel liegt auf einer Höhe zwischen 395 (Seeniveau bei mittlerem Wasserstand) und 425 Meter über Normalnull. Der höchste Punkt ist laut amtlichen Karten bei der Großherzog-Friedrich-Terrasse (historisches Wasserreservoir auf dem Vogelherd). Ihre Nord-Süd-Ausdehnung beträgt 610 Meter, ihre größte Breite (West-Ost) rund 1050 Meter. Der Umfang der Insel beträgt rund drei Kilometer. Die kürzeste Entfernung der abgesunkenen Molassescholle zum Seeufer beträgt 130 Meter.

 

Bevölkerung

 

Die Insel Mainau hat nur wenige Einwohner, Meyers Konversationslexikon von 1888 gab eine Bevölkerung von 28 an. Zur Volkszählung 1961 war eine Bevölkerung von 123 nachgewiesen. Auf der Insel Mainau lebt Björn Graf Bernadotte mit seiner Familie.

 

Anlage

 

Park- und Gartenanlagen

 

Bedingt durch das günstige Bodenseeklima wachsen auf der tropfenförmigen Insel Palmen und andere mediterrane Pflanzen. Wegen ihrer reichen subtropischen, teilweise auch tropischen Vegetation wird die Mainau auch als „Blumeninsel im Bodensee“ bezeichnet. Der 2004 verstorbene Graf Lennart Bernadotte nannte seine Insel gerne das „Blumenschiff“. Weiterhin beschrieb er das bekannte und für Besucher gegen Eintrittsgelder zugängliche Ausflugsziel mit folgenden Worten:

 

„Sie ist eine kokette kleine Dame, diese Mainau, die stets und ständig große Aufmerksamkeit fordert, noch mehr Liebe und vor allem unaufhörlich neue Kleider.“

 

– Lennart Bernadotte

 

Wobei er mit den „neuen Kleidern“ zuerst den immer wieder neu von Gärtnerhand gewebten Blütenüberwurf gemeint haben mag.

 

Herzstück der „Blumeninsel“ ist neben den historischen Gebäuden das von Großherzog Friedrich I. ab 1856 angelegte parkähnliche Arboretum der Insel Mainau mit seinen 500 verschiedenen Arten von zum Teil seltenen und wertvollen Laub- und Nadelgehölzen. Darunter befindet sich einer der ältesten Urweltmammutbäume (Metasequoia glyptostroboides) Deutschlands. Der aus China stammende Baum war 1952 als 70 Zentimeter großes Bäumchen im Ufergarten ausgepflanzt worden. Besonders mächtig sind einige Exemplare des Riesenmammutbaums (Sequoiadendron giganteum). Die Samen dieser Bäume kamen 1853 aus Kalifornien, und 1864 ließ Friedrich I. zahlreiche Bäume auf der Mainau pflanzen. Damit gehören sie zu den ältesten ihrer Art in Europa. Neben den riesigen Mammutbäumen befinden sich Zedern, Metasequoien und Tulpenbäume. Das Arboretum dehnt sich nordwestlich vom Schloss auf der Hochfläche aus.

 

Im Frühjahr Ende März/Anfang April beginnt auf der Mainau das Blumenjahr im Palmenhaus mit einer großen Orchideenschau. Von Ende März bis Mitte Mai blühen auf der Mainau Tulpen, Narzissen und Hyazinthen. Hierzu wurden im östlichen Teil der Insel an der sogenannten „Frühlingsallee“ parallel zum Weg Tausende von Tulpen-, Narzissen- und Hyazinthenzwiebeln gepflanzt. Ebenfalls im Frühjahr gedeihen auf der Insel Stiefmütterchen, Vergissmeinnicht und Primeln.

 

In der Übergangszeit von Mai und Juni zeigen sich die Blüten der 200 Rhododendren- und Azaleensorten. Westlich des Comturey-Kellers kommt man zu dem ebenfalls durch Großherzog Friedrich I. im italienischen Stil angelegten Rosengarten. Der sogenannte „italienische Rosengarten“ ist eine streng geometrische Anlage mit Pergolen, Skulpturen und Brunnen. Im Sommer betört der Duft der rund 500 verschiedenen Rosensorten, vor allem Beetrosen. Auf der ganzen Insel finden sich etwa 30.000 Rosenstöcke von 1200 Sorten. Eine Barocktreppe führt hinauf zur aussichtsreichen Schlossterrasse.

 

Die „Frühlingsallee“ führt zu den „Mediterran-Terrassen“ mit ihren exotischen Kübelpflanzen, wo im Sommer Palmengewächse, Agaven, Kakteen und Bougainvilleen gezeigt werden. Von hier hat man ein Panorama auf die Bodenseelandschaft. Im Juli zeigen sich auf der Mainau die Blüten der Engelstrompeten und des Hibiskus, im August die der Passionsblumen.

 

Südlich breitet sich der „Südgarten“ aus, wo im Herbst von September bis Oktober die Dahlienfelder mit etwa 20.000 Dahlienbüschen von 250 Sorten blühen. Im östlich anschließenden Ufergarten wachsen Frühlings- und Sommerblumen, darunter eine Sammlung verschiedener Fuchsienarten. Ein beliebtes Fotomotiv ist das Bodenseerelief, ein nach Jahreszeit unterschiedlich gestaltetes Blütenbild in Form des Bodensees.

 

An der Nordseite der Insel liegt der kleine Hafen mit Schiffsanlegestelle, wo die Ausflugsschiffe anlegen und es einen weiteren Eingang gibt.

 

Im ganzjährig geöffneten Schmetterlingshaus auf der Insel, mit etwa 1000 Quadratmeter das zweitgrößte seiner Art in Deutschland, können Besucher zwischen 25 °C und 30 °C Wärme und 80 bis 90 Prozent Luftfeuchtigkeit durch eine tropisch anmutende Umgebung mit Wasserfällen und exotischen Gewächsen gehen. Je nach Saison fliegen 700 bis 1000 bunte Falter bis zu 80 verschiedener Schmetterlingsarten, vor allem südamerikanischer Herkunft, frei zwischen den Besuchern. Rund ein Drittel der gezeigten Schmetterlingsarten vermehrt sich hier auf natürliche Weise. Doch ist es ganz unterschiedlich, wie viele Nachkommen es gibt. Aus diesen Gründen bekommt das Schmetterlingshaus wöchentliche Lieferungen von 400 Puppen von Züchtern aus Costa Rica, England und Holland. Rund 20.000 Euro beträgt das Budget im Jahr für neue Raupen. Die Gartenanlage rund um das Schmetterlingshaus wurde als Lebensraum für heimische Schmetterlinge gestaltet. Angeschlossen ist ein Duftgarten mit mehr als 150 Duftpflanzenarten.

 

Außer den Park- und Gartenanlagen gibt es einen Streichelzoo mit Ziegen und Ponys und den „Mainauer Bauernhof“ mit Alpakas, Hasen, Hühnern, Eseln, Schafen und Katzen sowie einige gastronomische Einrichtungen.

 

Für Kinder gibt es das rund 1100 Quadratmeter große Mainauer Kinderland „Wasserwelt“, einen Spielplatz mit einem 60 Zentimeter tiefen Wasserbecken, das von Flusssteinen mit einem Gesamtgewicht von rund 130 Tonnen eingefasst wird. In der Mitte des mit 170 Kubikmeter Wasser gefüllten Sees liegt eine Insel. Auf dem See können die Kinder mit Flößen umherfahren oder sich mit einer Holzfähre hinüberziehen. Rundherum stehen Holzhäuser als Klettergerüste, die laut Planern an die Zeit der Pfahlbauten erinnern sollen. Verbunden sind die Häuschen durch Hängebrücken und Kettenstege. Dazu gibt es Wasserrinnen und extra Matschtische. Falls ein Kind beim Spielen allzu tief in die Wasserwelt eingetaucht sein sollte, haben die beiden Mainauplaner Matthias Wagner und Markus Zeiler auch vorgesorgt: Am Spielplatz wurde in einem Kiosk ein Wäschetrockner aufgestellt, in dem die Eltern nasse Kleidungsstücke selbst trocknen können. Die Spiellandschaft wird wie alle anderen Spielplätze vom TÜV SÜD abgenommen und regelmäßig inspiziert.

 

(Wikipedia)

Processed with VSCOcam with a6 preset

cachemash tutorial

by H.Manon

 

Cachemashing is my name for a somewhat more controlled approach to what Daniel Temkin identified as the Photoshop Truncating Glitch—an approach to image glitching that exploits a problem with early versions of Photoshop. Cachemashing is in my view a relatively pure or true form of glitching, because my control over the outcome is limited almost exclusively to the selection of input files, and to standard user-end changes to Photoshop settings. Once these decisions are made, Photoshop glitches a truncated jpeg file in ways that are difficult and at times impossible to predict. However, what makes this technique compelling is that, through practice, one may nonetheless develop and refine a personal approach, even if the final cause of the glitch remains opaque—a mystery taking place behind-the-scenes of Photoshop’s interface.

 

I want to preface what follows by saying that I am not a programmer. Although I am fairly savvy as a Photoshop user, my understanding of the program’s internal workings are almost nil. I'm sure if I knew more about the causes of this technique I would be less interested in it. The fun here is really in the "not knowing why."

 

In this tutorial I mainly describe how I arrived at the image above (a glitched “Currier and Ives” style print of a duck hunt). These specific techniques could be altered in numerous ways and still produce the effect of a cachemash.

 

What you need to cachemash:

 

1) Photoshop 6.0 or earlier. I am running Photoshop Elements 1.0, which is the Elements version that corresponds with PS 6.0. My system is Windows XP, and I know that the technique also works when Photoshop 6.0 (or PE 1.0) is installed on Vista. I have not tested this technique on any other OS.

 

2) A truncated jpeg file in which the point of truncation appears close to the top, resulting in a mostly “blank” image when opened in PS. Jpegs are easy to truncate using code editing programs like Notepad++. My approach is to open the jpeg in Notepad++, delete a couple of lines of data somewhere just below the file header, save, and then open in PS. You have succeeded when you open the file and receive the golden message “This document may be damaged (the file may be truncated or incomplete). Continue?” Sometimes it takes ten or so tries to successfully truncate the file, rendering it partially damaged, but not too damaged to open.

 

3) At least one non-truncated image file that you want to form the mashed-up content of the final image. These are the files you will load into the PS cache.

 

4) A computer that has sufficient speed and RAM to process the size of image you want to produce.

 

The procedure:

 

1) Open a truncated jpeg in Photoshop. The truncated file I used for the “duck hunt” cachemash is 4500 x 4822 pixels @ 300 ppi. The compression rate of the truncated file does not seem to matter. The original image content also does not seem to matter, since the truncation renders it blank.

 

2) The message pops up: “This document may be damaged (the file may be truncated or incomplete). Continue?” Click OK. You will see a blacked-out image, with perhaps a tiny line of color at the top (depending on how near to the top you truncated the file).

 

3) Now is when you can get creative, in a fascinatingly limited way. Open any file or set of files. Manipulate them as usual in PS, or not. Then close them. For the “duck hunt” image, I pre-sized a jpeg at a width of 8984 (almost but not quite twice the width of the truncated file). This is the trick to obtaining something like a “full frame” cachemash in which the cached image is fully or mostly visible in the final version.

 

4) Use the filter called Gaussian Blur on the truncated file. A blur radius setting of 0.1 pixels is ideal. This procedure “fixes” the mashed image, in the photographic sense of the word; it stabilizes the data which, up to now, tended to load randomly into the void space of truncated file. The result is a mash-up of certain files and parts of files that have been temporarily stored in the PS cache. (Note: I use Gaussian Blur at 0.1 because of all the possible filters, this one seems to least alter the final image, while still “fixing” it. However virtually every PS filter will "fix" a truncated file).

 

5) The truncated file is now cachemashed. If you like the results, save to the file format of your choice.

 

6) Undoing the Gaussian Blur returns the truncated file to its volatile state.

 

7) Redoing the Gaussian Blur will give new results each time. However (and this is what makes the technique really interesting), the more you undo and redo, the more your “fixed” images also become part of the PS cache. You might think of this as “caching the cache.” If you undo and redo fifty times, the image will be really minced up. But, if at any point you open a new non-truncated jpeg in PS, that jpeg will become part of the cache, and may appear largely in tact as a portion or layer of the mashed image.

 

Some other tips and observations:

 

1) In the process of doing and undoing, you will see that when the PS cache attempts to “fill in” the truncated image, it does so in a cycle. The length of the cache cycle is controlled by the size of the cache you elect in Preferences > Memory & Image Cache. I mostly keep cache levels set at 8 (this is max) and RAM used by PS set at 100%. Striking embroidery-like effects can be achieved by reducing RAM used by PS down to 15% or so.

 

2) Incorporating high contrast RGB images (color or b/w, doesn’t matter) yields brighter colors in the final “fixed” version. Low contrast images produce subtler, more muted colors.

 

3) Introducing Inverted (i.e. negativized) images to the cache produces interesting results, as do images to which Gradient Map has been applied.

 

4) It is very unusual to produce a final cachemash that is grayscale, but it sometimes happens.

 

5) The non-truncated sliver of the truncated file will appear as a black band at the top of the final “fixed” version. I usually crop this out, but this is the only post-processing I do. All of the other effects in images I have posted to Flickr happened prior to the moment of glitching, which I take to be the moment at which PS “fixes” the images.

 

6) It is possible to create the same cachemash twice. Just open the same files in the same order with the same settings on the same machine. This suggests that there is nothing random about cachemashing. At the same time, if you begin by caching an image that is even one pixel larger or smaller, the results after several cycles of do-and-undo could be radically different.

 

7) If you overlay the PS crop tool on top of a truncated file, and there is data in the cache, the space within the cropped area will weirdly animate. When you press “crop,” the animation will stop because the image is now fixed.

 

8) When the final colors you achieve are saturated reds, blues and greens, it is sometimes possible to experience the optical illusion called chromostereopsis.

 

I will continue to add observations on this page as they come to me.

 

Good luck!

HM

 

Aluminium footbridge, built from 1948 to 1950, on the River Tummel at Loch Faskally by the North of Scotland Hydro Electric Board. The consulting engineers were Sir Alexander Gibb & Partners. The contractors were P. & W. McLennan Ltd, Glasgow. The aluminium alloys were supplied by James Booth & Co. Ltd. The concrete piers were constructed by William Tawse, Aberdeen.

The bridge is of a cantilevered design with a shallow-arched deck. It is 95 metres long with a centre span of around 53 metres and two side spans of 21 metres. The width of the walkway is 2 metres. The trusses, handrail, arched soffits, walkway and rivets are aluminium alloy. The trusses are braced in a mirrored 'N' formation between the soffits and the handrail. The bridge is supported by two concrete piers that taper slightly above the water level. Tapering concrete block abutments flank the entrance at either end of the bridge.

 

The Clunie Footbridge is the first major example of an aluminium bridge in Scotland, and is one of the earliest surviving aluminium bridges of notable design quality in the world. Its lightweight, cantilevered design is elegant and forward-thinking and effectively exploits the properties of the modern material. The footbridge is also of interest as an integral part of the Tummel Garry Hydro Electric scheme, a hugely significant feat of post-war engineering in Scotland, and takes into account the picturesque context of the nearby Pitlochry power station. The bridge also illustrates Scotland's historical associations with the early mass production of aluminium on a global scale.

 

This footbridge was built in 1948-50 by the North of Scotland Hydro Board as an integral part of the Tummel Garry Hydro Electric scheme (1947-51), one of the most ambitious civil engineering projects of its time in Scotland. The creation of the Pitlochry Dam and Power Station, around 1km downstream from the bridge, saw the water level at this part of the River Tummel rise by 40 feet to form Loch Faskally.

 

The bridge was the first aluminium bridge of notable scale in Scotland. A 1948 sketch of the proposed footbridge shows that an aluminium suspension bridge was being considered for the site at that time (Dundee Courier 1948). The slender, cantilevered design that was settled on used significantly less raw material than a suspension bridge, lowering the cost of production. The new bridge was more forward-thinking in its design and appearance, reflecting the relative modernity of its building material. The design may also have changed in line with new understanding of the structural properties of aluminium. Photographs taken in 1950 show the completed footbridge before the water level was raised. They also show the old stone bridge of 1832 being taken down as part of the Loch Faskally works (Canmore; Dundee Courier).

 

Until the end of the 19th century, aluminium was regarded as a precious metal due to the difficulty in extracting alumina from bauxite ore. The separation process was aided significantly by electrolysis, which required large amounts of electricity. In the UK, this was provided by hydroelectric power generated in the Scottish Highlands. The first hydroelectric powered aluminium smelter in Scotland opened at Foyers in 1896, followed by smelters at Kinlochleven in 1909 and Lochaber in 1929, all for the British Aluminium Company. Among the attributes of aluminium alloys are its lightness and strength-to-weight ratio, and its high resistance to corrosion and staining. Advances in fabrication led to its extensive use in the emerging aviation industry, and for military purposes during the world wars.

 

The first known use of aluminium alloy in bridge construction was in 1933 in Pittsburgh, home of the American Aluminum Company. In 1946 the first bridge with an all-aluminium span (as well as six steel spans) was constructed in Massena, New York. As production costs are around 25% to 30% higher than reinforced steel, aluminium has rarely been used for large-scale bridges. The Arvida Bridge (1948-50) in Quebec, Canada was the first all-aluminium road bridge in the world and remains the largest by some margin (2018). In more recent years, aluminium has been used for small scale bridges where a longer life-cycle is considered to justify the initial cost (Kaufman 2007).

 

The three earliest aluminium bridges of notable scale in Europe were built in Britain between 1948 and 1953 (Alison, 1984). The raw material for all three was produced in Scotland. Of these, the 1948 Port Hendon bascule bridge in Sunderland and the 1953 Victoria Dock bascule bridge in Aberdeen were dismantled during the 1970s, making this bridge, the Clunie Footbridge (1948-50) the only survivor. It should be noted that in 1948 a 7 metre flat-deck aluminium footbridge was constructed over the Luibeg Burn in the Cairngorms by the Cairngorm Club. Its aluminium frame was salvaged after it was thrown some distance downstream by a heavy spate in 1956 and rebuilt on higher ground. Between 1950 and 1960, at least six more aluminium bridges were erected in Europe, four of which were footbridges (Alison 1984).

 

Footbridges are not a rare building type in Scotland and there are many 19th and 20th century examples across rivers and streams in remote and scenic areas throughout the country. Examples near the Clunie Footbridge include the 1913 Port-Na-Craig suspension bridge (LB39858) around 2km downstream in Pitlochry, and the 1911 Coronation suspension bridge (LB47622) located at the Linn of Tummel around 2km upstream. Designed to bespoke specifications, the Clunie Footbridge is the only example of its kind. It is understood to be the earliest surviving aluminium bridge of notable scale in Europe, and is among the first in the world. The innovative and experimental use of this material makes a significant contribution to Scotland's bridge engineering legacy, and this interest is increased by the bridge's elegant architectural design and close contextual association with a nationally significant hydroelectric scheme.

 

The Clunie Footbridge uses a standard linear plan form and there is no particular interest under this heading in listing terms.

 

In global terms, Scotland has a long and notable history of innovation in bridge building, pioneering the early use of cast iron, wrought iron and then steel as construction materials. The Clunie footbridge is significant for its early use of aluminium as its principal building material. 'Little information on aluminium alloy riveting practice was available at the time of erection and this aspect required careful investigation' (Paxton and Shipway 2007).

 

While modest in scale, the cantilevered and lattice design of the footbridge is elegant. Applied to a modern material to great aesthetic effect, the design responds the picturesque context of nearby Pitlochry power station. It therefore reflects the wider design ethos of the North of Scotland Hydro Electric Board and their team of consultant architects, who favoured Modernist architectural treatments.

 

It is also significant, in terms of the selection of building material, that aluminium extraction in the United Kingdom largely took place in Scotland, using Highland hydropower. This factor may have contributed to the decision to construct the Clunie footbridge using aluminium. Within this context, the aluminium footbridge illustrates leading-edge technological innovation in Scotland as part of a nationally significant civil engineering project.

 

While aluminium has a low flexibility compared to steel and has been associated with difficulties in joining parts, the Clunie Footbridge has 'proven not to be vulnerable to deflection effects or vibration' (Paxton and Shipway 2007). The stable condition and little-altered appearance (2018) of the bridge is evidence of its technological and design quality in terms of a largely untested material within the context of bridge construction.

 

Sir Alexander Gibb & Partners were the engineering consultants for the Clunie Footbridge. Founded in 1922 by noted Scottish Civil Engineer Sir Alexander Gibb (1872-1958), the firm brought together architecture and mechanical services to offer clients a complete service. Earlier works in Scotland include the 1932-6 Kincardine Bridge (LB50078, listed category A) across the Firth of Forth, which was Europe's largest swing-span road bridge at the time. Their contribution here further reinforces Scotland's innovative approach to bridge building.

 

As noted, the Clunie Footbridge was built as an integral part of the Tummel Garry Hydro Electric power scheme. Pitlochry Dam and Power Station, at the other end of Loch Faskally, is listed at category A (LB47534). While the dam is not inter-visible with the footbridge due to a natural bend in the river, it contributes to the wider context and setting of this important post-war infrastructural project.

 

The footbridge is located on a tree-lined section of the river at the head of Loch Faskally, and is adjacent to a later A9 road bridge, known as the Coronation Bridge, which passes over the river at a higher level to the east. Remains of the north abutment of the older Clunie Bridge are situated on the bank to the northwest of the current footbridge, with salvaged stone used to create a small viewing platform nearby.

 

The setting has changed little since the road bridge was built in 1981. It is understood that an addition to the east side of the road bridge will be constructed as part of the ongoing A9 dual-carriageway project (2018) in order to 'minimise impact on the aluminium Clunie Footbridge to the west'. (A9 Dualling Programme, Pitlochry to Killiecrankie, Cultural Heritage, Chapter 15, p11).

 

The Highlands is a historical region of Scotland. Culturally, the Highlands and the Lowlands diverged from the Late Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Scots language replaced Scottish Gaelic throughout most of the Lowlands. The term is also used for the area north and west of the Highland Boundary Fault, although the exact boundaries are not clearly defined, particularly to the east. The Great Glen divides the Grampian Mountains to the southeast from the Northwest Highlands. The Scottish Gaelic name of A' Ghàidhealtachd literally means "the place of the Gaels" and traditionally, from a Gaelic-speaking point of view, includes both the Western Isles and the Highlands.

 

The area is very sparsely populated, with many mountain ranges dominating the region, and includes the highest mountain in the British Isles, Ben Nevis. During the 18th and early 19th centuries the population of the Highlands rose to around 300,000, but from c. 1841 and for the next 160 years, the natural increase in population was exceeded by emigration (mostly to Canada, the United States, Australia and New Zealand, and migration to the industrial cities of Scotland and England.) and passim  The area is now one of the most sparsely populated in Europe. At 9.1/km2 (24/sq mi) in 2012, the population density in the Highlands and Islands is less than one seventh of Scotland's as a whole.

 

The Highland Council is the administrative body for much of the Highlands, with its administrative centre at Inverness. However, the Highlands also includes parts of the council areas of Aberdeenshire, Angus, Argyll and Bute, Moray, North Ayrshire, Perth and Kinross, Stirling and West Dunbartonshire.

 

The Scottish Highlands is the only area in the British Isles to have the taiga biome as it features concentrated populations of Scots pine forest: see Caledonian Forest. It is the most mountainous part of the United Kingdom.

 

Between the 15th century and the mid-20th century, the area differed from most of the Lowlands in terms of language. In Scottish Gaelic, the region is known as the Gàidhealtachd, because it was traditionally the Gaelic-speaking part of Scotland, although the language is now largely confined to The Hebrides. The terms are sometimes used interchangeably but have different meanings in their respective languages. Scottish English (in its Highland form) is the predominant language of the area today, though Highland English has been influenced by Gaelic speech to a significant extent. Historically, the "Highland line" distinguished the two Scottish cultures. While the Highland line broadly followed the geography of the Grampians in the south, it continued in the north, cutting off the north-eastern areas, that is Eastern Caithness, Orkney and Shetland, from the more Gaelic Highlands and Hebrides.

 

Historically, the major social unit of the Highlands was the clan. Scottish kings, particularly James VI, saw clans as a challenge to their authority; the Highlands was seen by many as a lawless region. The Scots of the Lowlands viewed the Highlanders as backward and more "Irish". The Highlands were seen as the overspill of Gaelic Ireland. They made this distinction by separating Germanic "Scots" English and the Gaelic by renaming it "Erse" a play on Eire. Following the Union of the Crowns, James VI had the military strength to back up any attempts to impose some control. The result was, in 1609, the Statutes of Iona which started the process of integrating clan leaders into Scottish society. The gradual changes continued into the 19th century, as clan chiefs thought of themselves less as patriarchal leaders of their people and more as commercial landlords. The first effect on the clansmen who were their tenants was the change to rents being payable in money rather than in kind. Later, rents were increased as Highland landowners sought to increase their income. This was followed, mostly in the period 1760–1850, by agricultural improvement that often (particularly in the Western Highlands) involved clearance of the population to make way for large scale sheep farms. Displaced tenants were set up in crofting communities in the process. The crofts were intended not to provide all the needs of their occupiers; they were expected to work in other industries such as kelping and fishing. Crofters came to rely substantially on seasonal migrant work, particularly in the Lowlands. This gave impetus to the learning of English, which was seen by many rural Gaelic speakers to be the essential "language of work".

 

Older historiography attributes the collapse of the clan system to the aftermath of the Jacobite risings. This is now thought less influential by historians. Following the Jacobite rising of 1745 the British government enacted a series of laws to try to suppress the clan system, including bans on the bearing of arms and the wearing of tartan, and limitations on the activities of the Scottish Episcopal Church. Most of this legislation was repealed by the end of the 18th century as the Jacobite threat subsided. There was soon a rehabilitation of Highland culture. Tartan was adopted for Highland regiments in the British Army, which poor Highlanders joined in large numbers in the era of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars (1790–1815). Tartan had largely been abandoned by the ordinary people of the region, but in the 1820s, tartan and the kilt were adopted by members of the social elite, not just in Scotland, but across Europe. The international craze for tartan, and for idealising a romanticised Highlands, was set off by the Ossian cycle, and further popularised by the works of Walter Scott. His "staging" of the visit of King George IV to Scotland in 1822 and the king's wearing of tartan resulted in a massive upsurge in demand for kilts and tartans that could not be met by the Scottish woollen industry. Individual clan tartans were largely designated in this period and they became a major symbol of Scottish identity. This "Highlandism", by which all of Scotland was identified with the culture of the Highlands, was cemented by Queen Victoria's interest in the country, her adoption of Balmoral as a major royal retreat, and her interest in "tartenry".

 

Recurrent famine affected the Highlands for much of its history, with significant instances as late as 1817 in the Eastern Highlands and the early 1850s in the West.  Over the 18th century, the region had developed a trade of black cattle into Lowland markets, and this was balanced by imports of meal into the area. There was a critical reliance on this trade to provide sufficient food, and it is seen as an essential prerequisite for the population growth that started in the 18th century. Most of the Highlands, particularly in the North and West was short of the arable land that was essential for the mixed, run rig based, communal farming that existed before agricultural improvement was introduced into the region.[a] Between the 1760s and the 1830s there was a substantial trade in unlicensed whisky that had been distilled in the Highlands. Lowland distillers (who were not able to avoid the heavy taxation of this product) complained that Highland whisky made up more than half the market. The development of the cattle trade is taken as evidence that the pre-improvement Highlands was not an immutable system, but did exploit the economic opportunities that came its way.  The illicit whisky trade demonstrates the entrepreneurial ability of the peasant classes. 

 

Agricultural improvement reached the Highlands mostly over the period 1760 to 1850. Agricultural advisors, factors, land surveyors and others educated in the thinking of Adam Smith were keen to put into practice the new ideas taught in Scottish universities.  Highland landowners, many of whom were burdened with chronic debts, were generally receptive to the advice they offered and keen to increase the income from their land.  In the East and South the resulting change was similar to that in the Lowlands, with the creation of larger farms with single tenants, enclosure of the old run rig fields, introduction of new crops (such as turnips), land drainage and, as a consequence of all this, eviction, as part of the Highland clearances, of many tenants and cottars. Some of those cleared found employment on the new, larger farms, others moved to the accessible towns of the Lowlands.

 

In the West and North, evicted tenants were usually given tenancies in newly created crofting communities, while their former holdings were converted into large sheep farms. Sheep farmers could pay substantially higher rents than the run rig farmers and were much less prone to falling into arrears. Each croft was limited in size so that the tenants would have to find work elsewhere. The major alternatives were fishing and the kelp industry. Landlords took control of the kelp shores, deducting the wages earned by their tenants from the rent due and retaining the large profits that could be earned at the high prices paid for the processed product during the Napoleonic wars.

 

When the Napoleonic wars finished in 1815, the Highland industries were affected by the return to a peacetime economy. The price of black cattle fell, nearly halving between 1810 and the 1830s. Kelp prices had peaked in 1810, but reduced from £9 a ton in 1823 to £3 13s 4d a ton in 1828. Wool prices were also badly affected.  This worsened the financial problems of debt-encumbered landlords. Then, in 1846, potato blight arrived in the Highlands, wiping out the essential subsistence crop for the overcrowded crofting communities. As the famine struck, the government made clear to landlords that it was their responsibility to provide famine relief for their tenants. The result of the economic downturn had been that a large proportion of Highland estates were sold in the first half of the 19th century. T M Devine points out that in the region most affected by the potato famine, by 1846, 70 per cent of the landowners were new purchasers who had not owned Highland property before 1800. More landlords were obliged to sell due to the cost of famine relief. Those who were protected from the worst of the crisis were those with extensive rental income from sheep farms.  Government loans were made available for drainage works, road building and other improvements and many crofters became temporary migrants – taking work in the Lowlands. When the potato famine ceased in 1856, this established a pattern of more extensive working away from the Highlands.

 

The unequal concentration of land ownership remained an emotional and controversial subject, of enormous importance to the Highland economy, and eventually became a cornerstone of liberal radicalism. The poor crofters were politically powerless, and many of them turned to religion. They embraced the popularly oriented, fervently evangelical Presbyterian revival after 1800. Most joined the breakaway "Free Church" after 1843. This evangelical movement was led by lay preachers who themselves came from the lower strata, and whose preaching was implicitly critical of the established order. The religious change energised the crofters and separated them from the landlords; it helped prepare them for their successful and violent challenge to the landlords in the 1880s through the Highland Land League. Violence erupted, starting on the Isle of Skye, when Highland landlords cleared their lands for sheep and deer parks. It was quietened when the government stepped in, passing the Crofters' Holdings (Scotland) Act, 1886 to reduce rents, guarantee fixity of tenure, and break up large estates to provide crofts for the homeless. This contrasted with the Irish Land War underway at the same time, where the Irish were intensely politicised through roots in Irish nationalism, while political dimensions were limited. In 1885 three Independent Crofter candidates were elected to Parliament, which listened to their pleas. The results included explicit security for the Scottish smallholders in the "crofting counties"; the legal right to bequeath tenancies to descendants; and the creation of a Crofting Commission. The Crofters as a political movement faded away by 1892, and the Liberal Party gained their votes.

 

Today, the Highlands are the largest of Scotland's whisky producing regions; the relevant area runs from Orkney to the Isle of Arran in the south and includes the northern isles and much of Inner and Outer Hebrides, Argyll, Stirlingshire, Arran, as well as sections of Perthshire and Aberdeenshire. (Other sources treat The Islands, except Islay, as a separate whisky producing region.) This massive area has over 30 distilleries, or 47 when the Islands sub-region is included in the count. According to one source, the top five are The Macallan, Glenfiddich, Aberlour, Glenfarclas and Balvenie. While Speyside is geographically within the Highlands, that region is specified as distinct in terms of whisky productions. Speyside single malt whiskies are produced by about 50 distilleries.

 

According to Visit Scotland, Highlands whisky is "fruity, sweet, spicy, malty". Another review states that Northern Highlands single malt is "sweet and full-bodied", the Eastern Highlands and Southern Highlands whiskies tend to be "lighter in texture" while the distilleries in the Western Highlands produce single malts with a "much peatier influence".

 

The Scottish Reformation achieved partial success in the Highlands. Roman Catholicism remained strong in some areas, owing to remote locations and the efforts of Franciscan missionaries from Ireland, who regularly came to celebrate Mass. There remain significant Catholic strongholds within the Highlands and Islands such as Moidart and Morar on the mainland and South Uist and Barra in the southern Outer Hebrides. The remoteness of the region and the lack of a Gaelic-speaking clergy undermined the missionary efforts of the established church. The later 18th century saw somewhat greater success, owing to the efforts of the SSPCK missionaries and to the disruption of traditional society after the Battle of Culloden in 1746. In the 19th century, the evangelical Free Churches, which were more accepting of Gaelic language and culture, grew rapidly, appealing much more strongly than did the established church.

 

For the most part, however, the Highlands are considered predominantly Protestant, belonging to the Church of Scotland. In contrast to the Catholic southern islands, the northern Outer Hebrides islands (Lewis, Harris and North Uist) have an exceptionally high proportion of their population belonging to the Protestant Free Church of Scotland or the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland. The Outer Hebrides have been described as the last bastion of Calvinism in Britain and the Sabbath remains widely observed. Inverness and the surrounding area has a majority Protestant population, with most locals belonging to either The Kirk or the Free Church of Scotland. The church maintains a noticeable presence within the area, with church attendance notably higher than in other parts of Scotland. Religion continues to play an important role in Highland culture, with Sabbath observance still widely practised, particularly in the Hebrides.

 

In traditional Scottish geography, the Highlands refers to that part of Scotland north-west of the Highland Boundary Fault, which crosses mainland Scotland in a near-straight line from Helensburgh to Stonehaven. However the flat coastal lands that occupy parts of the counties of Nairnshire, Morayshire, Banffshire and Aberdeenshire are often excluded as they do not share the distinctive geographical and cultural features of the rest of the Highlands. The north-east of Caithness, as well as Orkney and Shetland, are also often excluded from the Highlands, although the Hebrides are usually included. The Highland area, as so defined, differed from the Lowlands in language and tradition, having preserved Gaelic speech and customs centuries after the anglicisation of the latter; this led to a growing perception of a divide, with the cultural distinction between Highlander and Lowlander first noted towards the end of the 14th century. In Aberdeenshire, the boundary between the Highlands and the Lowlands is not well defined. There is a stone beside the A93 road near the village of Dinnet on Royal Deeside which states 'You are now in the Highlands', although there are areas of Highland character to the east of this point.

 

A much wider definition of the Highlands is that used by the Scotch whisky industry. Highland single malts are produced at distilleries north of an imaginary line between Dundee and Greenock, thus including all of Aberdeenshire and Angus.

 

Inverness is regarded as the Capital of the Highlands, although less so in the Highland parts of Aberdeenshire, Angus, Perthshire and Stirlingshire which look more to Aberdeen, Dundee, Perth, and Stirling as their commercial centres.

 

The Highland Council area, created as one of the local government regions of Scotland, has been a unitary council area since 1996. The council area excludes a large area of the southern and eastern Highlands, and the Western Isles, but includes Caithness. Highlands is sometimes used, however, as a name for the council area, as in the former Highlands and Islands Fire and Rescue Service. Northern is also used to refer to the area, as in the former Northern Constabulary. These former bodies both covered the Highland council area and the island council areas of Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles.

 

Much of the Highlands area overlaps the Highlands and Islands area. An electoral region called Highlands and Islands is used in elections to the Scottish Parliament: this area includes Orkney and Shetland, as well as the Highland Council local government area, the Western Isles and most of the Argyll and Bute and Moray local government areas. Highlands and Islands has, however, different meanings in different contexts. It means Highland (the local government area), Orkney, Shetland, and the Western Isles in Highlands and Islands Fire and Rescue Service. Northern, as in Northern Constabulary, refers to the same area as that covered by the fire and rescue service.

 

There have been trackways from the Lowlands to the Highlands since prehistoric times. Many traverse the Mounth, a spur of mountainous land that extends from the higher inland range to the North Sea slightly north of Stonehaven. The most well-known and historically important trackways are the Causey Mounth, Elsick Mounth, Cryne Corse Mounth and Cairnamounth.

 

Although most of the Highlands is geographically on the British mainland, it is somewhat less accessible than the rest of Britain; thus most UK couriers categorise it separately, alongside Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man, and other offshore islands. They thus charge additional fees for delivery to the Highlands, or exclude the area entirely. While the physical remoteness from the largest population centres inevitably leads to higher transit cost, there is confusion and consternation over the scale of the fees charged and the effectiveness of their communication, and the use of the word Mainland in their justification. Since the charges are often based on postcode areas, many far less remote areas, including some which are traditionally considered part of the lowlands, are also subject to these charges. Royal Mail is the only delivery network bound by a Universal Service Obligation to charge a uniform tariff across the UK. This, however, applies only to mail items and not larger packages which are dealt with by its Parcelforce division.

 

The Highlands lie to the north and west of the Highland Boundary Fault, which runs from Arran to Stonehaven. This part of Scotland is largely composed of ancient rocks from the Cambrian and Precambrian periods which were uplifted during the later Caledonian Orogeny. Smaller formations of Lewisian gneiss in the northwest are up to 3 billion years old. The overlying rocks of the Torridon Sandstone form mountains in the Torridon Hills such as Liathach and Beinn Eighe in Wester Ross.

 

These foundations are interspersed with many igneous intrusions of a more recent age, the remnants of which have formed mountain massifs such as the Cairngorms and the Cuillin of Skye. A significant exception to the above are the fossil-bearing beds of Old Red Sandstone found principally along the Moray Firth coast and partially down the Highland Boundary Fault. The Jurassic beds found in isolated locations on Skye and Applecross reflect the complex underlying geology. They are the original source of much North Sea oil. The Great Glen is formed along a transform fault which divides the Grampian Mountains to the southeast from the Northwest Highlands.

 

The entire region was covered by ice sheets during the Pleistocene ice ages, save perhaps for a few nunataks. The complex geomorphology includes incised valleys and lochs carved by the action of mountain streams and ice, and a topography of irregularly distributed mountains whose summits have similar heights above sea-level, but whose bases depend upon the amount of denudation to which the plateau has been subjected in various places.

Climate

 

The region is much warmer than other areas at similar latitudes (such as Kamchatka in Russia, or Labrador in Canada) because of the Gulf Stream making it cool, damp and temperate. The Köppen climate classification is "Cfb" at low altitudes, then becoming "Cfc", "Dfc" and "ET" at higher altitudes.

 

Places of interest

An Teallach

Aonach Mòr (Nevis Range ski centre)

Arrochar Alps

Balmoral Castle

Balquhidder

Battlefield of Culloden

Beinn Alligin

Beinn Eighe

Ben Cruachan hydro-electric power station

Ben Lomond

Ben Macdui (second highest mountain in Scotland and UK)

Ben Nevis (highest mountain in Scotland and UK)

Cairngorms National Park

Cairngorm Ski centre near Aviemore

Cairngorm Mountains

Caledonian Canal

Cape Wrath

Carrick Castle

Castle Stalker

Castle Tioram

Chanonry Point

Conic Hill

Culloden Moor

Dunadd

Duart Castle

Durness

Eilean Donan

Fingal's Cave (Staffa)

Fort George

Glen Coe

Glen Etive

Glen Kinglas

Glen Lyon

Glen Orchy

Glenshee Ski Centre

Glen Shiel

Glen Spean

Glenfinnan (and its railway station and viaduct)

Grampian Mountains

Hebrides

Highland Folk Museum – The first open-air museum in the UK.

Highland Wildlife Park

Inveraray Castle

Inveraray Jail

Inverness Castle

Inverewe Garden

Iona Abbey

Isle of Staffa

Kilchurn Castle

Kilmartin Glen

Liathach

Lecht Ski Centre

Loch Alsh

Loch Ard

Loch Awe

Loch Assynt

Loch Earn

Loch Etive

Loch Fyne

Loch Goil

Loch Katrine

Loch Leven

Loch Linnhe

Loch Lochy

Loch Lomond

Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park

Loch Lubnaig

Loch Maree

Loch Morar

Loch Morlich

Loch Ness

Loch Nevis

Loch Rannoch

Loch Tay

Lochranza

Luss

Meall a' Bhuiridh (Glencoe Ski Centre)

Scottish Sea Life Sanctuary at Loch Creran

Rannoch Moor

Red Cuillin

Rest and Be Thankful stretch of A83

River Carron, Wester Ross

River Spey

River Tay

Ross and Cromarty

Smoo Cave

Stob Coire a' Chàirn

Stac Polly

Strathspey Railway

Sutherland

Tor Castle

Torridon Hills

Urquhart Castle

West Highland Line (scenic railway)

West Highland Way (Long-distance footpath)

Wester Ross

Gorgeous butterfly from Local Exploits, it can be found in Blacksmiths Way, Belgrave.

Ligne A1 du réseau Agglo'Bus en provenance de Gare SNCF et à destination de Gare SNCF arrivant au musée d'Arts et d'Archéologie.

 

Réseau exploité en régie.

Noisy and gregarious, these cheerful exploiters of man's rubbish and wastefulness have managed to colonise most of the world. The ultimate avian opportunist perhaps. Monitoring suggests a severe decline in the UK house sparrow population, recently estimated as dropping by 71 per cent between 1977 and 2008 with substantial declines in both rural and urban populations. While the decline in England continues, Breeding Bird Survey data indicate recent population increases in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

 

Read more at www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a...

  

The House Sparrow is a small but sturdily built bird with a stout bill designed for eating seeds. Adult males are distinctive; the crown and nape are grey and only the sides of the head are brown. The black bib is wide and extends down onto the chest. The back is warm brown, streaked with black but with a few white wing feathers. Adult females and juvenile birds of both sexes are typically sandy brown in colour with brown and grey streaks on the back and wings.

 

Although adults will feed themselves on wide range of seeds, they need to find plenty of aphids and small caterpillars for their growing youngsters, especially in the first few days after hatching.

 

House Sparrows like to nest colonially, so one box on its own is unlikely to attract a breeding pair. They may nest in hedges and in climbing plants – but this does not mean that they are Hedge Sparrows or Tree Sparrows!

 

House Sparrows are red-listed birds of conservation concern.

 

Small nest box with hole (32mm)

Nest height: over 2m above ground

The nest is an untidy domed structure made of grasses, lined with feathers, hair and wool

Egg laying starts between mid March and early August. Up to four broods

4 to 5 eggs. White or pale blue with darker spots

Incubation time: 13 -15 days

Nestlings fledge after 15-17 days

 

For more information, please visit www.bto.org/about-birds/nnbw/nesting-birds/house-sparrow

 

Exploit del 2003

 

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The exploitation rights for this text are the property of the Vienna Tourist Board. This text may be reprinted free of charge until further notice, even partially and in edited form. Forward sample copy to: Vienna Tourist Board, Media Management, Invalidenstraße 6, 1030 Vienna; media.rel@wien.info. All information in this text without guarantee.

Author: Andreas Nierhaus, Curator of Architecture/Wien Museum

Last updated January 2014

Architecture in Vienna

Vienna's 2,000-year history is present in a unique density in the cityscape. The layout of the center dates back to the Roman city and medieval road network. Romanesque and Gothic churches characterize the streets and squares as well as palaces and mansions of the baroque city of residence. The ring road is an expression of the modern city of the 19th century, in the 20th century extensive housing developments set accents in the outer districts. Currently, large-scale urban development measures are implemented; distinctive buildings of international star architects complement the silhouette of the city.

Due to its function as residence of the emperor and European power center, Vienna for centuries stood in the focus of international attention, but it was well aware of that too. As a result, developed an outstanding building culture, and still today on a worldwide scale only a few cities can come up with a comparable density of high-quality architecture. For several years now, Vienna has increased its efforts to connect with its historical highlights and is drawing attention to itself with some spectacular new buildings. The fastest growing city in the German-speaking world today most of all in residential construction is setting standards. Constants of the Viennese architecture are respect for existing structures, the palpability of historical layers and the dialogue between old and new.

Culmination of medieval architecture: the Stephansdom

The oldest architectural landmark of the city is St. Stephen's Cathedral. Under the rule of the Habsburgs, defining the face of the city from the late 13th century until 1918 in a decisive way, the cathedral was upgraded into the sacral monument of the political ambitions of the ruling house. The 1433 completed, 137 meters high southern tower, by the Viennese people affectionately named "Steffl", is a masterpiece of late Gothic architecture in Europe. For decades he was the tallest stone structure in Europe, until today he is the undisputed center of the city.

The baroque residence

Vienna's ascension into the ranks of the great European capitals began in Baroque. Among the most important architects are Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach and Johann Lucas von Hildebrandt. Outside the city walls arose a chain of summer palaces, including the garden Palais Schwarzenberg (1697-1704) as well as the Upper and Lower Belvedere of Prince Eugene of Savoy (1714-22). Among the most important city palaces are the Winter Palace of Prince Eugene (1695-1724, now a branch of the Belvedere) and the Palais Daun-Kinsky (auction house in Kinsky 1713-19). The emperor himself the Hofburg had complemented by buildings such as the Imperial Library (1722-26) and the Winter Riding School (1729-34). More important, however, for the Habsburgs was the foundation of churches and monasteries. Thus arose before the city walls Fischer von Erlach's Karlskirche (1714-39), which with its formal and thematic complex show façade belongs to the major works of European Baroque. In colored interior rooms like that of St. Peter's Church (1701-22), the contemporary efforts for the synthesis of architecture, painting and sculpture becomes visible.

Upgrading into metropolis: the ring road time (Ringstraßenzeit)

Since the Baroque, reflections on extension of the hopelessly overcrowed city were made, but only Emperor Franz Joseph ordered in 1857 the demolition of the fortifications and the connection of the inner city with the suburbs. 1865, the Ring Road was opened. It is as the most important boulevard of Europe an architectural and in terms of urban development achievement of the highest rank. The original building structure is almost completely preserved and thus conveys the authentic image of a metropolis of the 19th century. The public representational buildings speak, reflecting accurately the historicism, by their style: The Greek Antique forms of Theophil Hansen's Parliament (1871-83) stood for democracy, the Renaissance of the by Heinrich Ferstel built University (1873-84) for the flourishing of humanism, the Gothic of the Town Hall (1872-83) by Friedrich Schmidt for the medieval civic pride.

Dominating remained the buildings of the imperial family: Eduard van der Nüll's and August Sicardsburg's Opera House (1863-69), Gottfried Semper's and Carl Hasenauer's Burgtheater (1874-88), their Museum of Art History and Museum of Natural History (1871-91) and the Neue (New) Hofburg (1881-1918 ). At the same time the ring road was the preferred residential area of mostly Jewish haute bourgeoisie. With luxurious palaces the families Ephrussi, Epstein or Todesco made it clear that they had taken over the cultural leadership role in Viennese society. In the framework of the World Exhibition of 1873, the new Vienna presented itself an international audience. At the ring road many hotels were opened, among them the Hotel Imperial and today's Palais Hansen Kempinski.

Laboratory of modernity: Vienna around 1900

Otto Wagner's Postal Savings Bank (1903-06) was one of the last buildings in the Ring road area Otto Wagner's Postal Savings Bank (1903-06), which with it façade, liberated of ornament, and only decorated with "functional" aluminum buttons and the glass banking hall now is one of the icons of modern architecture. Like no other stood Otto Wagner for the dawn into the 20th century: His Metropolitan Railway buildings made ​​the public transport of the city a topic of architecture, the church of the Psychiatric hospital at Steinhofgründe (1904-07) is considered the first modern church.

With his consistent focus on the function of a building ("Something impractical can not be beautiful"), Wagner marked a whole generation of architects and made Vienna the laboratory of modernity: in addition to Joseph Maria Olbrich, the builder of the Secession (1897-98) and Josef Hoffmann, the architect of the at the western outskirts located Purkersdorf Sanatorium (1904) and founder of the Vienna Workshop (Wiener Werkstätte, 1903) is mainly to mention Adolf Loos, with the Loos House at the square Michaelerplatz (1909-11) making architectural history. The extravagant marble cladding of the business zone stands in maximal contrast, derived from the building function, to the unadorned facade above, whereby its "nudity" became even more obvious - a provocation, as well as his culture-critical texts ("Ornament and Crime"), with which he had greatest impact on the architecture of the 20th century. Public contracts Loos remained denied. His major works therefore include villas, apartment facilities and premises as the still in original state preserved Tailor salon Knize at Graben (1910-13) and the restored Loos Bar (1908-09) near the Kärntner Straße (passageway Kärntner Durchgang).

Between the Wars: International Modern Age and social housing

After the collapse of the monarchy in 1918, Vienna became capital of the newly formed small country of Austria. In the heart of the city, the architects Theiss & Jaksch built 1931-32 the first skyscraper in Vienna as an exclusive residential address (Herrengasse - alley 6-8). To combat the housing shortage for the general population, the social democratic city government in a globally unique building program within a few years 60,000 apartments in hundreds of apartment buildings throughout the city area had built, including the famous Karl Marx-Hof by Karl Ehn (1925-30). An alternative to the multi-storey buildings with the 1932 opened International Werkbundsiedlung was presented, which was attended by 31 architects from Austria, Germany, France, Holland and the USA and showed models for affordable housing in greenfield areas. With buildings of Adolf Loos, André Lurçat, Richard Neutra, Gerrit Rietveld, the Werkbundsiedlung, which currently is being restored at great expense, is one of the most important documents of modern architecture in Austria.

Modernism was also expressed in significant Villa buildings: The House Beer (1929-31) by Josef Frank exemplifies the refined Wiener living culture of the interwar period, while the house Stonborough-Wittgenstein (1926-28, today Bulgarian Cultural Institute), built by the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein together with the architect Paul Engelmann for his sister Margarete, by its aesthetic radicalism and mathematical rigor represents a special case within contemporary architecture.

Expulsion, war and reconstruction

After the "Anschluss (Annexation)" to the German Reich in 1938, numerous Jewish builders, architects (female and male ones), who had been largely responsible for the high level of Viennese architecture, have been expelled from Austria. During the Nazi era, Vienna remained largely unaffected by structural transformations, apart from the six flak towers built for air defense of Friedrich Tamms (1942-45), made ​​of solid reinforced concrete which today are present as memorials in the cityscape.

The years after the end of World War II were characterized by the reconstruction of the by bombs heavily damaged city. The architecture of those times was marked by aesthetic pragmatism, but also by the attempt to connect with the period before 1938 and pick up on current international trends. Among the most important buildings of the 1950s are Roland Rainer's City Hall (1952-58), the by Oswald Haerdtl erected Wien Museum at Karlsplatz (1954-59) and the 21er Haus of Karl Schwanzer (1958-62).

The youngsters come

Since the 1960s, a young generation was looking for alternatives to the moderate modernism of the reconstruction years. With visionary designs, conceptual, experimental and above all temporary architectures, interventions and installations, Raimund Abraham, Günther Domenig, Eilfried Huth, Hans Hollein, Walter Pichler and the groups Coop Himmelb(l)au, Haus-Rucker-Co and Missing Link rapidly got international attention. Although for the time being it was more designed than built, was the influence on the postmodern and deconstructivist trends of the 1970s and 1980s also outside Austria great. Hollein's futuristic "Retti" candle shop at Charcoal Market/Kohlmarkt (1964-65) and Domenig's biomorphic building of the Central Savings Bank in Favoriten (10th district of Vienna - 1975-79) are among the earliest examples, later Hollein's Haas-Haus (1985-90), the loft conversion Falkestraße (1987/88) by Coop Himmelb(l)au or Domenig's T Center (2002-04) were added. Especially Domenig, Hollein, Coop Himmelb(l)au and the architects Ortner & Ortner (ancient members of Haus-Rucker-Co) ​​by orders from abroad the new Austrian and Viennese architecture made a fixed international concept.

MuseumQuarter and Gasometer

Since the 1980s, the focus of building in Vienna lies on the compaction of the historic urban fabric that now as urban habitat of high quality no longer is put in question. Among the internationally best known projects is the by Ortner & Ortner planned MuseumsQuartier in the former imperial stables (competition 1987, 1998-2001), which with institutions such as the MUMOK - Museum of Modern Art Foundation Ludwig, the Leopold Museum, the Kunsthalle Wien, the Architecture Center Vienna and the Zoom Children's Museum on a wordwide scale is under the largest cultural complexes. After controversies in the planning phase, here an architectural compromise between old and new has been achieved at the end, whose success as an urban stage with four million visitors (2012) is overwhelming.

The dialogue between old and new, which has to stand on the agenda of building culture of a city that is so strongly influenced by history, also features the reconstruction of the Gasometer in Simmering by Coop Himmelb(l)au, Wilhelm Holzbauer, Jean Nouvel and Manfred Wehdorn (1999-2001). Here was not only created new housing, but also a historical industrial monument reinterpreted into a signal in the urban development area.

New Neighborhood

In recent years, the major railway stations and their surroundings moved into the focus of planning. Here not only necessary infrastructural measures were taken, but at the same time opened up spacious inner-city residential areas and business districts. Among the prestigious projects are included the construction of the new Vienna Central Station, started in 2010 with the surrounding office towers of the Quartier Belvedere and the residential and school buildings of the Midsummer quarter (Sonnwendviertel). Europe's largest wooden tower invites here for a spectacular view to the construction site and the entire city. On the site of the former North Station are currently being built 10,000 homes and 20,000 jobs, on that of the Aspangbahn station is being built at Europe's greatest Passive House settlement "Euro Gate", the area of ​​the North Western Railway Station is expected to be developed from 2020 for living and working. The largest currently under construction residential project but can be found in the north-eastern outskirts, where in Seaside Town Aspern till 2028 living and working space for 40,000 people will be created.

In one of the "green lungs" of Vienna, the Prater, 2013, the WU campus was opened for the largest University of Economics of Europe. Around the central square spectacular buildings of an international architect team from Great Britain, Japan, Spain and Austria are gathered that seem to lead a sometimes very loud conversation about the status quo of contemporary architecture (Hitoshi Abe, BUSarchitektur, Peter Cook, Zaha Hadid, NO MAD Arquitectos, Carme Pinós).

Flying high

International is also the number of architects who have inscribed themselves in the last few years with high-rise buildings in the skyline of Vienna and make St. Stephen's a not always unproblematic competition. Visible from afar is Massimiliano Fuksas' 138 and 127 meters high elegant Twin Tower at Wienerberg (1999-2001). The monolithic, 75-meter-high tower of the Hotel Sofitel at the Danube Canal by Jean Nouvel (2007-10), on the other hand, reacts to the particular urban situation and stages in its top floor new perspectives to the historical center on the other side.

Also at the water stands Dominique Perrault's DC Tower (2010-13) in the Danube City - those high-rise city, in which since the start of construction in 1996, the expansion of the city north of the Danube is condensed symbolically. Even in this environment, the slim and at the same time striking vertically folded tower of Perrault is beyond all known dimensions; from its Sky Bar, from spring 2014 on you are able to enjoy the highest view of Vienna. With 250 meters, the tower is the tallest building of Austria and almost twice as high as the St. Stephen's Cathedral. Vienna, thus, has acquired a new architectural landmark which cannot be overlooked - whether it also has the potential to become a landmark of the new Vienna, only time will tell. The architectural history of Vienna, where European history is presence and new buildings enter into an exciting and not always conflict-free dialogue with a great and outstanding architectural heritage, in any case has yet to offer exciting chapters.

Info: The folder "Architecture: From Art Nouveau to the Presence" is available at the Vienna Tourist Board and can be downloaded on www.wien.info/media/files/guide-architecture-in-wien.pdf.

Italian postcard by Rotalfoto, Milano, no. 612. Mamie Van Doren.

 

Voluptuous American actress Mamie Van Doren (1931) was a sex symbol of the 1950s and 1960s. Van Doren starred in several exploitation films such as Untamed Youth (1957), loaded with rock 'n' roll and juvenile delinquency. Her onscreen wardrobe usually consisted of tight sweaters, low-cut blouses, form-fitting dresses, and daring swimsuits. Mamie and her colleague blonde bombshells Marilyn Monroe and Jayne Mansfield were known as 'The Three M's.'

 

Mamie Van Doren was born Joan Lucille Olander in Rowena, South Dakota, in 1931. She was the daughter of Warner Carl Olander and Lucille Harriet Bennett. In 1942 the family moved to Los Angeles. In early 1946, Van Doren began working as an usher at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood. The following year, she had a bit part on an early television show. She also sang with Ted Fio Rito's band and entered several beauty contests. She was married for a brief time at seventeen when Van Doren and her first husband, Jack Newman, eloped to Santa Barbara. The marriage was dissolved quickly, upon her discovery of his abusive nature. In the summer of 1949, at age 18, she won the titles Miss Eight Ball and Miss Palm Springs. Van Doren was discovered by producer Howard Hughes the night she was crowned Miss Palm Springs. The pair dated for five years. Hughes provided her with a bit role in Jet Pilot at RKO Radio Pictures. Her line of dialogue inconsisted of one word, "Look!". The following year, 1951, she posed for famous pin-up girl artist Alberto Vargas, the painter of the glamorous Vargas Girls. His painting of Van Doren was on the July 1951 cover of Esquire magazine. Van Doren did a few more bit parts in RKO films, including His Kind of Woman (John Farrow, 1951) starring Robert Mitchum and Jane Russell. Van Doren then began working on the stage. She was a showgirl in New York in Monte Proser's nightclub version of Billion Dollar Baby. Songwriter Jimmy McHugh discovered her for his musicals, then decided she was too good for the chorus line and should have dramatic training. She studied with Ben Bard and Bliss-Hayden. While appearing in the role of Marie in a showcase production of Come Back, Little Sheba, Van Doren was seen by Phil Benjamin, a casting director at Universal International. In 1953, Van Doren signed a contract with Universal Studios. They had big plans for her, hoping she would bring the same kind of success that 20th Century Fox had with Marilyn Monroe. Van Doren, whose signing day coincided with the inauguration of President Eisenhower, was given the first name Mamie for Ike's wife, Mamie Eisenhower. Universal first cast Van Doren in a minor role as a singer in Forbidden (Rudolph Maté, 1953), starring Tony Curtis. Interested in Van Doren's allure, Universal then cast her again opposite Curtis in The All American (Jesse Hibbs, 1953), playing her first major role as Susie Ward, a wayward girl who is the man-trap at a campus beer joint. In Yankee Pasha (Joseph Pevney, 1954), starring Jeff Chandler and Rhonda Fleming, she played a slave girl, Lilith. In 1955, she had a supporting role in the musical Ain't Misbehavin' (Edward Buzzell, 1955) and starred in the crime-drama, Running Wild (Abner Biberman, 1955). Soon thereafter, Van Doren turned down a Broadway role in the play Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?, and was replaced by newcomer Jayne Mansfield. In 1956, Van Doren appeared in the Western Star in the Dust (Charles F. Haas, 1956). Though Van Doren garnered prominent billing alongside John Agar and Richard Boone, she appears rather briefly, as the daughter of a ranch owner. By this time, Van Doren had grown tired of Universal, which was only casting her in non-breakthrough roles. Therefore, Van Doren began accepting bigger roles in better movies from other studios, such as Teacher's Pet (George Seaton, 1958) with Doris Day and Clark Gable. She appeared in some of the first movies to feature rock 'n' roll music, such as Untamed Youth (Howard W. Koch, 1957). The film was originally condemned by the Catholic Legion of Decency, but that only served to enhance the curiosity factor, resulting in it being a big moneymaker for the studio. Van Doren became identified with this rebellious style, and made some rock records. She went to star in several bad girl movies that later became cult films. These include Born Reckless (Howard W. Koch, 1958), High School Confidential (Jack Arnold, 1958), and The Beat Generation (Charles F. Haas, 1959). After Universal Studios chose not to renew her contract in 1959, Van Doren was now a free agent and had to struggle to find work.

 

Mamie Van Doren became known for her provocative roles. She was in prison for Girls Town (Charles F. Haas, 1959), which provoked censors with a shower scene where audiences could see Van Doren's naked back. As Eve in The Private Lives of Adam and Eve (Mickey Rooney, Albert Zugsmith, 1960) she wore only fig leaves, and in other films, like Vice Raid (Edward L. Cahn, 1960) audiences were clued in as to the nature of the films from the titles. Many of these productions were low-budget B-movies which sometimes gained a cult following for their high camp value. An example is Sex Kittens Go to College (Albert Zugsmith, 1960), which co-starred Tuesday Weld and Mijanou Bardot - Brigitte's sister. Mamie also appeared in foreign productions, such as the Italian crime comedy Le bellissime gambe di Sabrina/The Beautiful Legs of Sabrina (Camillo Mastrocinque, 1959) with Antonio Cifariello, and the Argentine film Una americana en Buenos Aires/The Blonde from Buenos Aires (George Cahan, 1961) with Jean-Pierre Aumont. Van Doren took some time off from her career and came back to the screen in 1964. That year she played in the German Western musical Freddy und das Lied der Prärie/In the Wild West (Sobey Martin, 1964), starring Freddy Quinn and Rik Battaglia. Tommy Noonan convinced Van Doren to appear in 3 Nuts in Search of a Bolt (Tommy Noonan, 1964). Van Doren had turned down Noonan's previous offer to star in Promises! Promises!, in which she would have to do nude scenes. She was replaced by Jayne Mansfield. In 3 Nuts in Search of a Bolt, Mamie did a beer-bath scene, but is not seen nude. She posed for Playboy to promote the film. Van Doren next appeared in The Las Vegas Hillbillys (Arthur C. Pierce, 1966) which co-starred Jayne Mansfield. It was the only time two of 'The Three M's' appeared together in a film. A sequel was titled Hillbillys in a Haunted House, but Van Doren turned this role down, and was replaced by Joi Lansing. She appeared in You've Got to Be Smart (Ellis Kadison, 1967), and the sci-fi film, Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women (1968), directed by the young Peter Bogdanovich (as Derek Thomas). In this film astronauts land on Venus and encounter dangerous creatures and meet sexy Venusian women who like to sun-bathe in hip-hugging skin-tight pants and seashell brassieres. In 1968, she was offered the role of a murder victim in the independent horror film The Ice House as a replacement for Mansfield, who died the previous year. She turned the offer down, however, and was replaced by Sabrina. During the Vietnam War, she did tours for U.S. troops in Vietnam for three months in 1968, and again in 1970. Van Doren also developed a nightclub act and did live theater. She performed in stage productions of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and Dames at Sea at the Drury Lane Theater, Chicago, and appeared in Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? and The Tender Trap at the Arlington Park Theater. In the 1970s, Van Doren performed a nightclub act in Las Vegas as well. Van Doren had a supporting role in the Western The Arizona Kid (Luciano B. Carlos, 1970). Since then, Van Doren has appeared only in cameo appearances in low-budgeted films. To this date Van Doren's last film appearance was a cameo role in the comedy Slackers (Dewey Nicks, 2002). Van Doren's guest appearances on television include Jukebox Jury, What's My Line, The Bob Cummings Show, The Jack Benny Show, Fantasy Island, Burke's Law, Vega$, and L.A. Law. Van Doren released her autobiography, Playing the Field, in 1987 which brought much new attention and proved to be her biggest media splash in over 25 years. Since the book's publication she has often been interviewed and profiled and has occasionally returned to acting. Van Doren has been married five times. Her first marriage was to sportswear manufacturer Jack Newman whom she married and divorced in 1950. Her second marriage was to bandleader, composer and actor Ray Anthony whom she married in 1955. They had one son, Perry Ray Anthony (1956). The couple later divorced in 1961. When Van Doren's early 1960s, highly publicized, on-again off-again engagement to baseball player Bo Belinsky ended in 1964, she married baseball player Lee Meyers in 1966. They were divorced in 1967. Her fourth marriage was to businessman Ross McClintock in 1972. They met while working on President Nixon's reelection campaign; the marriage was annulled in 1973. Since 1979 she has been married to Thomas Dixon, an actor and dentist.

 

Sources: Wikipedia and IMDb.

Exploitant : Cars Hourtoule

Réseau : SQY Terre d'Innovations

Ligne : 9

Lieu : Gare de Plaisir – Grignon (Plaisir, F-78)

Lien TC Infos : tc-infos.fr/id/35058

L’exploitation de la fosse Delloye, appartenant à la Compagnie des Mines d’Aniches, a commencé en 1931, à une époque où l’industrie minière du charbon était une part essentielle du paysage industriel de la France. La région du Nord-Pas-de-Calais était alors connue pour ses vastes gisements de charbon, et Lewarde, avec ses importantes réserves, a rapidement gagné en importance.

Exploitant : SAVAC

Réseau : SQYBUS

Ligne : 439

Lieu : Ponts et Chaussées (Versailles, F-78)

Lien TC Infos : tc-infos.fr/vehicule/84380

Exploitant : Transdev CSO

Réseau : Poissy Aval – 2 Rives de Seine

Lieu : Gare Sud de Poissy (Poissy, F-95)

Lien TC Infos : tc-infos.fr/id/50645

Those of you who follow my exploits on Flickr will have noticed my recent enthusiasm for the little or sometimes gigantic fluffy things that happily float above us on a daily basis mostly unnoticed. Imagine my delight then when I spotted this developing on my journey back home the other day. The sun was setting directly ahead as I travelled west and as the road veered I caught sight of this awsome glow starting to radiate over the hills of West Carmarthenshire. This was the second of the two images I captured that evening. Don't you just love nature!!!

  

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Comments/Invites are always appreciated, but please do not place Multiple Invites, Flickriver Badges or Animated badges with comments. They may be deleted.

  

Best seen on Black, press "L" Then on a PC press F11 for full screen view, or view in Fluidr (use link below).

 

K_D_B on fluidr

  

All my images are © All Rights Reserved, and must not be used in any form whatsoever, on or in any type of media without my expressed permission.

A app. 2 inch long newly hatched Crested Gecko

  

The New Caledonian Crested Gecko, Guichenot's Giant Gecko or Eyelash Gecko, Rhacodactylus ciliatus, is a species of gecko native to southern New Caledonia. This species was thought extinct until it was rediscovered in 1994.[1] Along with several other Rhacodactylus species, it is being considered for protected status by the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and

 

The species was first described in 1866 as Correlophus ciliatus by the French zoologist Alphone Guichenot in an article entitled "Notice sur un nouveau genre de sauriens de la famille des geckotiens du Muséum de Paris" ("Notes on a new species of lizard in the gecko family") in the Mémoires de la Société Scientifique Naturelle de Chérbourg. It has since been renamed Rhacodactylus ciliatus.

 

The generic name Rhacodactylus is Greek in origin: Rhakos, meaning "spine" and Dactylus meaning "finger". The specific name, ciliatus, is Latin: Cilia means "fringe" or "eyelash" and refers to the crest of skin over the animal's eyes that resembles an eyelash.

 

The New Caledonian Crested Gecko has hair-like projections found above the eyes, resembling eyelashes. It has a wedge shaped head and the males with a crest that runs from each eye to the tail. The toes and the tip of the tail are covered in small hairs called setae. Each seta is divided into hundreds of smaller (approximately 200 nanometres in diameter) hairs called spatulae. It is believed these structures exploit the weak van der Waals force to help the gecko climb on most solid surfaces. The toes have small claws which aid in climbing surfaces to which their toes cannot cling.

 

The New Caledonian Crested Gecko has many naturally occurring color groups, some of which include: gray, brown, red, orange and yellow of various shades. They have variable markings, which include: spots, straight stripes and tiger-like stripes. The markings and coloration are not geographic indicators; offspring of the same clutch may display differing coloration and markings. The colors are brighter and more prominent at night.

 

The New Caledonian Crested Gecko has distinct structural morphs in head size and crest abundancy. Geckos with a head length less than 1.3 times its width are considered "crowned" Crested Geckos. They can vary in the amount and size of the crests; some have crests that extend to the base of the tail and some lack crests on one side of their

 

The Crested Gecko is endemic to South Province, New Caledonia. There are three disjunct populations, one found on the Isle of Pines and surrounding islets, and there are two populations found on the main island of Grande Terre. One population is around the Blue River, which is a protected provincial park, and the other is further north, just south of Mount Dzumac

 

-Wikipedia-

        

Despite my best attempts to block every single attack thrown my way, the assailant gets lucky and manages to kick me in the chest. Cheap move. But that doesn’t mean that it isn’t smart. Given my current situation you’d be foolish to not try and exploit it. I just really wish he hadn’t done it like that. The kick to the chest knocks the breath out of me causing me to fall backwards. It’s only thanks to some sort of miracle that I manage to spin around and catch myself before I slam into the ground. Damn it. Come on Grayson, you’re better than this.

 

As I turn to face the assailant again, I can’t help but notice something yellow in the corner of my eye racing towards him. Has Barbra already dealt with her guy? How come she gets the easy one and I don’t?

 

————————————————-

 

No doubt Dick probably think I lucked out and somehow got the easier opponent to go up against. Oh who am I kidding? That thought is absolutely what’s racing through his head right this second. Whilst he does everything possible to reject the comparisons, in many ways he’s more like Bruce than he truly cares to admit. Although, I doubt Bruce has such concerns racing through his head. As far as he’s concerned, if you can’t best an opponent then the fault is your own.

 

It feels weird to agree with him so strongly on something.

 

As I quickly close the distance between myself and the two of them, I notice Dick briefly glance in my direction. Good. He knows I’m coming hopefully he can….

 

Before I have a chance to try and signal him to distract his opponent, the assailant notices Dick’s actions and turns to see me racing towards him. With reflexes as fast as Bruce’s, he raises turns his upper torso around to face me directly and quickly moves his blade to stop my staff before I have a chance to swing. Very clever.

 

The action prompts me to grind to a halt so as to not be unbalanced and thus expose myself to a counter attack. Unfortunately, his move was more than merely instinctive self-protection as the rest of his body turns so that he’s facing me head on. Now that really doesn’t sound like a serious problem, but what it achieves is giving him a firm footing to dig in and strike back. Definitely not something you want when you’re the one who launched the first attack.

 

I briefly glance behind me to see if I can successfully disengage and avoid the inevitable attempt to disarm me. My options aren’t very good. To my left is Dick on the ground, who I notice reaching for both of his escrima sticks, and to my right is the unconscious body of the guy I just knocked unconscious. Very poor choices.

 

With no clear direction that I can take to avoid the attack, all I can do is take it head on and hope that I’m able to resist it. Before I have a chance to brace, the follow up move comes and I manage to just block the strike. A second later and that would have probably damaged my suit’s’ armour plating. Whether or not it would have been enough to pierce is a different matter. After all, a key function of all our suits is that the chest area is the most armoured part of the suit. No doubt intended to protect most of the major organs from serious damage.

 

Whilst I’m able to successfully block the next two strikes this guy throws my way, the lack of options from which to step back make me a sitting target. Though I’m more than capable of blocking every move he makes against me, this fight won’t end if I’m forced to stay solely on defence. It’s then that I notice Dick steadily getting back on to his feet with both sticks in hand ready to make a move.

 

———————————

 

Barbra closes the gap between herself and the assailant in a matter of seconds. Somehow, just before she manages to launch her attack, he spots her and manages to narrowly block her strike. Did he see her because I was looking at her?

 

The pair quickly begin to clash weapons against one another as the assailant’s attention turns towards Barbra instead. Charming. Clearly I’m not good enough for him. But thankfully, Barbra’s distraction is just what I needed. I reach forward and grab hold of both my sticks, pausing only to make certain they weren’t damaged.

 

Nothing beyond a few extra scratch marks courtesy of this guy’s sword, thankfully.

 

As I climb back onto my feet, the sound of the guard’s sword colliding with Barbra’s staff echoes throughout the room as each strike follows the other in quick succession. It’s only then that I realise that just as he did with me, the assailant has forced Barbra onto the defensive with his continuous rapid attacks against her.

 

Why hasn’t she simply tried to disengage and readjust?

 

Her injury isn’t stopping her is it?

 

No wait. There’s nowhere for her to go. Her opponent lies unconscious behind her, and I was blocking her from dodging in the opposite direction. Damn it. I’ve put her in danger again. That means I have to be the one to get her out of it.

 

Without saying a word, I lunge forward with both sticks at the ready and charge the guard. Keep him distracted Barb, I’ve got him.

Cotton

Loan from the Gary Westford Collection, L2024.12.30

 

Designers exploited bright colors and intricate patterns to

signal their creativity and defiance of the staid sartorial norms of the previous generation. Starburst and vortex patterns were particularly popular, perhaps because they mimic the effects of the light shows that accompanied rock concerts

and suggest a prismatic (and drug-fueled?) view into a new world.

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Portland Art Museum

Psychedelic Rock Posters and Fashion of the 1960s

 

Overview

 

Psychedelic Rock Posters and Fashion of the 1960s reveals the passion and creativity of the era through the iconic rock posters of San Francisco and beyond. The Haight-Ashbury neighborhood of San Francisco was an incubator for ideas, expression, social thought, and, above all, music. Young people from across the nation gathered there to explore alternative ways of living and to challenge contemporary paradigms. At the heart of it all was the psychedelic experience, or an altered state of consciousness.

 

To capture the heady experience of life and music at this time, poster artists invented a graphic language to communicate the excitement of rock concerts, which featured liquid light shows and film projections. They drew on disparate historical precedents such as Art Nouveau, Wild West posters, and Victorian engraving and combined them with vibrating color, inventive lettering, and witty and provocative design. The exhibition brings together more than 200 rock posters, including work by the “big five” designers of the day—Rick Griffin, Alton Kelley, Victor Moscoso, Stanley Mouse, and Wes Wilson—as well as other superb talents, such as Bonnie MacLean and Bob “Raphael” Schnepf.

 

Fashion both reflected and influenced the psychedelic look of the posters. The exhibition showcases approximately 20 eclectic vintage styles ranging from embroidered denim and hippy fringe to crochet and velvet.

 

Psychedelic Rock Posters and Fashion of the 1960s draws from the collection of the Portland Art Museum, most of which comes from a major donation from Gary Westford, who serves as a consultant on the project. Key loans round out the visual story of the psychedelic era.

 

The exhibition is curated by Mary Weaver Chapin, Ph.D., Curator of Prints and Drawings. Supported in part by Exhibition Series Sponsors.

Véhicule : IRISBUS Agora L GNV

Identification : 2288 (DD-111-XD)

Exploitant : Keolis Bordeaux Métropole

Dépôt : Centre d'Exploitation du Lac (CEL)

 

Réseau : TBM (Bordeaux Métropole)

Ligne : 18 NAVETTE SPÉCIALE TOP14

Voiture : 1802

Destination : Mise en Ligne

 

À l'occasion d'un match de rugby pour le TOP14 au Stade Matmut Atlantique, TBM a mis en place des Navettes Spéciales. La première est la Navette habituelle entre Brandenburg Tram B et le Stade, exploitée par Keolis Bordeaux Métropole en bus articulés. La seconde est une Navette spéciale pour l'occasion entre le Parking P8 Blanquefort et le Stade, exploitée par Keolis Gironde en bus standard.

 

09/06/2019 16:05

Avenue de la Jallere ; F-33 BORDEAUX

*** READER ADVICE *** Read out loud, in yer best Brummie twang. It'll make more sense!

 

Us Brummie kids, we have a bit of history with class 56's. I first remember seeing one some time in 1978, thundering south through Solihull on a 'Didcot Dusty', one of the constant procession of MGR coal trains from the East Midlands to Didcot Power Station. These trains were formerly dominated by Toton's fleet of no-heat class 47/3's, several of which were still running round in faded two-tone green well into 1977.

 

But we don't remember the class for its day to day bread and butter work. Oh no. We remember them for their exploits with rakes of blue and grey coaches behind.

 

I could brag about being in the right place (Reading) at the right time (26/05/80) for 56042 (the rare one with CP3 bogies, withdrawn fairly early on) on 1E63 from Reading to New Street. Lord knows how that happened, I do remember 1E63 was greeted at Leamington by a fairly large contingent of cranks for the 24 mile run to New Street.

 

How on earth did stuff get found out without Facebook, WhatsApp or cell phones?

 

But I think that yer average Brummie kid would remember Sunday morning Grid bashing the most.

 

Early to mid 1980's Sundays could indeed be quite productive, 1980/81 still saw regular class 40's on the first trains into New Street from the north-west. And Saltley kick-outs for cross country services were as unpredictable as you like, if they had something 'foreign' they wanted rid of, 1E08 1615 New Street-Leeds and 1E30 1650 New Street-York were favourites for getting rid of 'stuff' from the likes of Tinsley, Thornaby and Gateshead. And, if there was bugger all about, and that didn't happen so often, you'd end up playing football on a field in Cofton Hackett instead. Don't ask...

 

But, far and away, it was the 'Drags' that created the most interest. It was common for Sunday engineers possessions to last until 1600, and, if the line from New Street to Rugby was closed for the spade brigade, the trains to Euston would arrive from Wolverhampton behind an electric loco, drop the pan and a diesel locomotive would attach and take the train, loco 'un all, to Nuneaton. There, the diesel would drop off and the electric would go forward to Euston.

 

In theory, they were booked for 47/4's, there was little else around that could power the air-con of the late mk2 stock.

 

The reality was somewhat different...

 

Anything and nearly everything could appear. The 47's were largely ignored until the latter years, there was a period where 58's turned up occasionally, and if Saltley had a 50 hanging around, it might have gotten 'fixed' onto one of the three (?) diagrams.

 

It is the class 56's that stir the most memories though. They held sway for a good few years, I had a good number on the Drags and I couldn't even begin to fathom how many of the 135-strong fleet did at least one turn of the workings. I'd be very interested to find out.

 

This one definitely did, I was there. Late June 1986. All clag and turbo scream it was. Loved it.

 

56113, 34 years later on all bar a week or so, on 16 June 2020 leading 6C41 Basford Hall-Holyhead through the centre road at Rhyl.

 

All clag and turbo scream...

The exploitation rights for this text are the property of the Vienna Tourist Board. This text may be reprinted free of charge until further notice, even partially and in edited form. Forward sample copy to: Vienna Tourist Board, Media Management, Invalidenstraße 6, 1030 Vienna; media.rel@wien.info. All information in this text without guarantee.

Author: Andreas Nierhaus, Curator of Architecture/Wien Museum

Last updated January 2014

Architecture in Vienna

Vienna's 2,000-year history is present in a unique density in the cityscape. The layout of the center dates back to the Roman city and medieval road network. Romanesque and Gothic churches characterize the streets and squares as well as palaces and mansions of the baroque city of residence. The ring road is an expression of the modern city of the 19th century, in the 20th century extensive housing developments set accents in the outer districts. Currently, large-scale urban development measures are implemented; distinctive buildings of international star architects complement the silhouette of the city.

Due to its function as residence of the emperor and European power center, Vienna for centuries stood in the focus of international attention, but it was well aware of that too. As a result, developed an outstanding building culture, and still today on a worldwide scale only a few cities can come up with a comparable density of high-quality architecture. For several years now, Vienna has increased its efforts to connect with its historical highlights and is drawing attention to itself with some spectacular new buildings. The fastest growing city in the German-speaking world today most of all in residential construction is setting standards. Constants of the Viennese architecture are respect for existing structures, the palpability of historical layers and the dialogue between old and new.

Culmination of medieval architecture: the Stephansdom

The oldest architectural landmark of the city is St. Stephen's Cathedral. Under the rule of the Habsburgs, defining the face of the city from the late 13th century until 1918 in a decisive way, the cathedral was upgraded into the sacral monument of the political ambitions of the ruling house. The 1433 completed, 137 meters high southern tower, by the Viennese people affectionately named "Steffl", is a masterpiece of late Gothic architecture in Europe. For decades he was the tallest stone structure in Europe, until today he is the undisputed center of the city.

The baroque residence

Vienna's ascension into the ranks of the great European capitals began in Baroque. Among the most important architects are Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach and Johann Lucas von Hildebrandt. Outside the city walls arose a chain of summer palaces, including the garden Palais Schwarzenberg (1697-1704) as well as the Upper and Lower Belvedere of Prince Eugene of Savoy (1714-22). Among the most important city palaces are the Winter Palace of Prince Eugene (1695-1724, now a branch of the Belvedere) and the Palais Daun-Kinsky (auction house in Kinsky 1713-19). The emperor himself the Hofburg had complemented by buildings such as the Imperial Library (1722-26) and the Winter Riding School (1729-34). More important, however, for the Habsburgs was the foundation of churches and monasteries. Thus arose before the city walls Fischer von Erlach's Karlskirche (1714-39), which with its formal and thematic complex show façade belongs to the major works of European Baroque. In colored interior rooms like that of St. Peter's Church (1701-22), the contemporary efforts for the synthesis of architecture, painting and sculpture becomes visible.

Upgrading into metropolis: the ring road time (Ringstraßenzeit)

Since the Baroque, reflections on extension of the hopelessly overcrowed city were made, but only Emperor Franz Joseph ordered in 1857 the demolition of the fortifications and the connection of the inner city with the suburbs. 1865, the Ring Road was opened. It is as the most important boulevard of Europe an architectural and in terms of urban development achievement of the highest rank. The original building structure is almost completely preserved and thus conveys the authentic image of a metropolis of the 19th century. The public representational buildings speak, reflecting accurately the historicism, by their style: The Greek Antique forms of Theophil Hansen's Parliament (1871-83) stood for democracy, the Renaissance of the by Heinrich Ferstel built University (1873-84) for the flourishing of humanism, the Gothic of the Town Hall (1872-83) by Friedrich Schmidt for the medieval civic pride.

Dominating remained the buildings of the imperial family: Eduard van der Nüll's and August Sicardsburg's Opera House (1863-69), Gottfried Semper's and Carl Hasenauer's Burgtheater (1874-88), their Museum of Art History and Museum of Natural History (1871-91) and the Neue (New) Hofburg (1881-1918 ). At the same time the ring road was the preferred residential area of mostly Jewish haute bourgeoisie. With luxurious palaces the families Ephrussi, Epstein or Todesco made it clear that they had taken over the cultural leadership role in Viennese society. In the framework of the World Exhibition of 1873, the new Vienna presented itself an international audience. At the ring road many hotels were opened, among them the Hotel Imperial and today's Palais Hansen Kempinski.

Laboratory of modernity: Vienna around 1900

Otto Wagner's Postal Savings Bank (1903-06) was one of the last buildings in the Ring road area Otto Wagner's Postal Savings Bank (1903-06), which with it façade, liberated of ornament, and only decorated with "functional" aluminum buttons and the glass banking hall now is one of the icons of modern architecture. Like no other stood Otto Wagner for the dawn into the 20th century: His Metropolitan Railway buildings made ​​the public transport of the city a topic of architecture, the church of the Psychiatric hospital at Steinhofgründe (1904-07) is considered the first modern church.

With his consistent focus on the function of a building ("Something impractical can not be beautiful"), Wagner marked a whole generation of architects and made Vienna the laboratory of modernity: in addition to Joseph Maria Olbrich, the builder of the Secession (1897-98) and Josef Hoffmann, the architect of the at the western outskirts located Purkersdorf Sanatorium (1904) and founder of the Vienna Workshop (Wiener Werkstätte, 1903) is mainly to mention Adolf Loos, with the Loos House at the square Michaelerplatz (1909-11) making architectural history. The extravagant marble cladding of the business zone stands in maximal contrast, derived from the building function, to the unadorned facade above, whereby its "nudity" became even more obvious - a provocation, as well as his culture-critical texts ("Ornament and Crime"), with which he had greatest impact on the architecture of the 20th century. Public contracts Loos remained denied. His major works therefore include villas, apartment facilities and premises as the still in original state preserved Tailor salon Knize at Graben (1910-13) and the restored Loos Bar (1908-09) near the Kärntner Straße (passageway Kärntner Durchgang).

Between the Wars: International Modern Age and social housing

After the collapse of the monarchy in 1918, Vienna became capital of the newly formed small country of Austria. In the heart of the city, the architects Theiss & Jaksch built 1931-32 the first skyscraper in Vienna as an exclusive residential address (Herrengasse - alley 6-8). To combat the housing shortage for the general population, the social democratic city government in a globally unique building program within a few years 60,000 apartments in hundreds of apartment buildings throughout the city area had built, including the famous Karl Marx-Hof by Karl Ehn (1925-30). An alternative to the multi-storey buildings with the 1932 opened International Werkbundsiedlung was presented, which was attended by 31 architects from Austria, Germany, France, Holland and the USA and showed models for affordable housing in greenfield areas. With buildings of Adolf Loos, André Lurçat, Richard Neutra, Gerrit Rietveld, the Werkbundsiedlung, which currently is being restored at great expense, is one of the most important documents of modern architecture in Austria.

Modernism was also expressed in significant Villa buildings: The House Beer (1929-31) by Josef Frank exemplifies the refined Wiener living culture of the interwar period, while the house Stonborough-Wittgenstein (1926-28, today Bulgarian Cultural Institute), built by the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein together with the architect Paul Engelmann for his sister Margarete, by its aesthetic radicalism and mathematical rigor represents a special case within contemporary architecture.

Expulsion, war and reconstruction

After the "Anschluss (Annexation)" to the German Reich in 1938, numerous Jewish builders, architects (female and male ones), who had been largely responsible for the high level of Viennese architecture, have been expelled from Austria. During the Nazi era, Vienna remained largely unaffected by structural transformations, apart from the six flak towers built for air defense of Friedrich Tamms (1942-45), made ​​of solid reinforced concrete which today are present as memorials in the cityscape.

The years after the end of World War II were characterized by the reconstruction of the by bombs heavily damaged city. The architecture of those times was marked by aesthetic pragmatism, but also by the attempt to connect with the period before 1938 and pick up on current international trends. Among the most important buildings of the 1950s are Roland Rainer's City Hall (1952-58), the by Oswald Haerdtl erected Wien Museum at Karlsplatz (1954-59) and the 21er Haus of Karl Schwanzer (1958-62).

The youngsters come

Since the 1960s, a young generation was looking for alternatives to the moderate modernism of the reconstruction years. With visionary designs, conceptual, experimental and above all temporary architectures, interventions and installations, Raimund Abraham, Günther Domenig, Eilfried Huth, Hans Hollein, Walter Pichler and the groups Coop Himmelb(l)au, Haus-Rucker-Co and Missing Link rapidly got international attention. Although for the time being it was more designed than built, was the influence on the postmodern and deconstructivist trends of the 1970s and 1980s also outside Austria great. Hollein's futuristic "Retti" candle shop at Charcoal Market/Kohlmarkt (1964-65) and Domenig's biomorphic building of the Central Savings Bank in Favoriten (10th district of Vienna - 1975-79) are among the earliest examples, later Hollein's Haas-Haus (1985-90), the loft conversion Falkestraße (1987/88) by Coop Himmelb(l)au or Domenig's T Center (2002-04) were added. Especially Domenig, Hollein, Coop Himmelb(l)au and the architects Ortner & Ortner (ancient members of Haus-Rucker-Co) ​​by orders from abroad the new Austrian and Viennese architecture made a fixed international concept.

MuseumQuarter and Gasometer

Since the 1980s, the focus of building in Vienna lies on the compaction of the historic urban fabric that now as urban habitat of high quality no longer is put in question. Among the internationally best known projects is the by Ortner & Ortner planned MuseumsQuartier in the former imperial stables (competition 1987, 1998-2001), which with institutions such as the MUMOK - Museum of Modern Art Foundation Ludwig, the Leopold Museum, the Kunsthalle Wien, the Architecture Center Vienna and the Zoom Children's Museum on a wordwide scale is under the largest cultural complexes. After controversies in the planning phase, here an architectural compromise between old and new has been achieved at the end, whose success as an urban stage with four million visitors (2012) is overwhelming.

The dialogue between old and new, which has to stand on the agenda of building culture of a city that is so strongly influenced by history, also features the reconstruction of the Gasometer in Simmering by Coop Himmelb(l)au, Wilhelm Holzbauer, Jean Nouvel and Manfred Wehdorn (1999-2001). Here was not only created new housing, but also a historical industrial monument reinterpreted into a signal in the urban development area.

New Neighborhood

In recent years, the major railway stations and their surroundings moved into the focus of planning. Here not only necessary infrastructural measures were taken, but at the same time opened up spacious inner-city residential areas and business districts. Among the prestigious projects are included the construction of the new Vienna Central Station, started in 2010 with the surrounding office towers of the Quartier Belvedere and the residential and school buildings of the Midsummer quarter (Sonnwendviertel). Europe's largest wooden tower invites here for a spectacular view to the construction site and the entire city. On the site of the former North Station are currently being built 10,000 homes and 20,000 jobs, on that of the Aspangbahn station is being built at Europe's greatest Passive House settlement "Euro Gate", the area of ​​the North Western Railway Station is expected to be developed from 2020 for living and working. The largest currently under construction residential project but can be found in the north-eastern outskirts, where in Seaside Town Aspern till 2028 living and working space for 40,000 people will be created.

In one of the "green lungs" of Vienna, the Prater, 2013, the WU campus was opened for the largest University of Economics of Europe. Around the central square spectacular buildings of an international architect team from Great Britain, Japan, Spain and Austria are gathered that seem to lead a sometimes very loud conversation about the status quo of contemporary architecture (Hitoshi Abe, BUSarchitektur, Peter Cook, Zaha Hadid, NO MAD Arquitectos, Carme Pinós).

Flying high

International is also the number of architects who have inscribed themselves in the last few years with high-rise buildings in the skyline of Vienna and make St. Stephen's a not always unproblematic competition. Visible from afar is Massimiliano Fuksas' 138 and 127 meters high elegant Twin Tower at Wienerberg (1999-2001). The monolithic, 75-meter-high tower of the Hotel Sofitel at the Danube Canal by Jean Nouvel (2007-10), on the other hand, reacts to the particular urban situation and stages in its top floor new perspectives to the historical center on the other side.

Also at the water stands Dominique Perrault's DC Tower (2010-13) in the Danube City - those high-rise city, in which since the start of construction in 1996, the expansion of the city north of the Danube is condensed symbolically. Even in this environment, the slim and at the same time striking vertically folded tower of Perrault is beyond all known dimensions; from its Sky Bar, from spring 2014 on you are able to enjoy the highest view of Vienna. With 250 meters, the tower is the tallest building of Austria and almost twice as high as the St. Stephen's Cathedral. Vienna, thus, has acquired a new architectural landmark which cannot be overlooked - whether it also has the potential to become a landmark of the new Vienna, only time will tell. The architectural history of Vienna, where European history is presence and new buildings enter into an exciting and not always conflict-free dialogue with a great and outstanding architectural heritage, in any case has yet to offer exciting chapters.

Info: The folder "Architecture: From Art Nouveau to the Presence" is available at the Vienna Tourist Board and can be downloaded on www.wien.info/media/files/guide-architecture-in-wien.pdf.

France, Région Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, département de l'Ain, Massif du Jura, Région géographique du Bugey, Vallée du Valromey, Brénod

...

Le Valromey est à la fois une région historique et une vallée de France, qui au sein du Bugey, participe à la transition entre Haut-Bugey et Bas-Bugey ; elle est drainée par le Séran.

...

Toponymie

Une étymologie fausse prétend que Valromey signifie « vallée romaine » en ancien français, mais cette étymologie est sans doute victime des apparences. En effet, l'ancien français n'y était que peu parlé avant l'annexion en 1601, la langue vernaculaire était en effet le francoprovençal, langue dans laquelle cette vallée se nomme Verromey. Des attestations plus anciennes apparaissent dans les textes sous les noms de Verrumensi en 1110, Veromensi en 1142 et Verrometum en 1169. Ces évolutions de la dénomination dérivent sans doute de Venetonimagus ou plus anciennement de Vernemetonimagos.

...

Objectif entièrement manuel Laowa 12mm f/2.8 Zero-Distorsion

Exploit Yellow.

Pau Claris i Casademunt, né Barcelone le 1er janvier 1586, mort dans sa ville natale le 27 février 1641, est un homme politique et ecclésiastique catalan qui devint Président de la Généralité de Catalogne - Barcelone (Catalogne - Espagne)

 

Website : www.fluidr.com/photos/pat21

"Copyright © – Patrick Bouchenard

The reproduction, publication, modification, transmission or exploitation of any work contained here in for any use, personal or commercial, without my prior written permission is strictly prohibited. All rights reserved."

Exploitant : RATP

Réseau : RATP

Ligne : 528

Lieu : Porte de Clichy (Paris 17ème, F-75)

Lien TC Infos :https://tc-infos.fr/id/32302

Built for the rick and Morty Exploit the Fans for Art DVD Contest.

 

He finally found his purpose.

 

Available to view on twitter.

Click here for the reference images, and here for the existential crisis.

 

Here for the dvd cover.

  

Rick and Morty and all related names, images etc. are property of Justin Roiland, Dan Harmon and Adultswim. All rights reserved.

 

I hope you find the time to read this (long) text - Eupalinos

 

-----

 

In his brilliant two-part book Endgame, my friend Derrick Jensen asks:

 

“Do you believe that our culture will undergo a voluntary transformation to a sane and sustainable way of living?

 

For the last several years I’ve taken to asking people this question, at talks and rallies, in libraries, on buses, in airplanes, at the grocery store, the hard- ware store. Everywhere. The answers range from emphatic nos to laughter. No one answers in the affirmative. One fellow at one talk did raise his hand, and when everyone looked at him, he dropped his hand, then said, sheepishly, “Oh, voluntary? No, of course not.” My next question: how will this understand- ing—that this culture will not voluntarily stop destroying the natural world, eliminating indigenous cultures, exploiting the poor, and killing those who resist—shift our strategy and tactics? The answer? Nobody knows, because we never talk about it: we’re too busy pretending the culture will undergo a magical transformation."

 

In this article, my friend Elisabeth Robson and I invite you to imagine the scope of changes necessary to make our society sustainable. This transformation could be done voluntarily. But as Derrick reminds us, there is no evidence that will happen. On the contrary, every indicator of ecological health is heading in the wrong direction, and greenwashing abounds. This, ultimately, is why I am an ecological revolutionary.

 

by Max Wilbert and Elisabeth Robson

____

 

Since January 15th, 2021, we have been fighting to Protect Thacker Pass from a proposed open-pit lithium mine.

 

For some people, our protest is confusing. Most mainstream environmentalists support lithium mining for producing electric car batteries. Yet here we are, proud environmentalists who have fought the fossil fuel industry for many years, now fighting the electric car industry.

 

Electric Cars are Not a Solution

 

We argue that switching to electric cars won’t significantly help solve global warming—a position that is actually backed by evidence (see, for instance, this chart, or read the book Bright Green Lies).

 

Mining lithium and the other materials used in electric cars destroys sensitive wildlife habitat, releases toxic pollution, bulldozes Native American sacred sites—and pumps out quite a lot of greenhouse gasses.

 

Electric cars provide the illusion that we’re making progress. And (not coincidentally) they make car manufacturers a LOT of money. Tesla’s Elon Musk is the richest man in the world. Electric car manufacturers and the mining companies providing their raw materials are quite happy for the public to remain ignorant of what’s required to make their products. The idea that buying an electric car will save the planet is called “greenwashing”—false advertising persuasion by eco-propaganda that white washes the true ecological harm caused by a product or process.

 

The only thing green about EVs is the money being made.

 

Are Fossil Fuels the Answer?

 

No. Fossil fuels extraction, processing, and burning causes catastrophic habitat destruction, toxic pollution, and global climate destabilization. Look at the legacy of oil drilling in Nigeria, at the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, at the toxicity caused by the fracking industry, or at the ecocide of mountaintop removal coal mining. Continuing to burn fossil fuels is unacceptable.

 

As grassroots activists, we’ve spent years fighting oil pipelines and blockading coal trains to stop the destruction caused by drilling and burning fossil fuels. And we’re not funded by the fossil fuel industry. Every dollar we’ve raised comes from donations from regular people who are fed up with the greenwashing lies.

 

The problem is that mining lithium, cobalt, and silicon and the many other metals and minerals required to build EVs, their batteries, and other “clean” technologies is just as bad for the planet as fossil fuels are.

 

There isn’t much difference between an open-pit coal mine and open-pit lithium mine. Both destroy habitat. Both poison water. And both release massive quantities of greenhouse gases.

 

So, What’s the Solution?

 

One of the most common questions we’re asked is “If electric vehicles aren’t the answer, what is your solution?”

 

True sustainability is not nearly as simple and easy as buying different products, like electric cars, and putting up solar panels and wind turbines. A truly sustainable life doesn’t mean swapping out gas for lithium-ion batteries.

 

The state of the planet is dire, from melting ice caps to expanding deserts, from clearcut logging to soil erosion, from the collapse of ocean fish populations to rising temperatures. Our planet is already deep into the 6th mass extinction crisis.

 

Reversing these trends will mean transforming our entire society, from top to bottom. It will entail changing the foundation of our economy, our communities, our work, our political structures, and beyond. This is daunting, and it is also our only hope.

 

But this is still vague. What, exactly, does this transformation look like? What is our solution?

 

What is “Sustainability”?

 

In the broadest sense, sustainability refers to the ability to maintain or support a process continuously over time. Hopefully it is clear to everyone reading this that the societies we live in are not sustainable in the sense of being able to be maintained continuously over time.

 

Almost everything we consume, do, and create currently depends on fossil fuels, which are rapidly being drawn down as the world uses over 100 million barrels of oil per day and 24 million tons of coal per day.

 

Look around you. It’s probably true that every human-made object surrounding you right now was created with the help of fossil fuel energy.

 

These minerals took hundreds of millions of years to form and, if we continue burning them, they will run out. Burning fossil fuels is causing climate change. This is on top of the harms of extracting fossil fuels—the oil spills, clearcuts, mountaintop removal mining, and so on. Relying on fossil fuels to power our lives is not sustainable.

 

Even if we were able to replace fossil fuel energy with solar and wind power, and fossil fuel plastics with other materials, that would still not be sustainable, since the other materials we use to construct our human “stuff” are also non-renewable. For instance, lithium, a key ingredient in electric car batteries, is concentrated by volcanic eruptions, rock weathering, and water evaporation over millions of years. Just like fossil fuels, once we use up all the lithium we can find, we will never be able to get more from the Earth. This is also true of the other metals and minerals required to build cars, wind turbines, and solar panels, among many other things. And while 100% recycling is a good idea in theory, in practice, 100% recycling is impossible — and industrial recycling is itself an energy-intensive and highly polluting industry.

 

The Costs of Modernity

 

True sustainability means meeting two conditions: first, we must use only what the Earth can regenerate on human time-scales. And second, that use must not degrade the natural world (this would reduce the Earth’s carrying capacity over time).

 

All of us descend from lines of ancestors who lived for thousands of years using the energy of the sun, energy stored in plants through photosynthesis, energy stored in the animals who ate those plants, and the animals who ate other animals. Living sustainably meant ensuring that we gave back as much as we took from the Earth, returning our biodegradable waste to the environment to decompose and provide food for animals, returning the energy we used to the circle of life.

 

If you find yourself balking, pause for a moment and take a deep breath. Your doubtfulness makes sense. We’ve all been raised to venerate technology, idolize engineers and scientists, and see modernity as progress. And it’s self-evident that modern technology is useful — and at times, lifesaving. There are certainly benefits from industrial modernity, especially for the wealthiest nations and people in the world.

 

Consider again, however, the costs. We live on the only planet known to support life in the universe, and as the global climate is destabilizing, 200 species a day are being driven extinct, overshoot is accelerating, and planetary life-support systems like forests and oceans are failing. Industrial civilization is undermining its own foundation; and as the historian Arnold Toynbee noted, “Great civilizations are not murdered. They take their own lives.” We are not immune from this historic pattern.

 

If environmental collapse is coming—or already here, with every indicator of ecological health heading in the wrong direction and accelerating—then returning to a simpler way of life is inevitable. The only question is, will we do so willingly, or will we be forced as modernity crumbles around us?

 

We face a choice: either we sacrifice the ability of future generations to live so that we can have another decade of smart phones and cars, or we make a change. The moral choice is clear.

 

The 6 Elements of Sustainability

 

Sustainability requires a completely different way of thinking and being in the world. It also requires concrete action. In this section, we lay out 6 elements to initiate transition to a truly sustainable society.

 

We Must Reduce

 

We Must Relocalize

 

We Must Ration

 

We Must Restore

 

We Must Rethink

 

We Must Remember

 

As you read through each element, you’ll see that all the elements are related to one another. We can’t ration if we don’t reduce. We can’t relocalize if we don’t restore the natural environment. And we can’t do any of this if we don’t rethink our way of being in the world, remember our connections to and dependency upon nature, and make revolutionary, not just incremental, change.

 

These are mutually supporting efforts that entail fundamental shifts in the goals we pursue in our culture and economy. Achieving them will require far-reaching political vision and leadership, some level of global cooperation, and an emergency mobilization of all society.(1)

 

Element 1: We Must Reduce

 

Reusing is trendy, recycling is mainstream, but reduction is taboo. We live in societies built on growth, where economic stagnation or negative population growth is considered an emergency. To move towards sustainability, we must dramatically reduce the size of the economy (including the amount we consume) and the size of our population.

 

Reducing consumption includes reducing and eventually eliminating our consumption of cars. The average household in the United States owns 1.88 cars. This is not sustainable.

 

Population, contrary to popular belief, can reduced in humane ways. It begins with making culturally-appropriate family planning, sex education, and birth control widely available. It also requires reproductive freedom for women. Such programs have been proven effective to reduce birth rates to below replacement level (2.1 children per woman), which means population will go down.

 

Reducing our consumption and our population is a key element to enable a rapid weaning off industrial fuels, energy, and materials, along with industrial agriculture (one of the main industries destroying the planet)

 

Element 2: We Must Relocalize

 

We live in the most mobile, globalized society to ever exist, depending on fossil-fueled trucks, cars, trains, airplanes, and ships to transport huge quantities of goods and huge numbers of people all over the planet on a daily basis. This is ecologically untenable.

 

The fact that many of us enjoy rapid, convenient travel is not important compared to life on this planet. Reversing ecological collapse isn’t about what we want and desire. It’s about what the planet can sustain.

 

A sustainable future is a local future, in which people live, work, and get the basic necessities of life close to home, and rarely travel long distances. The “locavore” movement has proposed the idea of a 100-mile diet to combat an unsustainable food system. The same concept should be adapted to travel.

 

Producing and powering automobiles is incredibly destructive to nature, and so a sustainable world means we must retire all cars and stop producing new ones. Reducing and eliminating car production and use means almost everything about our lifestyles has to change. If we try to completely replace cars with public transportation—attempting to allow the kind of freedom of travel we currently enjoy—we’re just going to create new problems to replace the old problems. Some public transportation will help in the transition to a world in which we all travel less, but the reality is, we’re all going to have to learn how to travel less.

 

This will be incredibly disruptive, but not as disruptive as ecological collapse. And there are benefits. In the future, we’ll walk and bike more, which means we’ll work close to where we live. We’ll need to depend more on our local communities. To carpool, or share a car with a neighborhood during a transition period, we’ll need to get to know the people we live next to a whole lot better. We won’t move as often, and we’ll probably live closer to our friends and families so we don’t have to travel so far to see them.

 

Relocalizing also means relocalizing what we consume, including food, clothes, what we use to build our homes and the stuff we put in them, medical care, and more. Currently, our society relies on global shipping networks of ships, trains, and trucks to deliver the things we use. This global shipping network cannot exist in a truly sustainable society. Therefore, we must learn how to live using only what we can get from our local areas. Initially that local area may be the entire country, then perhaps the state we live in, and then, finally, our local community.

 

We must be careful in the process of relocalizing because without simultaneously reducing population and consumption, this process could quickly destroy the environments around our local communities. It is critical that we prioritize what is most important—food, water, shelter, basic medical care—as we relocalize our communities and minimize our use of all material goods that are not absolutely essential.

 

Element 3: We Must Ration

 

Confronting ecological reality means confronting scarcity. When we stop making new cars, and begin gradually eliminating fossil fuels, the wealthy and powerful may seek to hoard resources (let’s be real: they’re already doing it). This results in violence and suffering, and will exacerbate shortages already occurring due to overshoot and ecological collapse.

 

Faced with this predicament, the moral approach is to ration what is left. Rationing must of course be accompanied by a dramatic reduction in the consumption of energy as well as material goods. A reasonable starting goal here (depending on the level of consumption in a given region) would be to rapidly reduce energy and material consumption by half, then aim for 90 percent or more.

 

Rationing should be implemented in fair ways and will require guardrails and procedures. For example, food, medical care, and other basic needs should be prioritized over shopping malls, consumer goods, entertainment, and so on (people should continue having fun, of course—but not in ways that are wasteful of energy and materials).

 

This rationing should also be implemented fairly and equitably on an international level. People in the U.S. and Europe, for example, should not be “rationed” an allotment of cobalt mined by slave labor in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Nor should Congolese people be “rationed” an allotment of salmon exported from the Pacific Rim. Rationing will feel more dramatic in the wealthiest nations, because we use way, way too much. In poorer countries, rationing will not be as dramatic. We don’t subscribe to the colonial assertion that all countries should aim for a “Low-energy European lifestyle,” as is a common refrain in some degrowth communities. A low energy European lifestyle is grossly unsustainable when compared to land-based peoples, the only sustainable societies on Earth.

 

Element 4: We Must Restore

 

As we implement reduction, relocalizing, and rationing, we must simultaneously take action to protect forests, rivers, prairies, and other wild lands from development, logging, mining, and other destructive activities. As much as possible must be preserved.

 

To be effective, this will require a dramatic shift in economic structures. For example, jobs in extractive industries must be temporarily replaced with jobs in restoration (removing dams, tearing up concrete, dismantling malls and vast parking lots, earthworks to reduce erosion and build soil, waterworks to increase soil health and restore aquifers, and so on)—beginning with the least materially important/most frivolous sectors, and rapidly expanding to other areas of the economy.

 

As we reduce consumption—of everything—the economy as we know it will no longer exist. Going to the grocery store to get food that arrives there from all over the country and the world will no longer be an option. The food we eat will need to come from local sources, which means restoring habitat, soils, and watersheds. Surviving as part of nature rather than by dominating nature will not be an option without healthy, flourishing natural communities. Restoring these natural communities (“ecosystems”) and our relationships with the natural world should become everyone’s top priority. Restoring our local environments is also what will enable us to find enough food, clean water, and materials to build shelter without degrading the natural communities we depend on: we cannot relocalize without also restoring.

 

Focusing on restoration rather than a growing consumption-based economy will require global, widespread education programs and job retraining programs that can educate people in ecosystem restoration, watershed health, subsistence food production, biology, ecology, and permaculture.

 

This education should begin with young children, and as many people as possible should be put to work tearing down destructive infrastructure and replacing it with restored natural communities. Small-scale, place-based, ecologically embedded methods for survival and flourishing should be developed simultaneously. Shifting government subsidies from extractive, military, and other ecologically destructive activities would provide funding for these programs.

 

Element 5: We Must Rethink

 

Shifting from a lifestyle of consumption, immediate gratification, and a worldview that we are separate from the world and that the world is ours to consume will require completely changing how we think and the stories we tell. We must change from stories of domination to stories of cooperation, respect and gratitude for our place in the natural world.

 

Our entire media landscape is focused on selling us things, most of which we don’t really need. This is what keeps the growth economy growing. These stories perpetuate and expand unsustainable lifestyles of consumption, and they do so all around the world.

 

Instead, we need stories that help us understand how to live in a world of ecological collapse, a world in which our society, our population, and our consumption must scale down, rather than scaling forever up. We need stories that are local, that teach us how to live well in the place we are now, and how to deal with the challenges we all will face as we shift in our way of being in the world. And we need culture, education, music, poetry, and other traditions that support that shift.

 

Element 6: We Must Remember

 

Karl Benz was the first person to sell cars. Between 1888 and 1893, he sold 25 Benz gas-powered vehicles, or “horseless carriages,” to customers. The Motorwagen, as it was called, had a 1 liter single-cylinder engine with 2/3 of one horsepower. By 1899, Benz was the largest car company in the world, selling 572 cars.

 

Many of you probably have great grandparents, or great-great grandparents, who were born before 1899. It’s likely none of them owned a car. And yet it is unthinkable for most people in the United States to imagine life without a car, or without being able to get on a plane, or a train, or a bus. In little more than 130 years we’ve completely transformed our society from one in which most people walked everywhere to one in which most people own a car and drive whenever they want. Three generations—a blink of the eye in compared to the 300,000 or so years humans have been on this Earth—is all it took to forget what it’s like to get around without a motor.

 

We can remember. If your grandparents or great grandparents are still alive, ask them what it was like before most people owned a car. Ask them what it was like before we had plastic, when most things people purchased were made to last a lifetime.

 

This is just the beginning of the remembering required to change our stories. We must remember that before industrial civilization, before we forgot that we aren’t at the top of some imagined hierarchy allowed to take whatever we want from the world without giving anything back, humans lived in cooperation with the rest of the natural world, and the stories our ancestors told each other reflected that. These are the stories we must remember.

 

Facing Reality

 

If all of this sounds like a fantasy to you, we feel the same way. The massive transformation we’ve outlined in these elements is incredibly unlikely to happen at the speed and scale necessary to halt the ongoing ecological crisis. There is simply too much inertia and power behind endless growth.

 

This makes it likely we are facing the collapse of civilization in coming years and decades. In fact, the gradual unraveling has begun.

 

Everything is heading in the wrong direction: population growth and consumption goes up, so economic growth goes up, so development goes up, so extraction goes up, so pollution goes up, and so habitat and species loss goes up. These trends have been described by the International Geosphere-Biosphere Program (IGBP) as the Great Acceleration, and you may be familiar with the graphic the IGBP published in 2015 illustrating skyrocketing trends across 24 socioeconomic and earth system categories:

 

In 2015, there were 7.3 billion people on the planet. There are now 8 billion. Governments encourage population growth with child tax credits and, in some countries, by paying people to have more children.

 

In 2015, there were 1.2 billion cars and commercial vehicles in use around the world. Now there is almost 1.5 billion. Governments encourage electric car purchases with tax credits, and encourage car corporations by lowering corporate tax rates, and by making sure these companies stay in business with bailouts and fiscal incentives.

 

In 2015, global average CO2 concentration was 399 ppm. In 2022, it’s up to 421 ppm. Governments work hard to ensure steady economic growth through central bank fiscal policies, laws friendly to corporations, and aid packages during recessions. Economic growth is tied to CO2 concentrations because economic growth is tied to fossil fuel use and materials use.

 

Each year, industrial culture grows. Each year, we get further away from sustainability.

 

It is anathema in our society to suggest that growth might not be desirable. Imagine a politician running for congress or the presidency in the United States, saying: “We need to cut back, reverse economic growth, tighten our belts, curb population growth, stop being consumeristic, and spend less money.” Do you think that politician would be successful in getting elected? No, we don’t either. (Nonetheless, we expect this to become a pillar of independent political parties in the future, and gradually become more mainstream).

 

Instead of understanding ourselves as animals completely dependent on habitat for our lives, modern society teaches us to see ourselves as consumers. The stories we are told by corporations and the stories we tell each other are that growth is good, and we get there by consuming more. And so, we are encouraged every day by our governments, by corporations, even by our peer groups, to believe that we can buy our way out of the crises we face. If we just buy an electric vehicle, or buy our electricity from a community solar project, or buy a pair of jeans from a company that has pledged to build a “sustainable supply chain,” then everything will be okay.

 

But we all know this is wrong. Once we begin to understand the scale and scope of the impacts of industrial culture, it quickly becomes obvious that we can’t buy our way out of this predicament, and that incremental change will never be enough. We must face that reality.

 

The Revolutionary Moment

 

Ecological collapse is already well underway and social collapse is not far behind. So what do we do?

 

Albert Einstein said, “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” We need completely different ways of thinking, completely different ways of living in the world, and completely different stories. And we need concrete change to the institutions and political structures of our world. In short, we need revolutionary change.

 

“Revolutionary” means “involving or causing a complete or dramatic change.” When you hear the word “revolutionary” you might immediately wonder, “Does that mean I need to help overthrow the government, because maybe I’m not up for that.” Revolutionary change means changing everything, from where we get our food, to how we build our homes, to how we get around, to—yes—creating different kinds of government. In these revolutionary times, revolutionary responses are justified—especially since many powerful people and institutions are prepared to lie, cheat, and fight to defend the old status quo.

 

Radical changes are coming, whether we want them or not. We are entering a revolutionary moment, where the contradiction — the fundamental conflict — between civilization and ecology is coming to a head. We are already seeing increased environmental radicalism and an associated authoritarian backlash. We believe in observing these truths and acting upon them, rather than trying to deny reality. In this moment, we believe that means acting to steer the future towards the most just, humane outcomes.

 

It’s time to gather our courage. We are not alone. We are not alone in facing the ecological crisis, and we will not be alone if we work together on the solution. To reiterate what we said earlier, it will take all of us: all our different passions and skills, and whatever each individual has to offer. We will each play a part, and do what we can, together.

 

Top 15 Actions To Begin Moving Towards A Truly Sustainable Society

 

Governments must stop subsidizing all environmentally and socially destructive activities and shift those subsidies to activities that restore biotic communities and that promote local self-sufficiency.

 

Governments must ensure reproductive freedom and full political, economic, and sexual liberty for women around the world.

 

Immediately and permanently halt all extractive and destructive activities: mining, fracking, mountaintop removal, tar sands production, nuclear power, and offshore drilling chief among them. This includes halting manufacture and production of all cars.

 

Immediately and completely protect all remaining native forests, prairies, and wetlands.

 

Restore all damaged lands and restore soil. Confiscate land from those who do not do this.

 

Immediately halt all activities that draw down acquifers.

 

Restore all polluted and compromised rivers, including halting all dam construction and removing all existing dams.

 

Immediately begin phasing-out mono-crop agriculture.

 

Charge government with increasing the number and range of threatened and endangered wildlife and the habitat they require.

 

Governments stop funding for new, large infrastructure and development projects, including new highways, dams, power projects, mines, etc.

 

Reduce carbon emissions by 20% per year, over the next five years to prevent catastrophic climate change.

 

Begin to contract global economies while ensuring all have basic needs met.

 

Significantly reduce consumption of all but strictly necessary goods and services.

 

Punish environmental crimes commensurate with the harm caused to the public and to the planet.

 

Close all U.S. military bases on foreign soil, and bring home all military personnel within two years. Reduce the military budget by 20% per year until it reaches 20% of its current size. Replace the Department of Defense with the Department of Peace.

 

Despite the magnitude of change that’s required, local and regional efforts to begin the work described above will pay dividends regardless, mitigating some of the worst outcomes.

 

One Possible Future

 

There’s a lot to describe about a long term vision—we could write a book about such a vision. So we highlight just some of the ways we see our solution unfolding if humanity could come together to make it happen.

 

50 years:

 

Birth rates have fallen significantly and the great decline in population has begun, reducing pressure on Earth’s ecosystems.

 

The most wasteful, least-useful, most polluting industries (e.g. cruise ships, shopping malls, golf courses, chemical manufacturers) have been shut down for decades.

 

All new fossil fuel extraction has ended and a rationing program is in place. Fossil fuel use from the remaining stored reserves is prioritized for the most important uses: food, water, and emergency medical use, and total burn is less than 2% of peak levels.

 

Material extraction has plummeted. Populations have migrated from suburbs, isolated rural homes, and urban centers alike to cluster in small, widely spaced villages, where they repurpose materials from buildings torn down in areas that are being restored and engage in small scale food production and craft industry.

 

The foundation for new governmental structures based on direct democracy and representative assemblies has been laid. Militaries have been dramatically scaled down and restructured to focus on land restoration.

 

100 years:

 

Human population is nearing 2 billion and steadily falling.

 

As population has declined, most people have migrated from areas of extreme cold and heat to more temperate zones where less energy is required to stay warm and grow food. We all live hyper-local lives, living near relatives and friends for our entire lives, and spend most of the day restoring ecosystems, hunting and growing food, relaxing, and building community.

 

No fossil fuels are being burned. All mining and chemical manufacturing has been terminated. All nuclear power plants have been shut down and all nuclear waste has been stored as safely as possible. All large dams have been removed.

 

Small electrical systems are maintained in a few regional locations for medical procedures. People rely on simple, time-tested technologies such as passive solar, perennial polycultures, and animal husbandry for basic needs.

 

Government is becoming more local, but regional confederations and even global trade networks are maintained for diplomacy, a small amount of trade, and information sharing.

 

500 years:

 

Human population is less than 100 million.

 

Each year there are more salmon that return to rivers than the previous year; each year there are more songbirds than the previous year. Forests are beginning to grow old again, creating thriving habitat for plants and animals, and humans have begun to relearn how to exist as human mammals in the great web of life.

 

Natural communities are well on their way to recovery, so food and cleaner water are once again abundant. Forever chemicals still pollute every square inch of the world, and continue impacting our health, but over the coming millennia will gradually pose less of a problem for humans and the rest of the natural world as they become sequestered under layers of soil and rock.

 

Children are no longer raised learning the names of corporations, but instead learn stories about the names of plants and animals, how to hunt and fish, which plants are edible and which are not, how to build shelters, and how to stay warm. The stories told around the fire at night describe the great rehumanizing of our species, our recovered relationships with the natural world, and the sacredness of all life on Planet Earth.

  

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Caméra Canon EOS 30D

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Véhicule : MAN Lion's City G A23 CNG

Identification : 1413 (DQ-235-RD)

Exploitant : Keolis Bordeaux Métropole

Dépôt : Centre d'Exploitation du Lac (CEL)

 

Réseau : TBM (Bordeaux Métropole)

Ligne : Lianes 3+

Voiture : 0309

Destination : Retour Dépôt (CEL)

 

27/09/2019 10:08

Allée de Munich ; F-33 BORDEAUX

Un train de berlines vides entre dans le tunnel d'une exploitation minière, vers Villaseca de Laciana le 14 avril 1983.

The exploitation rights for this text are the property of the Vienna Tourist Board. This text may be reprinted free of charge until further notice, even partially and in edited form. Forward sample copy to: Vienna Tourist Board, Media Management, Invalidenstraße 6, 1030 Vienna; media.rel@wien.info. All information in this text without guarantee.

Author: Andreas Nierhaus, Curator of Architecture/Wien Museum

Last updated January 2014

Architecture in Vienna

Vienna's 2,000-year history is present in a unique density in the cityscape. The layout of the center dates back to the Roman city and medieval road network. Romanesque and Gothic churches characterize the streets and squares as well as palaces and mansions of the baroque city of residence. The ring road is an expression of the modern city of the 19th century, in the 20th century extensive housing developments set accents in the outer districts. Currently, large-scale urban development measures are implemented; distinctive buildings of international star architects complement the silhouette of the city.

Due to its function as residence of the emperor and European power center, Vienna for centuries stood in the focus of international attention, but it was well aware of that too. As a result, developed an outstanding building culture, and still today on a worldwide scale only a few cities can come up with a comparable density of high-quality architecture. For several years now, Vienna has increased its efforts to connect with its historical highlights and is drawing attention to itself with some spectacular new buildings. The fastest growing city in the German-speaking world today most of all in residential construction is setting standards. Constants of the Viennese architecture are respect for existing structures, the palpability of historical layers and the dialogue between old and new.

Culmination of medieval architecture: the Stephansdom

The oldest architectural landmark of the city is St. Stephen's Cathedral. Under the rule of the Habsburgs, defining the face of the city from the late 13th century until 1918 in a decisive way, the cathedral was upgraded into the sacral monument of the political ambitions of the ruling house. The 1433 completed, 137 meters high southern tower, by the Viennese people affectionately named "Steffl", is a masterpiece of late Gothic architecture in Europe. For decades he was the tallest stone structure in Europe, until today he is the undisputed center of the city.

The baroque residence

Vienna's ascension into the ranks of the great European capitals began in Baroque. Among the most important architects are Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach and Johann Lucas von Hildebrandt. Outside the city walls arose a chain of summer palaces, including the garden Palais Schwarzenberg (1697-1704) as well as the Upper and Lower Belvedere of Prince Eugene of Savoy (1714-22). Among the most important city palaces are the Winter Palace of Prince Eugene (1695-1724, now a branch of the Belvedere) and the Palais Daun-Kinsky (auction house in Kinsky 1713-19). The emperor himself the Hofburg had complemented by buildings such as the Imperial Library (1722-26) and the Winter Riding School (1729-34). More important, however, for the Habsburgs was the foundation of churches and monasteries. Thus arose before the city walls Fischer von Erlach's Karlskirche (1714-39), which with its formal and thematic complex show façade belongs to the major works of European Baroque. In colored interior rooms like that of St. Peter's Church (1701-22), the contemporary efforts for the synthesis of architecture, painting and sculpture becomes visible.

Upgrading into metropolis: the ring road time (Ringstraßenzeit)

Since the Baroque, reflections on extension of the hopelessly overcrowed city were made, but only Emperor Franz Joseph ordered in 1857 the demolition of the fortifications and the connection of the inner city with the suburbs. 1865, the Ring Road was opened. It is as the most important boulevard of Europe an architectural and in terms of urban development achievement of the highest rank. The original building structure is almost completely preserved and thus conveys the authentic image of a metropolis of the 19th century. The public representational buildings speak, reflecting accurately the historicism, by their style: The Greek Antique forms of Theophil Hansen's Parliament (1871-83) stood for democracy, the Renaissance of the by Heinrich Ferstel built University (1873-84) for the flourishing of humanism, the Gothic of the Town Hall (1872-83) by Friedrich Schmidt for the medieval civic pride.

Dominating remained the buildings of the imperial family: Eduard van der Nüll's and August Sicardsburg's Opera House (1863-69), Gottfried Semper's and Carl Hasenauer's Burgtheater (1874-88), their Museum of Art History and Museum of Natural History (1871-91) and the Neue (New) Hofburg (1881-1918 ). At the same time the ring road was the preferred residential area of mostly Jewish haute bourgeoisie. With luxurious palaces the families Ephrussi, Epstein or Todesco made it clear that they had taken over the cultural leadership role in Viennese society. In the framework of the World Exhibition of 1873, the new Vienna presented itself an international audience. At the ring road many hotels were opened, among them the Hotel Imperial and today's Palais Hansen Kempinski.

Laboratory of modernity: Vienna around 1900

Otto Wagner's Postal Savings Bank (1903-06) was one of the last buildings in the Ring road area Otto Wagner's Postal Savings Bank (1903-06), which with it façade, liberated of ornament, and only decorated with "functional" aluminum buttons and the glass banking hall now is one of the icons of modern architecture. Like no other stood Otto Wagner for the dawn into the 20th century: His Metropolitan Railway buildings made ​​the public transport of the city a topic of architecture, the church of the Psychiatric hospital at Steinhofgründe (1904-07) is considered the first modern church.

With his consistent focus on the function of a building ("Something impractical can not be beautiful"), Wagner marked a whole generation of architects and made Vienna the laboratory of modernity: in addition to Joseph Maria Olbrich, the builder of the Secession (1897-98) and Josef Hoffmann, the architect of the at the western outskirts located Purkersdorf Sanatorium (1904) and founder of the Vienna Workshop (Wiener Werkstätte, 1903) is mainly to mention Adolf Loos, with the Loos House at the square Michaelerplatz (1909-11) making architectural history. The extravagant marble cladding of the business zone stands in maximal contrast, derived from the building function, to the unadorned facade above, whereby its "nudity" became even more obvious - a provocation, as well as his culture-critical texts ("Ornament and Crime"), with which he had greatest impact on the architecture of the 20th century. Public contracts Loos remained denied. His major works therefore include villas, apartment facilities and premises as the still in original state preserved Tailor salon Knize at Graben (1910-13) and the restored Loos Bar (1908-09) near the Kärntner Straße (passageway Kärntner Durchgang).

Between the Wars: International Modern Age and social housing

After the collapse of the monarchy in 1918, Vienna became capital of the newly formed small country of Austria. In the heart of the city, the architects Theiss & Jaksch built 1931-32 the first skyscraper in Vienna as an exclusive residential address (Herrengasse - alley 6-8). To combat the housing shortage for the general population, the social democratic city government in a globally unique building program within a few years 60,000 apartments in hundreds of apartment buildings throughout the city area had built, including the famous Karl Marx-Hof by Karl Ehn (1925-30). An alternative to the multi-storey buildings with the 1932 opened International Werkbundsiedlung was presented, which was attended by 31 architects from Austria, Germany, France, Holland and the USA and showed models for affordable housing in greenfield areas. With buildings of Adolf Loos, André Lurçat, Richard Neutra, Gerrit Rietveld, the Werkbundsiedlung, which currently is being restored at great expense, is one of the most important documents of modern architecture in Austria.

Modernism was also expressed in significant Villa buildings: The House Beer (1929-31) by Josef Frank exemplifies the refined Wiener living culture of the interwar period, while the house Stonborough-Wittgenstein (1926-28, today Bulgarian Cultural Institute), built by the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein together with the architect Paul Engelmann for his sister Margarete, by its aesthetic radicalism and mathematical rigor represents a special case within contemporary architecture.

Expulsion, war and reconstruction

After the "Anschluss (Annexation)" to the German Reich in 1938, numerous Jewish builders, architects (female and male ones), who had been largely responsible for the high level of Viennese architecture, have been expelled from Austria. During the Nazi era, Vienna remained largely unaffected by structural transformations, apart from the six flak towers built for air defense of Friedrich Tamms (1942-45), made ​​of solid reinforced concrete which today are present as memorials in the cityscape.

The years after the end of World War II were characterized by the reconstruction of the by bombs heavily damaged city. The architecture of those times was marked by aesthetic pragmatism, but also by the attempt to connect with the period before 1938 and pick up on current international trends. Among the most important buildings of the 1950s are Roland Rainer's City Hall (1952-58), the by Oswald Haerdtl erected Wien Museum at Karlsplatz (1954-59) and the 21er Haus of Karl Schwanzer (1958-62).

The youngsters come

Since the 1960s, a young generation was looking for alternatives to the moderate modernism of the reconstruction years. With visionary designs, conceptual, experimental and above all temporary architectures, interventions and installations, Raimund Abraham, Günther Domenig, Eilfried Huth, Hans Hollein, Walter Pichler and the groups Coop Himmelb(l)au, Haus-Rucker-Co and Missing Link rapidly got international attention. Although for the time being it was more designed than built, was the influence on the postmodern and deconstructivist trends of the 1970s and 1980s also outside Austria great. Hollein's futuristic "Retti" candle shop at Charcoal Market/Kohlmarkt (1964-65) and Domenig's biomorphic building of the Central Savings Bank in Favoriten (10th district of Vienna - 1975-79) are among the earliest examples, later Hollein's Haas-Haus (1985-90), the loft conversion Falkestraße (1987/88) by Coop Himmelb(l)au or Domenig's T Center (2002-04) were added. Especially Domenig, Hollein, Coop Himmelb(l)au and the architects Ortner & Ortner (ancient members of Haus-Rucker-Co) ​​by orders from abroad the new Austrian and Viennese architecture made a fixed international concept.

MuseumQuarter and Gasometer

Since the 1980s, the focus of building in Vienna lies on the compaction of the historic urban fabric that now as urban habitat of high quality no longer is put in question. Among the internationally best known projects is the by Ortner & Ortner planned MuseumsQuartier in the former imperial stables (competition 1987, 1998-2001), which with institutions such as the MUMOK - Museum of Modern Art Foundation Ludwig, the Leopold Museum, the Kunsthalle Wien, the Architecture Center Vienna and the Zoom Children's Museum on a wordwide scale is under the largest cultural complexes. After controversies in the planning phase, here an architectural compromise between old and new has been achieved at the end, whose success as an urban stage with four million visitors (2012) is overwhelming.

The dialogue between old and new, which has to stand on the agenda of building culture of a city that is so strongly influenced by history, also features the reconstruction of the Gasometer in Simmering by Coop Himmelb(l)au, Wilhelm Holzbauer, Jean Nouvel and Manfred Wehdorn (1999-2001). Here was not only created new housing, but also a historical industrial monument reinterpreted into a signal in the urban development area.

New Neighborhood

In recent years, the major railway stations and their surroundings moved into the focus of planning. Here not only necessary infrastructural measures were taken, but at the same time opened up spacious inner-city residential areas and business districts. Among the prestigious projects are included the construction of the new Vienna Central Station, started in 2010 with the surrounding office towers of the Quartier Belvedere and the residential and school buildings of the Midsummer quarter (Sonnwendviertel). Europe's largest wooden tower invites here for a spectacular view to the construction site and the entire city. On the site of the former North Station are currently being built 10,000 homes and 20,000 jobs, on that of the Aspangbahn station is being built at Europe's greatest Passive House settlement "Euro Gate", the area of ​​the North Western Railway Station is expected to be developed from 2020 for living and working. The largest currently under construction residential project but can be found in the north-eastern outskirts, where in Seaside Town Aspern till 2028 living and working space for 40,000 people will be created.

In one of the "green lungs" of Vienna, the Prater, 2013, the WU campus was opened for the largest University of Economics of Europe. Around the central square spectacular buildings of an international architect team from Great Britain, Japan, Spain and Austria are gathered that seem to lead a sometimes very loud conversation about the status quo of contemporary architecture (Hitoshi Abe, BUSarchitektur, Peter Cook, Zaha Hadid, NO MAD Arquitectos, Carme Pinós).

Flying high

International is also the number of architects who have inscribed themselves in the last few years with high-rise buildings in the skyline of Vienna and make St. Stephen's a not always unproblematic competition. Visible from afar is Massimiliano Fuksas' 138 and 127 meters high elegant Twin Tower at Wienerberg (1999-2001). The monolithic, 75-meter-high tower of the Hotel Sofitel at the Danube Canal by Jean Nouvel (2007-10), on the other hand, reacts to the particular urban situation and stages in its top floor new perspectives to the historical center on the other side.

Also at the water stands Dominique Perrault's DC Tower (2010-13) in the Danube City - those high-rise city, in which since the start of construction in 1996, the expansion of the city north of the Danube is condensed symbolically. Even in this environment, the slim and at the same time striking vertically folded tower of Perrault is beyond all known dimensions; from its Sky Bar, from spring 2014 on you are able to enjoy the highest view of Vienna. With 250 meters, the tower is the tallest building of Austria and almost twice as high as the St. Stephen's Cathedral. Vienna, thus, has acquired a new architectural landmark which cannot be overlooked - whether it also has the potential to become a landmark of the new Vienna, only time will tell. The architectural history of Vienna, where European history is presence and new buildings enter into an exciting and not always conflict-free dialogue with a great and outstanding architectural heritage, in any case has yet to offer exciting chapters.

Isfandiyâr's fifth exploit - he kills the sîmurgh [1616]

Spencer Coll. Persian MS. 3

NYPL

digitalcollections.nypl.org/collections/shhnmah#/?tab=abo...

Exploitation viticole

Exploitant : Transdev TVO

Réseau : R'Bus (Argenteuil)

Ligne : 501

Lieu : Parmentier (Sartrouville, F-78)

Lien TC Infos : tc-infos.fr/id/20716

HMS Exploit

Pennant number: P167

Operator: Royal Navy

Builder: Vosper Thornycroft

Commissioned:1988

Identification

MMSI number: 235009900

Callsign: GABD

Motto: Actis Inclitis - With Illustrious Deeds

Status: In active service

Class and type: Archer-class patrol vessel

Displacement: 54 tonnes

Length: 20.8 m (68 ft 3 in)

Beam: 5.8 m (19 ft 0 in)

Draught: 1.8 m (5 ft 11 in)

Propulsion: 2 shafts, Rolls-Royce M800T diesels, 1,590 bhp

Speed: 20 kn (37 km/h)

Range: 550 nmi (1,020 km)

Complement: 5 ship's company plus up to 1 training officer and 12 URNU students

Sensors and

processing systems: Decca 1216 navigation radar

The exploitation rights for this text are the property of the Vienna Tourist Board. This text may be reprinted free of charge until further notice, even partially and in edited form. Forward sample copy to: Vienna Tourist Board, Media Management, Invalidenstraße 6, 1030 Vienna; media.rel@wien.info. All information in this text without guarantee.

Author: Andreas Nierhaus, Curator of Architecture/Wien Museum

Last updated January 2014

Architecture in Vienna

Vienna's 2,000-year history is present in a unique density in the cityscape. The layout of the center dates back to the Roman city and medieval road network. Romanesque and Gothic churches characterize the streets and squares as well as palaces and mansions of the baroque city of residence. The ring road is an expression of the modern city of the 19th century, in the 20th century extensive housing developments set accents in the outer districts. Currently, large-scale urban development measures are implemented; distinctive buildings of international star architects complement the silhouette of the city.

Due to its function as residence of the emperor and European power center, Vienna for centuries stood in the focus of international attention, but it was well aware of that too. As a result, developed an outstanding building culture, and still today on a worldwide scale only a few cities can come up with a comparable density of high-quality architecture. For several years now, Vienna has increased its efforts to connect with its historical highlights and is drawing attention to itself with some spectacular new buildings. The fastest growing city in the German-speaking world today most of all in residential construction is setting standards. Constants of the Viennese architecture are respect for existing structures, the palpability of historical layers and the dialogue between old and new.

Culmination of medieval architecture: the Stephansdom

The oldest architectural landmark of the city is St. Stephen's Cathedral. Under the rule of the Habsburgs, defining the face of the city from the late 13th century until 1918 in a decisive way, the cathedral was upgraded into the sacral monument of the political ambitions of the ruling house. The 1433 completed, 137 meters high southern tower, by the Viennese people affectionately named "Steffl", is a masterpiece of late Gothic architecture in Europe. For decades he was the tallest stone structure in Europe, until today he is the undisputed center of the city.

The baroque residence

Vienna's ascension into the ranks of the great European capitals began in Baroque. Among the most important architects are Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach and Johann Lucas von Hildebrandt. Outside the city walls arose a chain of summer palaces, including the garden Palais Schwarzenberg (1697-1704) as well as the Upper and Lower Belvedere of Prince Eugene of Savoy (1714-22). Among the most important city palaces are the Winter Palace of Prince Eugene (1695-1724, now a branch of the Belvedere) and the Palais Daun-Kinsky (auction house in Kinsky 1713-19). The emperor himself the Hofburg had complemented by buildings such as the Imperial Library (1722-26) and the Winter Riding School (1729-34). More important, however, for the Habsburgs was the foundation of churches and monasteries. Thus arose before the city walls Fischer von Erlach's Karlskirche (1714-39), which with its formal and thematic complex show façade belongs to the major works of European Baroque. In colored interior rooms like that of St. Peter's Church (1701-22), the contemporary efforts for the synthesis of architecture, painting and sculpture becomes visible.

Upgrading into metropolis: the ring road time (Ringstraßenzeit)

Since the Baroque, reflections on extension of the hopelessly overcrowed city were made, but only Emperor Franz Joseph ordered in 1857 the demolition of the fortifications and the connection of the inner city with the suburbs. 1865, the Ring Road was opened. It is as the most important boulevard of Europe an architectural and in terms of urban development achievement of the highest rank. The original building structure is almost completely preserved and thus conveys the authentic image of a metropolis of the 19th century. The public representational buildings speak, reflecting accurately the historicism, by their style: The Greek Antique forms of Theophil Hansen's Parliament (1871-83) stood for democracy, the Renaissance of the by Heinrich Ferstel built University (1873-84) for the flourishing of humanism, the Gothic of the Town Hall (1872-83) by Friedrich Schmidt for the medieval civic pride.

Dominating remained the buildings of the imperial family: Eduard van der Nüll's and August Sicardsburg's Opera House (1863-69), Gottfried Semper's and Carl Hasenauer's Burgtheater (1874-88), their Museum of Art History and Museum of Natural History (1871-91) and the Neue (New) Hofburg (1881-1918 ). At the same time the ring road was the preferred residential area of mostly Jewish haute bourgeoisie. With luxurious palaces the families Ephrussi, Epstein or Todesco made it clear that they had taken over the cultural leadership role in Viennese society. In the framework of the World Exhibition of 1873, the new Vienna presented itself an international audience. At the ring road many hotels were opened, among them the Hotel Imperial and today's Palais Hansen Kempinski.

Laboratory of modernity: Vienna around 1900

Otto Wagner's Postal Savings Bank (1903-06) was one of the last buildings in the Ring road area Otto Wagner's Postal Savings Bank (1903-06), which with it façade, liberated of ornament, and only decorated with "functional" aluminum buttons and the glass banking hall now is one of the icons of modern architecture. Like no other stood Otto Wagner for the dawn into the 20th century: His Metropolitan Railway buildings made ​​the public transport of the city a topic of architecture, the church of the Psychiatric hospital at Steinhofgründe (1904-07) is considered the first modern church.

With his consistent focus on the function of a building ("Something impractical can not be beautiful"), Wagner marked a whole generation of architects and made Vienna the laboratory of modernity: in addition to Joseph Maria Olbrich, the builder of the Secession (1897-98) and Josef Hoffmann, the architect of the at the western outskirts located Purkersdorf Sanatorium (1904) and founder of the Vienna Workshop (Wiener Werkstätte, 1903) is mainly to mention Adolf Loos, with the Loos House at the square Michaelerplatz (1909-11) making architectural history. The extravagant marble cladding of the business zone stands in maximal contrast, derived from the building function, to the unadorned facade above, whereby its "nudity" became even more obvious - a provocation, as well as his culture-critical texts ("Ornament and Crime"), with which he had greatest impact on the architecture of the 20th century. Public contracts Loos remained denied. His major works therefore include villas, apartment facilities and premises as the still in original state preserved Tailor salon Knize at Graben (1910-13) and the restored Loos Bar (1908-09) near the Kärntner Straße (passageway Kärntner Durchgang).

Between the Wars: International Modern Age and social housing

After the collapse of the monarchy in 1918, Vienna became capital of the newly formed small country of Austria. In the heart of the city, the architects Theiss & Jaksch built 1931-32 the first skyscraper in Vienna as an exclusive residential address (Herrengasse - alley 6-8). To combat the housing shortage for the general population, the social democratic city government in a globally unique building program within a few years 60,000 apartments in hundreds of apartment buildings throughout the city area had built, including the famous Karl Marx-Hof by Karl Ehn (1925-30). An alternative to the multi-storey buildings with the 1932 opened International Werkbundsiedlung was presented, which was attended by 31 architects from Austria, Germany, France, Holland and the USA and showed models for affordable housing in greenfield areas. With buildings of Adolf Loos, André Lurçat, Richard Neutra, Gerrit Rietveld, the Werkbundsiedlung, which currently is being restored at great expense, is one of the most important documents of modern architecture in Austria.

Modernism was also expressed in significant Villa buildings: The House Beer (1929-31) by Josef Frank exemplifies the refined Wiener living culture of the interwar period, while the house Stonborough-Wittgenstein (1926-28, today Bulgarian Cultural Institute), built by the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein together with the architect Paul Engelmann for his sister Margarete, by its aesthetic radicalism and mathematical rigor represents a special case within contemporary architecture.

Expulsion, war and reconstruction

After the "Anschluss (Annexation)" to the German Reich in 1938, numerous Jewish builders, architects (female and male ones), who had been largely responsible for the high level of Viennese architecture, have been expelled from Austria. During the Nazi era, Vienna remained largely unaffected by structural transformations, apart from the six flak towers built for air defense of Friedrich Tamms (1942-45), made ​​of solid reinforced concrete which today are present as memorials in the cityscape.

The years after the end of World War II were characterized by the reconstruction of the by bombs heavily damaged city. The architecture of those times was marked by aesthetic pragmatism, but also by the attempt to connect with the period before 1938 and pick up on current international trends. Among the most important buildings of the 1950s are Roland Rainer's City Hall (1952-58), the by Oswald Haerdtl erected Wien Museum at Karlsplatz (1954-59) and the 21er Haus of Karl Schwanzer (1958-62).

The youngsters come

Since the 1960s, a young generation was looking for alternatives to the moderate modernism of the reconstruction years. With visionary designs, conceptual, experimental and above all temporary architectures, interventions and installations, Raimund Abraham, Günther Domenig, Eilfried Huth, Hans Hollein, Walter Pichler and the groups Coop Himmelb(l)au, Haus-Rucker-Co and Missing Link rapidly got international attention. Although for the time being it was more designed than built, was the influence on the postmodern and deconstructivist trends of the 1970s and 1980s also outside Austria great. Hollein's futuristic "Retti" candle shop at Charcoal Market/Kohlmarkt (1964-65) and Domenig's biomorphic building of the Central Savings Bank in Favoriten (10th district of Vienna - 1975-79) are among the earliest examples, later Hollein's Haas-Haus (1985-90), the loft conversion Falkestraße (1987/88) by Coop Himmelb(l)au or Domenig's T Center (2002-04) were added. Especially Domenig, Hollein, Coop Himmelb(l)au and the architects Ortner & Ortner (ancient members of Haus-Rucker-Co) ​​by orders from abroad the new Austrian and Viennese architecture made a fixed international concept.

MuseumQuarter and Gasometer

Since the 1980s, the focus of building in Vienna lies on the compaction of the historic urban fabric that now as urban habitat of high quality no longer is put in question. Among the internationally best known projects is the by Ortner & Ortner planned MuseumsQuartier in the former imperial stables (competition 1987, 1998-2001), which with institutions such as the MUMOK - Museum of Modern Art Foundation Ludwig, the Leopold Museum, the Kunsthalle Wien, the Architecture Center Vienna and the Zoom Children's Museum on a wordwide scale is under the largest cultural complexes. After controversies in the planning phase, here an architectural compromise between old and new has been achieved at the end, whose success as an urban stage with four million visitors (2012) is overwhelming.

The dialogue between old and new, which has to stand on the agenda of building culture of a city that is so strongly influenced by history, also features the reconstruction of the Gasometer in Simmering by Coop Himmelb(l)au, Wilhelm Holzbauer, Jean Nouvel and Manfred Wehdorn (1999-2001). Here was not only created new housing, but also a historical industrial monument reinterpreted into a signal in the urban development area.

New Neighborhood

In recent years, the major railway stations and their surroundings moved into the focus of planning. Here not only necessary infrastructural measures were taken, but at the same time opened up spacious inner-city residential areas and business districts. Among the prestigious projects are included the construction of the new Vienna Central Station, started in 2010 with the surrounding office towers of the Quartier Belvedere and the residential and school buildings of the Midsummer quarter (Sonnwendviertel). Europe's largest wooden tower invites here for a spectacular view to the construction site and the entire city. On the site of the former North Station are currently being built 10,000 homes and 20,000 jobs, on that of the Aspangbahn station is being built at Europe's greatest Passive House settlement "Euro Gate", the area of ​​the North Western Railway Station is expected to be developed from 2020 for living and working. The largest currently under construction residential project but can be found in the north-eastern outskirts, where in Seaside Town Aspern till 2028 living and working space for 40,000 people will be created.

In one of the "green lungs" of Vienna, the Prater, 2013, the WU campus was opened for the largest University of Economics of Europe. Around the central square spectacular buildings of an international architect team from Great Britain, Japan, Spain and Austria are gathered that seem to lead a sometimes very loud conversation about the status quo of contemporary architecture (Hitoshi Abe, BUSarchitektur, Peter Cook, Zaha Hadid, NO MAD Arquitectos, Carme Pinós).

Flying high

International is also the number of architects who have inscribed themselves in the last few years with high-rise buildings in the skyline of Vienna and make St. Stephen's a not always unproblematic competition. Visible from afar is Massimiliano Fuksas' 138 and 127 meters high elegant Twin Tower at Wienerberg (1999-2001). The monolithic, 75-meter-high tower of the Hotel Sofitel at the Danube Canal by Jean Nouvel (2007-10), on the other hand, reacts to the particular urban situation and stages in its top floor new perspectives to the historical center on the other side.

Also at the water stands Dominique Perrault's DC Tower (2010-13) in the Danube City - those high-rise city, in which since the start of construction in 1996, the expansion of the city north of the Danube is condensed symbolically. Even in this environment, the slim and at the same time striking vertically folded tower of Perrault is beyond all known dimensions; from its Sky Bar, from spring 2014 on you are able to enjoy the highest view of Vienna. With 250 meters, the tower is the tallest building of Austria and almost twice as high as the St. Stephen's Cathedral. Vienna, thus, has acquired a new architectural landmark which cannot be overlooked - whether it also has the potential to become a landmark of the new Vienna, only time will tell. The architectural history of Vienna, where European history is presence and new buildings enter into an exciting and not always conflict-free dialogue with a great and outstanding architectural heritage, in any case has yet to offer exciting chapters.

Info: The folder "Architecture: From Art Nouveau to the Presence" is available at the Vienna Tourist Board and can be downloaded on www.wien.info/media/files/guide-architecture-in-wien.pdf.

pretending to take a picture of Kitty just to get the guy

 

and no, I did not get a model release from him :)