In what was Bankside Power Station, Tate Modern is now 10 years old and never fails to impress me. A power station wouldn't be my first thought for a modern art gallery but the space fits its use perfectly. The building is from the early 1950's but manages to appear futuristic. The huge turbine hall looks even bigger at opening time when only a few people are around. Each of the upper floors look down onto the hall and have rows of seats against the glass windows to give the best view. Nobody seems to mind if people sit on the floor to make notes or sketch.
In these pictures I wanted to get a feel of the size of the turbine hall and the modernity of the inside space.
2. The Wigwam Motel, Holbrook, Arizona
Built in 1950 the motel was originally one of a chain of Wigwam Motels but is now one of the last 3 remaining, with the other 2 being in California. They provided a unique alternative to the more traditional motels of the period. This one in Holbrook is right on Route 66 and in the centre of a number of Native Indian reservations so receives the most attention - if you have driven across the vast Navajo reservation what could be more fun than spending the night in a wigwam (even if they are the not the traditional homes of any of the local tribes). There are 15 concrete wigwams furnished with orginal 1950's fittings and with either a double bed or twins, and a small bathroom. In front of each wigwam is a car from the 1950's or earlier - the cars were used by the motel in the early days to make passers by think it was a popular motel and must have a number of guests already and therefore a good place to stay, but these days adds to the charm of the motel.
In these photos I have included a person in one shot to give a better idea of the scale and kept vehicles in each shot as they give an idea of the retro feel and helps the viewer understand why in the 21st century people still flock to a motel with no telephone, no cable tv and no internet access.
3. Pueblo, Taos, New Mexico
Taos Pueblo is a United Nations dedicated World Heritage Site and also one of the National Historic Landmarks of the USA. The building has been continously inhabited for over 1000 years and, in it's heydey as more families needed space to live in it, the one story building spread horizontally and vertically. The thick adobe walls trap heat in the winter but keep the rooms cool in the summer. Originally there were no doors or windows - access into each room was via a ladder through the flat roof as this offered protection from the elements and the enemy. When the doors and windows began to be added they were placed facing away from the mountain in order for bulk of the snow coming down from the it to sat at the back of the building against the walls. Archeologists have traced that the Taos Indians lived in this spot long before the building started and while Europe was still in the Middle Ages so this position at the foot of the mountains has held significance for them for many thousands of years. There are still around 150 people who have the pueblo as their home despite the lack of electricity and running water and a number of the rooms are now used as shops selling arts and crafts from the Indians. The wooden poles in front of the building are drying racks for meat, fruits and vegetables that the Indians still use. Walking around the pueblo the feeling of community is still evident even though the majority of the rooms are only now used for private ceremonial purposes - it's easy to imagine an entire tribe living and working together.
4. Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Angelfire, New Mexico
In a remote site at the foot of the Sangre de Cristo mountains is the first memorial built in memory of those US military personnel who died in Vietnam and to honour the veterans. David Westphall was a young marine who died in 1968 and his parents realised that there was nowhere for people to share experiences or remember the dead so they used his life insurance money to build a chapel on the side of a hillside - a location chosen because it resembled a place in their son's favourite book as a child ("Wings for Per", the story of a Norwegian boy who learns to fight by watching birds of prey and, as an adult, returns from war a celebrated hero). The chapel, which stays permanently unlocked, was designed to look like a sail but seeing it in the snow it looked more like an iceberg rising out of the hillside. Inside, the chapel is plainly furnished with theatre style seating facing the stained glass window and photographs and stories of the dead that are rotated monthly - the style of the interior in keeping with the elegance of the building and its surroundings. The thin stained glass window at the front of the chapel is barely visible and protected from the summer sun and the winter winds by the wall at one side coming out further than the other. The chapel and its setting are now a State Park and although David Westphall is buried in a military cemetary in Santa Fe, his parents are both buried in the grounds of the chapel. On the day I visited there was only my friend and I there, it was totally peaceful and an example of a building suiting it's purpose and its location perfectly.
5. Castlerigg stone circle, Cumbria
I was thinking of what we call a building and how we would have use for it. Whilst we may not call a stone circle a building, it was used as such by our ancestors, and continues to be used by subsequent generations either for archeological purposes or tourism. This stone circle sits on a plateau surrounded by the Cumbrian fells in a natural ampitheatre. There are 38 stones still in place and it's believed that the circle dates from around 3000BC. The circle was laid out following astronomical markers watched by Neolithic man - some stones face mid summer and mid winter points whilst others have lunar references. The circle would have been used for religious ceremonies.
I'm always amazed that any stone circles survive - it's as though through subsequent millenia man sometimes realises that a place had a sigificance for his ancestors and seeks to preserve it.
Unless photographing it from the air it's hard to get a shot that shows the circle so I have tried to give across a feeling for it's location, it's texture and how the man in the shot is looking out at the same fells that his ancestors 5000 years ago would have looked at. I've also tried to include something of the modern world - in order to stop people climbing over stone walls to get to the circle, the National Trust have installed steps at intervals in the surrounding wall but have made sure they are in keeping with the location.
I have tried to capture the essence of each of these buildings and also give an impression of the surroundings in which they sit. I've also tried to show that taking a little time and looking at things from different angles can show something more to the viewer.
