Juhani Pallasmaa
Born 1936, is a Finnish architect, educator and writer who has worked, taught and lectured in several countries since the 1960’s. His design works extends from town planning and architecture to exhibition, product and graphic design and artistic work. His interests as a writer range from architectural theory to anthropology, cultural philosophy to animal architecture, and art criticism to cinematic expression. His work and writings have been published widely in Europe, North and South America, Asia and Australia.
Books by Juhani Pallasmaa include:
Animales arquitectos: el funcionalismo ecológico de las construcciones animales(Lanzarote 2001); The Architecture of Image: Existential Space in Cinema(Helsinki 2001); Alvar Aalto – Villa Mairea 1938-39 (Hesinki 1998); The Eyes of the Skin: Architecture and the Senses (London 1996); The Melnikov House (London 1996); Animal Architecture (Helsinki 1995) and; Language of Wood (Helsinki 1987).
Juhani Pallasmaa’s awards include:
Finland State Award 2000; The UIA Jean Tschumi Prize for Architectural Criticism 1999; Fritz Schumacher Prize for Architecture, Germany 1997; Russian Federation Architecture Award 1996; Helsinki City Culture Award 1993 and Finnish State Award for Architecture 1992.
Le Corbusier
1887 – (Charles-Edouard Jeanneret) born 6 October at La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland.
1923 – Builds the little house “Le Lac” at Corseaux on Lake Geneva for his parents.
1925 – Builds Pavillon de l’Esprit Nouveau (Paris) and the Pessac housing estate near Bordeaux.
1928 – Founder member of CIAM (Congrés Internationaux d’architecture moderne) at the castle of La Sarraz, in Switzerland.
1929 – Works on the Villa Savoye (Poissy), the Mundaneum and urbanism in South America.
1930 – Works on urban designs for Algiers and studies for “Ville Radieuse”.
1943 – Publishes the Charte d’Athènes (Athens Charter).
1944 – Works on the Unités d’Habitation, Marseilles.
1948 – Works on La Sainte-Baume Project.
1950 – Starts working on the Chapel at Ronchamp. Publishes Modulor I, Poèsie sur Alger (Poem on Algiers) and L’Unité d’Habitation de Marseille.
1953 – Builds Dominican Monastery at Sainte Marie de la Tourette (Eveux) and de la Maison du Brésil at Cité Universitaire (Paris) with Lucio Costa.
1965 – On 27 August Le Corbusier dies while swimming at Cap-Martin, France.
Maria Reiche
Born 1903, was a German-born Peruvian Mathematics, Geologist and Pedagogue who went to Peru in 1932 to work as a teacher in the house of the German consul in Cuzco. After two years in Cuzco she moved to Lima, where she met the American specialist for ancient irrigation systems – Dr. Paul Kosok.
In December 1941 Maria travelled the first time to Nazca. Dr. Kosok had asked her to take a look at the strange, dead straight depressions in the desert, which look like lines. At first he thought these were irrigation ditches, but then he suspected that it is an astronomical calendar installation.
She started her research work in the desert of Nazca in 1946. In the first days of June 1946 she found a stylized drawing of a spider between the lines. Little by little she discovered more and more of the geoglyphs, but at the beginning it was not her main task. With measuring tape, sextant and compass, later also with a theodolite she measured almost 1000 lines and investigated them for their astronomical orientation.
She investigated the Nazca drawings for more than 40 years.
From 1955 she fought in many ways for the protection of the Nazca Lines. Forty years after in 1995 the Nazca Lines were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Maria Reiche died on June 8, 1998 and was buried near Nazca with official honors.
Carlos Puente
Born in Bilbao in 1944. Architect graduated at ETSAM in 1972. Until 1979, collaborated with Alejandro de la Sota.
He was professor at ETSAM from 1996 to 2009, and visiting professor at other architecture schools.
His work has been subject of various exhibitions and publications in different countries, and obtained different awards and distinctions, among which should be highlighted:
1987: The Architecture Prize of the Colegio Oficial de Arquitectos de Madrid (COAM) for the City Council of Valdelaguna.
1991: The García Mercadal Prize of the Colegio Oficial de Arquitectos de Aragón (COAA) for the Zaragoza Library.
1994: The European Community “Europa Nostra” Medal and Diploma for the Restoration of the Palacio de Linares in Madrid.
1994: The European Community “Europa Nostra” Medal and Diploma for the Restoration of the Casa de las Conchas of Salamanca.
1996: The IberFAD “Alejandro de la Sota” Prize for the Ciempozuelos House of Culture (Madrid).
In 2008 Arquia published his “commonplace book”, Idas y vueltas.
He currently lives in Finland.
Eduardo Chillida
1924 – Eduardo Chillida Juantegui was born on January 10 in San Sebastián.
1943 – Starts studying architecture in Madrid.
1947 – He abandons his studies and start drawing at the Círculo de Bellas Artes in Madrid.
1948 – He moves to Paris. He makes his first pieces in plaster.
1951 – He returned to Euskadi, where he made his first iron work, Ilarik.
1954 – Make the four doors for the Aranzazu Basilica.
1958 – Receives the International Grand Prize for Sculpture at the 29thVenice Biennale.
1972 – Make Lugar de encuentros III[Meeting Place III], today on the Paseo de la Castellana, Madrid.
1974 – The steel sculpture Estela a Pablo Neruda [Stele for Pablo Neruda] is placed in Tehran.
1977 – Begins the installation of Peine del viento XV [Comb of the Wind XV] in San Sebastián.
1992 – The Monumento a la tolerancia[Monument to Tolerance] is inaugurated at the Muelle de la Sal in Seville.
2000 – Inauguration of the Chillida Leku museum in Hernani.
2002 – He died on August 19 in San Sebastián.
Vinicius de Moraes
Vinicius de Moraes born in Rio de Janeiro onOctober 19th, 1913.
He was a Brazilian poet and lyricist whose bestknown song was A Garota de Ipanema [The Girl from Ipanema], which he co-wrote with the composer Antônio Carlos Jobim.
Author of numerous volumes of lyrical poetry, Moraes began his literary career as an adherent of the Brazilian Modernism in vogue around 1930. A period of studying English literature at the University of Oxford and residence in the United States as vice-consul of Brazil in Los Angeles (1947-50) broadened the scope of his verse, which was further enriched by his interest in theatre and the film industry. The result was a gradual movement away from poetic experimentation and toward an increasingly prosaic treatment of everyday themes with the sensuous lyricism that became his hallmark.
In the 1950s Moraes joined with younger musicians in forming the bossa nova style, incorporating elements of Brazilian samba and international jazz. His later years involved intense musical collaboration and a prolific outpouring of popular song lyrics. His theatrical libretto Orfeu da Conceição (1956) formed the basis of the prizewinning film Orfeu Negro [Black Orpheus] 1958.
He died in Rio de Janeiro on July 9th, 1980.
