10/04 - Benz Museum, Stuttgart

If you believe successful architecture = interesting interior spatial experiences, the Mercedes Benz Museum in Stuttgart will be your perfect example. Three lifts, a futuristic concrete atrium, a double helix of walkways, sensible exhibitions on automobile from each period in history, a high-tech audio guide and some cool design detailing gives every viewer a ultimate architectural experience from start to finish. UN Studio have done a great job to maximize space and direct viewers' circulation. We enjoyed the building, the exhibition and even began to imagine of owning a Mercedes Benz as our dream-car...that's really as far as design can go!

09/04 - Concrete, Salzburg

On our way from the train station to the old town we passed by a large concrete building with a tall chimney, the Heizkraftwerk. We knew nothing about this former power station when we were there. I took a photo of it because it seems very interesting to me. The concrete seems nicely built. Not until I returned to Canada do I find out that many locals actually hate the building, especially the contemporary addition completed in 2003. They see the new concrete addition as a total waste of tax money.

09/04 - Salzburg

After Innsbruck, we made use of our rail pass to make a detour at Salzburg. A pretty Baroque city in a picturesque alpine setting. Thanks to the 1965 film The Sound of Music, everyone has a presumption of its beauty without setting foot in Austria.

We spent around three hours strolling through the old city without climbing the castle hill. The stroll along the Salzach River was particular pleasant. We were attracted by some Baroque houses that built against a cliff side. We had some good ice-cream at Mozart Square, took some pictures of the Mozart statue, passed by the Mozart residence and purchased three Mozart chocolate balls, Mozartkugel. That's Salzburg! In the evening, we hopped on a train to return to Munich.

09/04 - Zaha Hadid, Innsbruck

We visited one of Hadid's Nordkettenbahnen funicular stations in Innsbruck.

A brave experiment on new building technology and design innovations. Not too good when comes to detailing: poor silicon joints. But at least, they found a way to clip and hang the extremely curvy glass panels.

A perfect piece of art, with magnificent mountain backdrop.

09/04 - Innsbruck

I first visited Innsbruck in 1985 with my parents. Obviously I don't remember a thing about it except a few really dark images of the iconic Golden Roof, seen from some stone-age family albums stored in the basement of my old house. 24 years later AC and I decided to make a day trip from Munich to Innsbruck, mainly because of Hadid's funicular stations.

It's strange to revisit a place that faintly existed in my memory. Everything to me seems familiar, and it makes me wonder whether I remember the snow mountains and the old lanes and the Golden Roof from my childhood or I just know they exist because I have simply created a memory of the town from books, photos and my parents' descriptions.

Anyhow, Innsbruck is a pretty little town in Tyrol of West Austria, surrounded by snow-capped mountains in all four sides, and famous for a little balcony topped with 2000+ shiny copper tiles. That's Innsbruck.

08/04 - Art Museums, Munich

http://www.museum-brandhorst.de/


http://www.pinakothek.de

We dropped by Kunstareal, the main art district of Munich, to see Stephan Braunfels' Pinakothek der Moderne and Sauerbruch Hutton's Brandhorst Museum. Ceramic rods in some 23 colours caught our eyes as we approached the Brandhorst Museum, which shared a single street block with the Pinakothek der Moderne. The Brandhorst had yet opened when we were there. It is going to showcase works by a number of famous modern artists, including Andy Warhol, Cy Twombly, Gerhard Richter, Joseph Beuys and many others.

Diagonally across from Brandhorst, Stephan Braufel's highly acclaimed Pinakothek der Moderne was erected in such harmonious proportion with its context that one can hardly grasp its true volume before entering the building. Completed in 2002, the fine finished concrete and some interesting space planning in the interior of this modern art museum have earned Braunfel praises from around the world. Unfortunately we could only make a brief stay before the closing time. It remains in our must-go list if we ever revisit this part of Germany in the future.

07/04 - BMW Welt, Munich

Another iconic contemporary architecture in Munich. An architecture of automobile. A forum for BMW customers, technological information exchange, and commercial exhibitions.

07/04 - Allianz Arena

The stadium that hosted the final of World Cup 2006. A predecessor of Beijing's Bird Nest. A pure beauty by Herzog de Meuron.

1989.06.04

May one day history can be treated openly and fairly. Until then, we will never forget.

06/04 - Bamberg

We decided to visit at least one old town in Germany. We chose Bamberg. It was pleasant to stroll through the old market, pass by the vivid exterior fresco of Altes Rathaus before finding our way up to the Michaelsberg Abbey on top of a hill.

The splendid Baroque interiors of Michaelsberg Abbey was definitely the highlight of Bamberg. The ceiling paintings of plants and herbs enhances a sense of natural beauty and freshness to the interior, and provides a perfectly clean backdrop for the ornamental Baroque figures at the chancel, organ and alter. The gardens of Michaelsberg provides great views over the town. Before heading down, we had lunch at the outdoor cafe in the abbey's garden and tasted the famous Bamberg smoke beer.

We are the People!

Leipzig, 1989. Monday demonstrations at St. Nicolas Church. Thousands crying out the slogan - We are the People! The fall of the Berlin Wall. Unification of Germany. It all began here.

20th anniversary to the fall of the Berlin Wall. 20th anniversary to the June Fourth Movement at Beijing's Tiananmen Square. 1989, a year which no one can easily forget.

04/04-Bauhaus, Dessau

Cannot imagine what the design world would become if Walter Gropius didn't found Bauhaus 90 years ago in Weimar.

For only 7 years between 1925 to 1932 that Bauhaus was operated in Dessau, and in fact, the school of Bauhaus had only existed for less than 14 years in total, before the Nazis finally forced Mies van de Rohe to close down its last campus in Berlin.

We spent half a day in Bauhaus' Dessau campus, an iconic building designed by Gropius back in the 1920s. Today half museum and half design institute, the modern school building is occupied by visitors and students. Although in German, we took a tour which allowed us to see rooms behind doors, such as the theatre and Gropius' office. Bold colours, experimental detailing and innovative fixtures, making this school building a manifesto on avant garde design of early 20th century. We also visited the masters' houses nearby. Again designed by Gropius, those houses served as accommodation facilities for professors such as Kandinsky and Paul Klee.

02/04-East Side Gallery, Berlin

I feel guilty if I don't show any image of the East Side Gallery of Berlin, especially when 2009 marks the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. East Side Gallery is both a wonderful open-air showcase of art and an impressive manifesto of human freedom. The longest surviving stretch of the Berlin Wall. A great feast of street art.

03/04-Fragmented Architecture, Dresden

The UFA Cinema by Coop Himmelb(l)au

03/04 - Dresden

As an antithesis of World War Two, Dresden lives long in memories of many. Kurt Vonnegut might have depicted the historical tragic moment in a humorous way, yet the pointless Allied bombings at the end of WW2 remains as a serious subject for many Germans, even today. The devastating bombings in 1945 abruptly transformed this capital of Saxony, which was renounced for its cultural and artistic glories, into a huge pile of rubble. Sixty years on, reconstruction still dominates contemporary urban development. The mighty Frauenkirche Church, rebuilt stone by stone with private raised funds signifies the pride and determination of Dresdeners. The reconstructed Green Vault containing most of Saxony's royal treasures that had survived the 1945 firestorm and the fantastic museums at the Zwinger Palaces reveal Dresden's past glories to both foreigners and the locals. Layers upon layers of glories and tragedies, Dresden will remain symbolic for many centuries to come.

02/04-The Murder of Crows

Occupying the central hall of Museum für Gegenwart at Hamburger Bahnhof, Canadian artists Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller's sound installation, The Murder of Crows turns the former railway station hall into a space of emotions and poetics. With 98 speakers surrounding the audience in all directions and a gramophone at the very centre, a four-part story is told through powerful narratives, audio effects and songs. For more information please visit www.cardiffmiller.com.

With the hall's perfect spatial qualities, beautiful natural light and magnificent sound engineering, The Murder of Crows creates remarkable imaginary in my mind continuously for 30 minutes. It is pure delight that we got the chance to drop-by Hamburger Bahnhof at our last day of Berlin.

02/04-Oberbaumbrucke, Berlin

A revisit to the Oberbaumbrucke turns out to be a highlight of our stay in Berlin.

In 2003 I stayed at a hostel in Kreuzberg. During the stay I crossed the Oberbaum everyday to Friedrichshain to take the S-bahn. Back then, I knew nothing about this double-deck bridge. I simply enjoyed the views, the magnificent structure and the early-morning and late-afternoon shadows of the colonnade.

Six years later, we visit the Oberbaumbrucke as an aftermath to the East Side Gallery. I acknowledge that the Oberbaum is a symbolic landmark that links the former East and West, that the Oberbaum was filmed in Run Lola Run, that Calatrava is the architect who put the modern steel addition in the middle of the bridge, that the Oberbaumbrucke has become my favorite place in Berlin ever since I first visited the city.

31/03 - 02/04 - Architecture of Berlin

Six years have passed since I last visited Berlin.

Dust settled and glass towers erected. Bold efforts in contemporary architecture signify the German determination to remake Berlin. Foster, Sauerbruch Hutton, Koolhaas, Libeskind, Eisenman, Behnisch Architekten and Pei are some of the many that have contributed to the remaking.

A unified Berlin is indeed still a very young city. Human activities have yet fully utilized the potentials of this multi-layered capital. It will be interesting to see how Berlin evolves in coming decades as urban diversity and commercial business gradually take shape.

Today, Berlin serves well as an open-air museum of great architecture.

EuroTour 2009

The Euro Tour 2009 concludes our 1.5-year stay in the UK. For 37 days we backpacked throughout Germany, Switzerland, France, Belgium and the Netherlands to enjoy great architecture and food.

Paris metro

Every moment in Paris metro is a scene of cinema.

Farewell London

It's time to say goodbye, 20 Churton.