Tuesday, August 22, 2006

strolling through stuttgart - part I

Also last week I made a visit to Stuttgart, Germany's 6th largest city. There are 600,000 in the city and about 3 million in the metro area.

Stuttgart is home to the headquarters of Daimler-Chrysler, Porsche, and Bosch. The few days I stayed there, they were in the middle of the summer festival in what is left (not much actually) of the historical part of their downtown. It was odd because during the "summer festival" temperatures did not go above 50 degrees. It was mid August and everyone was walking around in ski jackets and scarves. Here is a photo of the central fountain with the opera illuminated in the background:


Small candles surrounded by multi-colored paper lit all the paths near this square. It looked great. Here is a closeup of these candles . . . a nice, non-expensive way to add color to the environment at night:


As the music played at the various stages in this area, the buildings changed color as well. Here is a quick movie of the what the place looked like.



Just around the corner is a new art museum in the downtown. I love the architecture. Maybe the new building for the Williamson School of Business at YSU can incorporate parts of this building for its design. The new structure can really have that "beacon on a hill" look.


I really like how the stairs are situated around the building. The galleries are furthest in, and like a shell, the stairs are further out right next to the glass exterior.



And in the cafe at the southern entrance, there was a great piece of morphing art. Cycles of persian rugs and turkish carpets were created over and over again as hipsters listened to a dj playing drum and bass in the background. very cool.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dear Janko,
I recently stumbled upon your blog (very recently...this morning actually) and have spent entirely too much time today reading in amazement many of your commentaries. The amazement comes mostly from realizing how very in tune you are with the goings-on of the city. Many of the urban designers and architects of the area don't seem to have the depth of knowledge that you exhibit in your critical analyses. Many of the politicians of the area aren't able to follow all of the controversial issues you follow. Many of your average bloggers don't write in whole sentences and have substance to their thoughts. And certainly none of the above know how to load and listen to podcasts on their ipods! (well, maybe the bloggers do) And much of it seems to be accomplished while travelling outside of the area. Amazing.
I would like to know more about your background, hear some more of your ideas and share with you some of my visions. I notice, however, that you seem to be fairly careful about revealing anything about yourself. Are you going to remain anonymous forever or do I have a chance at talking to you? I think it could be a rich experience. I look forward to hearing from you and reading more from you. Good luck on your travels.

Janko said...

hi elvio,

just leave another comment to this page with your email address, and we can discuss more topics at your convenience. i will not make the email address public, as all postings need to be confirmed by me before they appear online.

thanks,

janko