Friday, October 23, 2009

Caixa Forum Building in Madrid | Travel blog Barcelona, Berlin, Paris and Madrid

Do you have a favourite place building you love in a particular destination? There are beautiful cities around the world which differ from the others by its magnificent architecture. This is the case of Madrid.

The Caixa Forum is another fantastic piece of architecture from those wacky folks at Herzog & de Meuron. Based around the Central Electrica de Melodia, an old electrical power plant, it is now a cultural centre that holds exhibitions, musical concerts and conferences. The interior is futuristic in blazing Clockwork Orange-style white, while the outside is a wonderful game of two halves: the red, clay-coloured side of the main building and the extraordinary wall garden on the other side.

caixa-forum-madrid

One of the aspects of the facelift Herzog & de Meuron gave the Central Electrica de Mediodia in 2008, was removing the stone base that originally supported it giving the building an eye-popping, levitating look that really makes it stand out.

Caixa Forum is a Spanish foundation with different branches around the country, especially in Catalonia: Madrid, Barcelona, Palma, Lleida and Tarragona. It defends equal opportunities for all kinds of people, fighting against inequalities and social injustices. It struggles for social and professional inclusion of disabled people, for the comprehensive care of elderly patients, the insertion of immigrants, the social rehabilitation of prisoners, for the education of children, for scholarships and affordable housing for young people.

It also presents a host of cultural activities: among others, music, theatre, art, and so on. Now the Caixa Forum Madrid hosts the “Palladio the architect (1508-1580)”exposition from October 2009 to 17th January 2010.

Contemporary of great Renaissance artists like Raphael and Michelangelo, Palladio practiced architecture as a profession of special significance. He democratized the architecture to vindicate the supremacy of domestic structures, pointing out that any building could be beautiful without the need to use expensive materials.

Through more than 200 works, this exhibition traces Palladio’s career since his time in Padua as a teenage stonemason until the time he became an intellectual and favourite architect of the Venetian state, aristocrats and religious leaders. It also emphasizes the commitment of the architect with humanism, which fuelled his determination to forge a new architectural language appropriate to the age. The exhibition explores the impact he has had on later generations of architects like Arata Isozaki, David Chipperfield, Richard McCormac, Toh Shimazaki or JimĂ©nez Torrecillas, among others.

Don’t miss such an incredible exposition in one of the most amazing buildings in the Spanish capital. Rent Apartments in Madrid for the best accommodation.

Posted via web from barcedona's posterous

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