Saturday, October 20, 2012

Erwin Hauer at the Standard

While in New York City I went to the roof top of the Standard Hotel to sip cocktails in the sun and with a spectacular view. Some familiar screens greeted me in the lobby and on the roof itself, two iconic designs from the 1950s by the remarkable sculptor Erwin Hauer.
[Detail of Erwin Hauer's Design 5 on the roof of the Standard, photo by yours Concretely]

While these Hauer screens can be found in the hotel rising over the lovely Highline park, another screen is more hidden as described in this post. 
[Image of Erwin Hauer's Design 5 on the roof of the Standard, photo by yours Concretely]

Hauer's website informs that the screens were built in 2009 and are Design1 (1950) and Design 5 (1956).
Below follows more shots from the visit - taking photos of the concrete interior is perhaps not the most glamorous way of sipping cocktails, that said, the screen on the roof is the only thing worth noticing on the roof itself. -( a complete different story is of course the exhibitionist restrooms the story below).

[Nobody pays attention to the Erwin Hauer piece, but the view is ]




[Above and below, connection details between the Erwin Hauer concrete elements]

And below, a few from the lobby, mental note - buy new camera, my smart phone cam really doesn't do it well.
[Erwin Hauer's Design 1 (org 1950) in the lobby of the Standard. (2009)]

[Erwin Hauer's Design 1 in the lobby of the Standard]

[Detail of Erwin Hauer's Design 1 in the lobby of the Standard. This is so smooth and shiny that I wonder if it is polymer or almost a resin or a reinforced plaster of some sort-  my stupid Instagram filter may be pulling my leg here - but the lobby screens definitely have a smoother finish than the concrete screen outside]




Skating Musmeci

A comment for the post on Sergio Musmeci's bridge over Basento river in the Italian town of Potenza, included the link to the cover shot for skateboarding culture magazine 6:00 am. Since I really like the bridge, this offers a chance to post a few more images of it.
[Daniele Galli on the cover of 6:00 am magazine, photo by Fede Romanello, via]

The blogger Lorenzo Bini (Lorebini) had previously discovered this amazing concrete landscape and wondered on the Bastard Blog whether anybody had used it to skate. Skater Daniele Galli picked up on the post and drove south to do it, as shown on the dare devil cover shot above. via
[Image by Lorenzo Bini - follow the link to more images of Sergio Musmeci's viaduct]

I'd love to see more images of skaters using concrete - perhaps discovering new cool concrete 'landscapes' discovered and appreciated from the perspective of the skating culture.