Miyazaki-Moebius

Today opened in La Monnaie de Paris a Exhibition featuring the works of Hayao Miyazaki and Jean Giraud 'Moebius'. Both artists have shown the respect for each others work for a long time and it's great to finally see their works together in a retrospective exhibition. A 104 pages catalog was published.

Hauru no Ugoku Shiro (ハウルの動く城) Howl's Moving Castle

Jango Feet Lego set

It's more that ten years that I don't buy a Lego set. I was just walking in a department store and saw this Star Wars Lego set Jango Feet 8011 on sale for 20€. So I bought it. The last Lego set I bought more than a decade ago was a Leg Technic too, model 8829. 

Nike Air Zoom Generation

I decided I need to play basketball on Madrid and my old shoes were almost destroyed so I went to a local Footlocker and I bought the ones that were on sale. When I went home I realized they were the first Lebron James model by Nike called Nike Air Zoom generation. I will play as much as I can with them and then I will keep them or make some kind of weird whatever with them. These are the promotional wallpapers by Nike (The ones I bought are were the black model).

THE TERMINAL directed by Steven Spielberg

THE LADY KILLERS by Coen Brothers

CONCEPT VIDEO | The Womanman

This is a test animation I did after an afternoon at Atxu's house. We recorded her kids in video, played with Star Wars lightsabers, played videogames, ate cookies and drank milk. Josetxu's Obi Wan Kenobi fighting style was just awesome. I will upload the video one of this days. I also have to edit a superb film starring Javier and Patatini "the potato with bad cough". It was a really funny Saturday afternoon!

First order to Amazon Japan

I've been desiring to order something from Amazon Japan for a long time, and now that the site seems to be translated to english I decided to do so. My first order is conformed by three great books. Two by Akira Toriyama, creator of Dragon Ball and Dr. Slump. And One by Katsuhiro Otomo the mind behind the manga and the movie AKIRA.

Akira Toriyama The world

---

A 96 page soft cover book published in 1990 that collects some of the authors illustrations done for Dr. Slump and Dragon Ball, plus many rare things like a short story named WOLF and some of the models that Toriyama does is his free time among other stuff.

Akira Toriyama The World Special

---

A beautiful, hard cover book that even it seems, as one can guess for its title, a special edition of the prior one, it's a pretty different bread. This one is more focused on Dragon Ball and even many illustrations are repeated, it includes a full color short story titled SCAPE, a sequence of pictures showcasing Toriyama working on the cover illustration and many more things that make the book worth the money. There are not so many illustration books about Toriyama so both books are a must  if you appreciate this author's work.

AKIRA Animation Archives

---

Published in 2002, one of the latest Katsuhiro Otomo's AKIRA related books that came out at the same time that the DVD almost 13 years after the movie hit the theaters in Japan. The book is a look back to the creation of the classic movie including layouts, backgrounds  and designs of the film that will blow anyone's mind. A masterpiece movie deserved a masterpiece book like this and finally, here it is.

LAB | Pavilion for Adolf Loos's Möller House

The second semester comes to its end and so does the second year in the Architecture School. In this year's Projects class I did a proposal for a Pavilion for visitors in architects Adolf Loos's Möller House.

Memory 

From the start the pavilion is thought not only as an extension to the house for the people who visit the it, but a versatile meeting point for anyone, to organize exhibitions, meet ing up with people and much more. The backyard of the house is a nice space for that. 

The proposed pavilion is basically a prefabricated metallic arch that is seven meters high in its upper part and crosses the garden behind the house from one side to the other, covering the 98 square meters of it and transforming the green space in a polyvalent space. The textile roof that covers the structure can be folded, opening the space to the rest of the garden. On sunny days everything is opened and textile walls are used as projection screens. 

All the furniture and systems needed are provided by four blocks that keep everything inside them. Their interiors expands throughout the pavilion when needed. Chairs for example are kept in these blocks and visitors can take them and put them back when they don't need them anymore.

Richard Rogers + Architects

Today I have taken my time to scan a book from the Architecture School Library. Richard Rogers + Architects, it's a great Architectural Monograph Published in the US and the UK in 1985 that collects the works of architect Richard Rogers and his partners, from early projects to the mid eighties. The book was in a terrible condition when I  borrowed it, so after scanning it, I fixed it, and re-bind it as best as I could with a lot of care and a bit of glue.

The scanning process is so slow that made me think a lot in the meantime. There are certain problems related to the psychical books. For example, if a teacher recommends a book in class and it's available in the book stores, the main problem is usually only the price, specially with architecture books, that tend to be fancy and expensive. The real problem arises, however, when the book is sold out or hard to find. Then, the only way to go is the school library. But every time a teacher recommends a book, it literally  flies from the shelves, and as we are so many students, it's common not to be able to even have a glance at it before the semester ends.

I also wonder, what happens when a library book gets worn so much that gets destroyed, and it's not useable anymore. Or when unscrupulous people cut the pages or the pictures they are interested in, (Sadly that happens too). What if the library is not able to re-buy it because it's sold out? Something pretty common in architectural publications, that many times are periodicals with no big printing numbers. So, libraries are expending their money on a bunch of bind paper that sooner or later is going to be consumed and become unusable. Is that it?

I understand the advantages of physical books, it's always great to have them on your hand and feel them, to be able to read them everywhere, anytime... but what about when you have to carry a bunch of them in your backpack day in and day out, or when you need a picture from them, or a piece of text and you have to either scan it or re-write it. In my opinion, digital is going to be the way to go, without a doubt.

I'm sure physical books will remain with us forever, but more as a great analogue precious objects than anything else. As a luxury that give us joy and holds a backup of our information. Meanwhile, the digital editions will be available for download in a few seconds by anyone, everywhere, anytime. I believe the future its promising, both for classic book lovers and for the people that need the information within them in a  fast, reliable and comfortable way.

Richard Roger + Architects

---

Architectural Monographs
Published in Great Britain in 1985 by Academy editions
Published in the USA in 1985 by St Martin's Press
ISBN-10: 0312682077
ISBN-13: 978-0312682071

Availabe on Amazon Marketplace: US / ES / JP

Zatoichi Directed by Takeshi Kitano