EXHIBITION | Mario Romañach: "Do you love architecture?"

When: Monday, December 4, 2017— Monday, May 14, 2018

Where: Harvey & Irwin Kroiz Gallery, Architectural Archives | 220 South 34th Street, Philadelphia

Introduction from Architectural Archives

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A beloved teacher at the University of Pennsylvania and a visionary architect who transformed modern architecture in his native Cuba in the years before the Revolution, Mario Romañach (1917-84) saw architecture, not as an abstract phenomenon to be developed though analytical techniques, but rather, as a discipline which made full sense only when framed in terms of human experience. “Architecture...you’ve got to touch it,” he would say, and it was that sensuous, experiential connection to buildings, cities, and landscapes that animated his art and inspired his students. 

Marking the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Romañach’s birth, this exhibition presents a survey of his work, ranging from his groundbreaking residential designs in Havana to large-scale urban redevelopment plans for the West Side of New York City.

Born in Havana, Romañach, was educated in turbulent decades marked by prosperity, depression, war, and changing artistic sensibilities. His uncle, the painter Leopoldo Romañach, was a significant influence. Formal training in architecture came at the University of Havana. In the fourteen year period between 1945 and 1959, Romañach established a successful practice initially based on residential projects. These works, and his later large-scale urban planning, demonstrate his firm commitment to the ideals of the modern movement shaped and enriched by an understanding of local conditions and an interest in Cuban and Spanish culture. 

Exiled from Cuba, Romañach and his family arrived in the United States during the fall of 1959. The practice that had been the center of his artistic world collapsed, never to be fully regained. Teaching, at first, provided for his transition, but then became his life’s work. That energy - so tied to building - ultimately was channeled to his students; a love of architecture perpetuated.

via: Architectural Archives of the University of Pennsylvania

ISAO TAKAHATA dies at 82

Animation director Isaho Takahata (高畑 勲) has passed away today at the age 82. Takahata co-founded Studio Ghibli together with Hayao Miyazaki (宮崎 駿) in 1985. Here a filmography the works he directed linked to the various related DVD, Bluray and books available in Amazon Japan.

2012 | The Tale of Princess Kaguya (かぐや姫の物語)
2009 | My Neighbors the Yamadas (ホーホケキョとなりの山田くん)
1994 | Pom Poko (平成狸合戦ぽんぽこ)
1991 | Only Yesterday (おもひでぽろぽろ)
1988 | Grave of the Fireflies (火垂るの墓)
1987 | The Story of Yanagawa's Canals (柳川掘割物語)
1982 | Gauche the Cellist (セロ弾きのゴーシュ)
1981 | Jarinko Chie (じゃりン子チエ)
1973 | Panda! Go, Panda! The Rainy-Day Circus (パンダ・コパンダ　雨降りサーカスの巻)
1972 | Panda! Go, Panda! (パンダ・コパンダ)
1968 | Horus: Prince of the Sun (太陽の王子 ホルスの大冒険)

Before Founding Ghibli Takahata worked for TOEI animation where he started to collaborate with Hayao Miyazaki. He directed anime series such as Heidi, Girl of the Alps and 3000 Leagues in Search of Mother among many other.

MUSIC VIDEO | Los caminantes de Plaza

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Puerto Rico | 2016 | 5 min | Color | 16:9 

AA&NN presents

A musical video reportage by Noelis Prieto

Photographed and edited by Ioannes Busca

Music: ‘Como nunca antes’ by Moreira

Shot in Puerto Rico on July 6, 2016

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For over 25 years, a group of senior citizens of Puerto Rico known as ‘Los caminantes de Plaza’ have gotten together on a weekly basis in the biggest mall of the Caribbean before opening hours to workout and socialize.

It’s fascinating how while the stores are getting ready to open their doors, the mall’s common spaces are transformed by this group into a gym-like zone just before the mall gets packed with shoppers.

Visit the website: http://aaandnn.com/video/los-caminantes-de-plaza/

NEWS | AA&NN's State of the Union

WOW! the last post in this page is from September 2015. We have abandoned this blog for a while, not because we haven't been doing anything, but because we were working on some cool things and sharing then under their own brands and left this newsfeed aside.

Let's see what has been going on this past couple of years.

●The last post featured ARRIURDIN, a promising project in which our co-founder and tech master Aaron Busca has been working (in his free time, when he's not climbing or running or fixing a website for us) for a while now. The work has progress a lot since then, but due to his busy schedule is not going as fast as we would like. Nevertheless, the first prototype is almost ready. Designed in Basque Country with a 3D printed enclosure, wireless charging, waterproof, shockproof...you name it. We hope to have news about it soon!

●Our Ahabi independent publishing house finally took off during 2016 and jumped from the digital platforms to a more tangible good ol' book publishing. Beginning with EdFramed collection and following with Antxintxiketan a late 2015 comic book by Ian Nose, Ahabi comics are now available in paperback in Amazon, and in digital book formats in Amazon Kindle, Apple Books and ComiXology. To learn more check our recently launched http://ahabi.net website. We have designed the layout and the covers of all Ahabi editions to this day, as well as managed all the mess that represents making a book and everything that this entails, but we love it and we hope to keep on that for many years to come.

●During 2016 and 2017, we have been working with a bunch of directors in Nostrom Moving Images in Puerto Rico. We have learned a lot working with Fernando Vallejo, Carlos Larrieu, Federico Torres Fernández, Benoît Gabriel and Jochi Melero, Storyboarding their visions for commercial campaigns or assisting them for brands such as T-Mobile, Universal Group Inc., MCSPuertoRico, AT&T and Coors Light among others. Check some of the works in our website.

●Also in 2016, we have rescued from oblivion a couple of short films from the past. We re-mastered and re-edited for their fifth anniversary, DORRETXEKO PRINTZESA and URA, two collaborative short films created for Oñatiko laburmetrai rallya back in 2011 with the collective URTZI COOP. Who knows if a collector edition DVD version may come one of this days...

●Our co-founder Ioannes Busca finally graduated from college on May 2016, it was about time! We have also revisited and re-mastered a couple of short films from his student days. Some are already available on watch here. DVD and Blu-ray editions might follow.

●ChronOtomo: Otomo Katsuhiro Chronology, a side project we started back in November 2012, with an innocent first post on Facebook has gained over 2,000 followers in Instagram alone. The main site has over 1,000 posts and over 1,500 single images. However, the project is far from been completed. We still have many surprises saved for all the Otomo fans out there!

●We are celebrating the 10th anniversary of AA&NN this year. We came up wih the name AA&NN on December 2007 after a mind-blowing, soul refreshing semester in the 'Grupo de Experimentación Proyectual' commanded by Andres Perea, Paula Montoya Saiz, Jose Luis Vallejo Mateo and Izaskun Chinchilla Moreno, in Madrid Architecture School. To celebrate this, during 2018 we hope to take out of the drawer many unedited things from the past, also from the collaborative work done with Atxu Amann Ya Lcocer, let's celebrate it with some great old memories.

●Revisiting old stuff makes us of course think on the 100x10 · Pedagogías Arquitectónicas Innovadoras days. Rodrigo Delso Gutierrez, Javier Argota Borja Gómez, Maria Luisa de Miguel and all, that was back in June 2011... an anniversary is coming soon: Let's meet at El Palentino!. But not all can be looking back, great projects are on the horizon, new stories, new collaborations, new stuff, whatever it is.

●As far as personal life concerns, our dad had a stroke on December 2015, from which he is recovering, our grandmother, his mom, passed away and we suffered one of the most devastating hurricanes that ever hit Puerto Rico last September, what made us move to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. From here we will continue giving our best, now from The City of Brotherly Love and Oñati, to the world. We will be updating this site more frequently, and throwing back memories every Thursday on instagram and facebook, so, stay tuned!

I guess that's all for today.

(Applause)

Nos ordinateurs ont-ils la mémoire courte?

December 11, 2015 | 52 min | Color | ARTE France & ZED end EDCA | Directed by Vincent Amoroux

What will become of the billions of information gathered on the hard disks, CD or DVD? Is our civilization without a perennial support still capable of producing memory?