18.10.2024

Hans Georg Esch: View of Pompeii Exhibition

Building design

Pompeii from above. © HGEsch / Ministero della Cultura. Parco Archeologico di Pompei

Pompeii is certainly one of the most photographed excavation sites in the world. But architectural photographer Hans Georg Esch believes that the millennia-old city is far from being “photographed out”. From September 5, 2024, his Pompeii exhibition with pictures from a bird’s eye view will therefore be on display at the Aedes Architecture Forum.

The millennia-old city of Pompeii is known as a Roman settlement with UNESCO World Heritage status. It was probably destroyed by the volcano Vesuvius in 79 AD and covered in at least six meters of ash. As a result, the city was very well preserved. It was not until the late 16th century that the ruins were discovered and from the 18th century onwards archaeologists ventured to excavate them. Since then, the excavation site has attracted many curious visitors, currently around 2.5 million people a year.

So you might think that Pompeii is already very well documented. But internationally renowned architectural photographer Hans Georg Esch has used the latest technology to capture exciting new images of the settlement, from above. Together with his team, he discovered new perspectives that can be seen at the Aedes Architecture Forum in Berlin from September 5, 2024.

Hans Georg Esch is known for his iconic images, which primarily depict megacities. For over 30 years, he has been a contemporary witness to urban and landscape structures in cities. He shows the hidden potential of places with his architectural eye – as in Pompeii. The photos taken from the air show the connections and parallels between ancient urban planning and modern urban structures. The millennia-old city thus becomes tangible in a series of photographs. The images bear witness to the settlement that lies in ruins today. They give an idea of its former vibrancy and reveal a great deal of beauty. They also invite visitors to reflect on the history of Pompeii and the significance of this place for today’s urban development.

The HGEsch team is planning a whole series of exhibitions to share the architectural view of Pompeii. The Aedes Architecture Forum in Berlin is the prelude with around 80 photographs from the series. From September, exhibitions will also be on show in Cologne: at the Italian Cultural Institute and, to mark the 50th anniversary of the Roman-Germanic Museum, at the Belgisches Haus. A public photo project is also planned for the fall in Cologne.

The photographs of Pompeii show the archaeological excavations that are now part of the metropolis of Naples. They are located directly at the foot of Mount Vesuvius. Using the latest digital photography techniques, HGEsch and his team captured the architecture of the city using drones. This photographic approach fits in with the new approach to the Archaeological Park of Pompeii: Gabriel Zuchtriegel, Director of the site since 2021, also advocates the approach of conveying a comprehensive and lively image of the ancient city.

From the perspective of contemporary witnesses of the 21st century, the photo exhibition shows that Pompeii has many similarities to our urban living space today. The very well-preserved remains of the ancient Roman city are thus brought to life. A 22-minute animation of the photos is also part of the exhibition and makes the structure of the ruins even more tangible.

Anyone who has ever been to Pompeii knows that the remains are located in the municipal area of today’s city of Pompeii, which is directly adjacent to the excavations. Houses, stores, original alleyways and everyday objects such as amphorae, tools and pieces of jewelry show life in the city, which is now visible from above in the exhibition: “For me, Pompeii is a showplace,” says architectural photographer Hans Georg Esch. “I found it particularly appealing to capture the daily presence of distant history in our time.”

The photographs reveal the urban structure as well as the architecture of the Roman settlement. Visitors to the exhibition can thus learn a lot about the lives of people in ancient Pompeii. The photo series also invites visitors to reflect on comparable structures in today’s metropolises: it illustrates the vulnerability of human living space. Although places like Pompeii are separated from the modern city, they are still part of the metropolis and the surrounding landscape. Thanks to the photos, the holistic nature of man and nature, the topography of the region shaped by the volcano and the structure of the ruins also become clear.

“Pompeii – The Architectural View” is HGEsch’s third monographic exhibition at the Aedes Architecture Forum, following “City and Structure” (2008) and “House and Horizon – Transformations” (2021). Born in 1964, the photographer was awarded the Architecture Photography MasterPrize at the Guggenheim Museum in 2022 and 2023. In 2023, he was recognized as the best company for architectural photography and film worldwide at the Loop Design Award. He and his team are known for giving the built environment a scenic pictorial quality. The book “Hans Georg Esch – Der architektonische Blick I – POMPEJI”, which accompanies the exhibition series, will be published in September 2024.

The exhibition can also be admired at the Istituto Italiano Di Cultura Colonia (Italian Cultural Institute Cologne)! Universitätsstr. 81 | 50931 Cologne

By the way: Pompeii recently made headlines with completely different news about solar tiles.

03.05.2021

Design, Translated: Branchennews

New Online Store for Grave Sites

Building design

The online store “Grabkauf Online,” which offers themed gravesites at the Ohlsdorf Park Cemetery, is the first of its kind in Germany. Photo: Hamburg Cemeteries

Hamburg’s cemeteries have jointly developed an online store for purchasing gravesites. This allows interested individuals to conveniently browse the wide variety of options from the comfort of their own homes on their computers.

The “Grabkauf Online” online store for themed gravesites at the Ohlsdorf Park Cemetery is the first of its kind in Germany. Photo: Hamburg Cemeteries

Especially in these times, when direct contact must be avoided, the importance of online services is increasing significantly—particularly those that eliminate the need for in-person visits. Hamburger Friedhöfe has now developed a shop for purchasing graves online. The shop offers 13 different themed burial plots at Ohlsdorf Cemetery—ranging from the wildflower garden to the Ohlsdorf Forest of Peace to the crypt.

This allows interested individuals to conveniently browse the variety of options from the comfort of their own home on a computer. Photo galleries and videos showcase the beauty of the sites. People can also view the sites and seek advice with family members or friends, even from a distance. This can provide inspiration to many who have previously been reluctant to address the topic.

Of course, it is still possible to visit the facilities at Ohlsdorf Cemetery in person. A digital map is provided for each burial plot, making it easier to locate them within the cemetery. Prices are also listed. The burial plots are offered as part of pre-need planning. This means that anyone who purchases a burial plot pays the price in effect today, regardless of when they use it. Upon purchase, the plot is reserved for an unlimited period. From the time of death, it may then be used for 25 years. However, all options can also be purchased in the event of a specific death.

You can find more information here.

16.12.2024

Hotel

Tokyo, Andaz Hotel

Building design

In the “Andaz Hotel” on the top floors of the second highest tower in Tokyo, the view is the main attraction. Despite the owners, an American hotel chain, the decor focuses on local color.

The view over Tokyo’s sea of buildings is familiar from the movie “Lost in Translation”. The view is also the main attraction at the Andaz Hotel on the top floors of the city’s second-highest tower. Despite the owners, an American hotel chain, the décor focuses on local color.

The topographically highest point in Tokyo, Atago Mountain, measures exactly 26 meters. In the past, this height was enough to see as far as Tokyo Bay – today, however, high-rise buildings obscure the view from the elevation on which the Atago Shrine has been attracting worshippers since 1603.

One of the newest towers in the city is the “Toranomon Hills Tower” by Nihon Sekkei Architects: 52 storeys high, it stretches into the sky, its floor plan reminiscent of a rhombus with partly rounded and partly chamfered corners. At 235 meters, Tokyo’s highest wedding chapel nestles triangularly under the sloping, triangular roof.

However, the tower cannot lay claim to the superlative “tallest building”, as the “Tokyo Midtown Tower”, which was completed in 2007, towers 13 meters above the Toranomon Hills Tower. However, static or structural problems were not the reason for the unbroken height record: the high-rise is so close to the Imperial Palace that additional storeys would have disturbed the privacy of the imperial family and were not approved.

But even without looking into the royals’ gardens and chambers, the view from the top six floors of the “Andaz Tokyo Toranomon Hills” hotel is hard to beat. New York designer Toni Chi and Tokyo-born interior designer Shinichiro Ogata have therefore focused the hotel rooms, which are at least 50 square meters in size by Japanese standards, entirely on the view: From the bed, from the sofa and from the desk, the view falls down to the city through the completely glazed front.

But it would be a shame not to take a look at the rooms too; the walls are clad in off-white panels covered with traditional shoji paper and set off with dark Hokkaido walnut wood, while sliding wooden walls transform the hallway into a dressing room in an ingenious and space-saving way.

Local materials and quotes from Japanese architecture and art history were also used in the elevators, lobby, spa and restaurant and interpreted in a contemporary way. The boutique hotel brand Andaz, which has opened its 12th hotel worldwide and its first in Japan with the Andaz Tokyo, places great value on authenticity: while Marcel Wanders designed the Andaz Amsterdam, for example, the Andaz Tokyo promises “Japanese experiences” for guests and locals.

The ambitious concept tolerates the inevitable breaks inherent in the term authenticity per se: the so-called Kumiko mural, puzzled together from thousands of wooden pieces, fits just as well into the almost six-metre-high hotel lobby on the 51st floor as electric light into the historic Atago shrine.

Address

Andaz Tokyo
Toranomon Hills 3-20-16-2F Nishi-Azabu Minato-ku
Tokyo 106-0031 Japan
Tel.+81 3 6830 1234, Fax.+81 3 6830 1211
www.andaztokyo.com