On my way to work, I observe the houses I pass by. I try to guess the owner’s personality from the outside appearance of the home. It’s a game I play. Most houses don’t give off anything in particular. Some of them though, arouse my curiosity.

One rundown house suggests great sadness. It’s lived in because there are always cars in the driveway. Then there’s a house that’s absolutely impeccable, but cold as ice; it doesn’t exactly invite you to ring the bell.

At one time or another all of us have entered a house that we wanted to leave as fast as our feet could carry us, for all kinds of reasons: the decor, the atmosphere, the owner or maybe something in the very air. Human beings project themselves and are reflected in the decor, the arrangement of furniture, the division of rooms, etc.[……]

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[caption id="attachment_244" align="alignleft" width="292" caption="Sedlec Ossuary (Wikipedia)"][/caption]

My girlfriend was visiting a church in Linz, in northern Austria. I was waiting for her outside. An Austrian friend strongly recommended that we visit the building. “You have to see it,” she said.

“You’ll never guess what I saw,” my girlfriend said as she came out of the church. “I was amazed to see such beautiful sculptures. It looked like lace. When I got closer to the pieces, I noticed that human bones were the base for the detailed sculpture work!”

She was quite shaken up.

Last year she visited a chapel in the Mauricie region. As she got closer to the relics, she jumped when she saw bones, hair, nails and teeth mounted like works of art: jewels, sculptures, objects in doll houses, etc. She thought that the relics were just objects touched by an illustrious person, not human body parts!

So far, neither of these discoveries have much to do with real estate, but we’re slowly getting there.

In the same year, a young owner told us that he called the police because he found bones in the walls of the ancestral home that he and his girlfriend were renovating. The neighbours were quite curious about the police presence in this quiet corner of Nicolet.

The young woman and her boyfriend learned that the bones were animal. They were often used at the time for insulation. Horse manes and tails were also used. People used whatever was handy at the time.[……]

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At first glance, it looks like a futuristic boat. Then the entry door jumps out at you. Are we in front of a building? Wow, did you see that giant spider in the foreground? Where are we!

We are in Bilbao, Spain. And we’re in front of a Guggenheim museum. Do we have to specify that it’s dedicated to contemporary art? Like the four other Solomon Guggenheim foundation museums, with the most well-known being the one in New York.

Upon seeing the photo, the more conservative ones among you will say “It’s just twisted metal.” Those who swear by innovation will exclaim “Now that’s true creation!” And they’ll add “Because it’s contemporary art, the average person turns their nose up at it.”

Don’t be fooled! A million tourists pass through the museum doors each year. The building itself attracts just as many tourists, if not more, than the works of are found inside. It’s very popular. The Guggenheim Bilbao is one of the most admired contemporary buildings in the world, by architecture critics and the average person alike.

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[caption id="attachment_134" align="alignright" width="281" caption="source : Wikipedia"][/caption]

Us Via Capitale bloggers search the world for unusual buildings. Yet we have a building in our own backyard that causes tourists to look twice when they come across it. We see it because it’s been part of the landscape for almost half a century: Habitat 67.

Take a look at it and you will quickly include it in the category of unusual buildings, because it really is! The architecture of cubes piled haphazardly on top of each other borders on the grotesque, somewhat like the works of Gaudi in Barcelona.

If you find the word grotesque irritating, you should know that none other than Victor Hugo once declared: “As a means of contrast with the sublime, the grotesque is, in our view, the richest source that nature can offer.”

Built as part of Expo 67, of which one of the themes was housing, Habitat 67 is a product of the era’s obsession with building vertically to respond to the growing urban density. It’s kind of a futuristic solution to coming needs.

The pavilion has been visited by thousands of people from around world. After it was used by the federal government, the complex was converted into condos in the 1980s.[……]

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Despite the extraordinary and sustained prestige this building garners, there is no envy in this prestige, as the building is considered to be one of the ugliest in England. In fact, it often finds itself in the top three.

It’s up to you whether or not you like it. And don’t be offended if we take the liberty of confirming that, although it’s not ugly, it has a long way to go to match the beauty of Versailles or the Prague Royal Palace.[……]

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Have you ever noticed that in epic movies, there is often a great scene where, as a spectator, you go through a natural gateway that leads to a mysterious kingdom?

The gateway can be an arch, two rocky columns, two huge fountains, two big trees leaning over a water course.

We can’t wait to get to the other side to see what waits. In the Lord of the Rings for example, the community slides slowly over a river by going between two huge and imposing men sculpted in the rock.

Relatively speaking, that’s the sensation you get from the two Kio towers in Madrid. From the top of their 114 metres and 26 storeys, they lean majestically over Paseo de la Castellana Boulevard. The two highnesses invite to step forward into a new world.[……]

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One of our favourite buildings is in Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia. The building is magnificent. I would be surprised if there was anything else like it in the world. We like the idea that the nicest buildings in the world are unique, regardless of their size. Like trees and humans, no two are alike.

Can you guess the name of the building? I’ll give you a hint: it’s a mollusc. Give up? It’s called the Golden Snail.[……]

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