Microcoasts

Rocky coastal formations can be a spectacular thing. However, it's not the most ideal kind of coastline, in terms of accessibility and leisure. Based on this premise, the Spanish architect Vicente Guallart designed a series of interventions for the rough, rocky coast of Vinerós. These so called "microcostas" (microcoasts) form wooden islands on top of the rock surface, to relax, sunbathe or read. The wooden topology partially adapts (and smoothens) the existing topography of the site, but at the same time it adapts to the new and proposed uses of the site.



In a way, the man-made islands of this Mircocoasts project extends the coastline, and the practical use of it. And by retaining the interventions to a set of smaller scale islands, the new structure doesn't become all too dominating over the existing rock formations.

Ernst-Thälmann-Insel

I've posted about the Strange Maps website before, but thanks to that site I've learnt something that's too surreal for words.

I honestly believed that East-Germany ended with the unification of October 3rd, 1990. However, that's not quite the case. Let's go back to the year 1972, when this story started...
In June of that year, Fidel Castro visited East-Germany. As a present, he gave the communist party of that country a small island in the caribic. That the "gift" was actually the price Cuba had to pay to obtain the right to a higher production of sugar is beside the point; the point is that East-Germany got an island. It was named Cayo Blanco del Sur (white island of the south), until it was later renamed Cayo Ernesto Thaelmann, after a leader of the German Communist Party in the thirties, called Ernst Thälmann.

Now we should skip a whole bunch of years, and flash-forward to 1990, the year of the German unification. In the German-German contract of unification (Deutsch-Deutschen Einigungsvertrag), it was agreed that five new federal lands (bundesländer) and Berlin were added to the federal republic of Germany. There was no mention of the island. If the island was actually part of the deal, you'd expect it to be part of the contract, right?

The situation right now: Havana has more or less taken control of the island, claiming that the gift of 1972 was merely a symbolical one. But officially, East-Germany lives on as a tiny island in the Caribbean...

Quirin Chapel

It's not uncommon that religious ceremonies are performed in cave-like structures. On this site in Luxemburg, there used to be a heathen shrine in early days. Lateron, the Romans used this as an early Christian place of worship. The choice of this place might have had something to do with the water-source which is said to have healing powers.

Since the 11th century, this place has been consecrated to Saint Quirin, and since the early 13th century, services were held in the two caves at the site. In 1355 a gothic chapel for pilgrimage was built on the site, partially inside the rock. The roof and the bell towers you can see on the picture, were added in the 19th century. And to make for an even more complex situation: lateron, they built a road over the chapel. More complexity is more stunning visuals...

Strange Maps

Thanks to archispass.org, I found this great website called strange maps. The title basically says it all, it's a collection of strange maps with the accompanying stories. For everyone who's into these kinds of things, it's great read. I've spent a whole bunch of time reading there...



This map, for instance, is indicating the plans that the Dutch government designed shortly after the second world war for annexing large parts of the German territories as war repairment payment. The main figure behind this all was Frits Bakker-Schut, member of the official governmental "Staatscommissie ter Bestudering van het Annexatievraagstuk" (state commitee for the study of annexation), as well as the un-governmental "Nederlandsch Comité voor Gebiedsuitbreiding" (Dutch commitee for territorial expansion).
Shortly after the war, they rallied for support with the above plan (in three versions)
- Plan A: Annexation of all areas west of the line Wilhelmshaven-Osnabrück-Hamm-Wesel-Cologne-Aachen (including all those cities).
- Plan B: Basically the same proposal, but excluding the densely populated areas around Neuss, Mönchengladbach and Cologne from annexation.
- Plan C: The smallest proposed area of annexation, with the border being moved to a line beginning in Varel, including all of Emsland and the Wesel area down towards Krefeld.

Early 1947, at the Conference of the Western Occupying Powers of Germany in London, Netherlands came with a annexe-claim, consisting of a smaller version of plan C.
Needless to say, the Dutch didn't get that much. At the Germany Conference in London on April 23, 1949, 20 German fragments of land became Dutch over night - in total less than 69 square kilometres...