Inhabitats

This section is dedicated to the places in which I've lived. They hold an important role to the shaping of my personality and habits. The selection is not following a chronological order, but more an aesthetic one.
The first image one the left is the Milan metro, taken in the 70's, which depicts very well the atmosphere still present in this town. Italians have taken many uniform decisions regarding the way their cities are built, the metro of Milan is one of them. Project of it was done by Franco Albini, Franca Helg and Bob Noorda, and was awarded in 1964 with a Compasso d'oro, the most prestigious award for Design in Italy for it's modernist look. The architects have carefully chosen fonts that are distinct, colors and materials, that available in vicinity so the maintenance costs are low, but the whole project looks finished and stylish even nowadays.

The image above is a shot from the busy corner of Konstantin Velichkov bul., a few blocks away from where I was born in Sofia, Bulgaria. The image was taken in 2017 and depicts more or less the modern look of the place. It holds a special place in my collection as I was exposed to this great scene everyday when going out. At the same time is interesting to depict the difference in the street grid and feeling of city, when put next to other places in which I have lived. In Sofia, the connection with the mountain is very strong, there are a few viewpoints and boulevards that make it very visible. In fact the development of the town is mainly focused in the parts near to the mountain and everyone is fighting for a better view.
This street reveals a very interesting aspect of the tram development in Sofia. Ever since I was a little I was asking myself why there are three lines and not two as everywhere. The answer is that there's a certain number of trams like the one on the picture, that are coming from Prague and have a wider axis. Instead of spending more money on a different model, the governors have decided that they could invest the money and build a mixed way with three lines. Again a (vicious) practice widely seen in public works in Bulgaria.

Above and bellow are two pictures of the same town - Turin, Italy. During my stay there I observed that the city has a very unique character. It is right next to the Alps, so the mountainous character is present, but is also a pretty calm town in relation to Milan or other big european ones. The image above shows the skyline and general feeling of the place - Neo classical, Renaisance, Roccoco and art Noveau architecture, mixed with the typical italian utilitarianism. There are barely any tall buildings, and on a good day one can fully get the feeling of where the city is situated if he climbs up high on one of the hills, a balloon or the Mole Antoneliana, depicted in front. The city was the first capital of Italy and holds many historical artefacts, one of which are the kilometers of arches in the centre of the town, built upon the request of Vittorio Emmanuele the second. The town is famous for it's industry too, in the near past it used to hold a very important place in terms of production of cars (FIAT group) and other industrial machinery. This can be felt once you get in the public transport, but most of all the metro.
Bellow there is an image of how the metro train (or should I say bus) looks like. First of all it is fully automated, sets of doors installed in the stations, protect the travellers from falling on the lines. On the entrance there is barely any personal and the trains are driverless. This fully automated system, works like a clockwork and hold a very typical feeling to it, the behaviour of the people inside is totally different from any other I have witnessed and is a must visit.

The metro system in Bulgaria - Sofia is the only town that has it, until not so long ago it had only one line and unlike the other examples in this selection, has no uniform style in terms of architecture and design. The image bellow is one of the latest metro station, called Vitosha(like the mountain that it is very close to). My connection with it is split in two - one in the weekends this was a place where usually I got of with my snowboard, ready for a long day of snowboarding adventures in the mountain and two during the work week, my office was a few floors up. Never have I felt welcomed or visually pleased by this station (hardly any other) of the metro of Sofia, even though I have spent huge amounts of time in it. The general atmosphere is a mix between secialism (the second hand Russian trains) and the autocratic style of every station - also metaphor for the political climate and a reflection of our weird understanding of the world.

Above, an image of the London tube - the oldest metro system in the world. Going through it feels like a game every time, one can spend hours in it and would be able to take many historical and visual memories. The huge network of stations and tunnels, combines practicality and style. The presence of many decorative elements, uniform fonts and other elements makes it an attractive place to visit - this was the main strategy since it has opened it's doors too. They have encouraged the people to go underground since the late 19th century using the language of architecture, but also through many historical posters. The use of humanist fonts used for the signs also is a design decision, consciously taken in the 30's and still is recognised for one of the symbols of the town.

The image on the left is one that I have had in my visual archive for around 5 years. Never had any clue where this place is and if I'm ever going to see it. My initial thoughts were that it is somewhere in the states. It wasn't until recently, when I stumbled upon it and realised that once again I have come close to something that I have a strong visual attraction, without even being aware of it.