The Aula Magna, part of the University of the City of Caracas designed by Carlos Villanueva, is easily one of my favorite architecture projects of all time, so I was completely delighted to come across this set of 21 pamphlets which document all of the Villanueva designed buildings on the campus.
Created in 2007 by the Fundacion Centro de Arquitectura Caracas, the booklets are essentially a reorganization of the materials prepared in support of the project's nomination as a UNESCO world heritage site. Each pamphlet represents a different building or public space on campus with photography, drawings and text. The boxed set format of the publication is very successful in its ability to communicate the incredible quantity of buildings Villanueva designed in one place.
The project is praised as "a masterpiece of modern city planning, architecture and art" and a "coherent realization of the urban, architectural, and artistic ideals of the early 20th century" but for me the campus is so compelling for its strange blend of the sensual and the melancholic.
Thanks to friend, lighting designer and native Venezuelan, Francesca Bastianini for brining this book to my attention and for the incredible photography of the campus below.
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