Amsterdam: The Flying Wheel

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From the pinnacle of Amsterdam Central station, as seen from my hotel room last month.  I’m guessing it’s from the Deco era, early 20th century.  There’s an exuberant optimism about European rail architecture of that era that needs to find new expressions.

Note:  I’m back in Sydney, but detritus of the just-completed round the world will probably continue showing up here for a while.

3 Responses to Amsterdam: The Flying Wheel

  1. Aaron M. Renn August 11, 2010 at 8:25 pm #

    Interesting USA logo examples, though I can’t date when they came into being.
    Indianapolis Motor Speedway:
    http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i238/Nascarfan3824/NASCAR%20Pictures/IndianapolisMotorSpeedwayLogo.png
    Ohio State Patrol:
    http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f9/Ospc72small.jpg

  2. rhywun August 11, 2010 at 9:48 pm #

    I love Art Deco – a last gasp of stylish, fanciful extravagance, before such things got banished by “modernism”. Just look at all the whimsical stuff going on in the magnificent Buffalo City Hall, for example.

  3. MB August 12, 2010 at 2:17 pm #

    The 1932 Marine Building in Vancouver is a delightful and masterful Art deco building. It’s highly-detailed entry is constantly being used as a setting for the film industry. Locus played a highly important role in its design, as demonstrated by the imagery of Vancouver plastered all over it at the pedestrian level, making it one of the least anonymous structures here.
    http://www.vancouverhistory.ca/archives_marine_building.htm
    Just across the street is the 1970s era Daon Building. This is one Disco Decade modernist tower that used context brilliantly — by purposely turning the structure at 45 degrees to the street to allow the reflection of the Marine Building to form a major architectural influence.
    http://www.sightline.org/publications/enewsletters/price_tags/pricetags16.pdf
    Go figure.