Cronje

Despite numerous claims, I have not been able to boost my rate of writing these articles. It might just be that writing the other type of articles - that is, scientific journal articles - for full-time might drain my writing juices... and then there has been some Klaanon, more than usually. So here I am posting MOCs from February or such.

 This is a small and relatively fast one, build out of habit (and duty) for Palikkatakomo contest. The theme was "dream" and this one is related to my academic dreams, and the journal article I am currently writing. (I'm still in campus, but it's Friday afternoon and I've made some good progress but enough is enough and too much is too much; my brain can just handle this MOC article at this point.) So, Tampere Savings Bank organised an architectural contest in 1900. The winning proposals have never been published, but I discovered them in the building a year ago. Unfortunately, the "Cronje" proposal, which was ultimately chosen to be executed, is still lost. So, this is my "scientific" reproduction of it, in Lego. It was made by architectural firm Gesellius, Lindgren & Saarinen, and most likely Eliel Saarinen, as two proposals were sent from Paris where Saarinen was building the Finnish World Fair pavilion at the time - Gesellius and Lindgren were in Finland. 

The contest (Palikkatakomo 2025 one, not the 1900 architectural one) limited the size of the entry to 32x32x32 studs. The other contest limited the building withing the plot borders, which could not be crossed with projections such as bay windows. Cronje broke this rule and was disqualified. Thus, I took the final drawings as a point of deparature, and added two bay windows projecting from the surface (they are topped by the 3x4 wedges). Furthermore, I made the entire facade in light bley to represent Finnish granite. Tampere Technical Club minutes suggest that Cronje was designed to be clad in granite, whereas the final version has natural stone only on the ground floor.

 These are the simple speculative choices. Otherwise, I wanted to capture the Art Nouveau graphic feel with the curving clouds and smoke trails, and medium azure background makes the whole a little more cheerful. Finally, the contest entry needed a motto, so I added it in yellow. 

As a small technical brag, I made the windows with homely trans-yellow hue and without opaque layer beneath, so they glow a bit if there's light behind the model. This made it a bit more exciting to look at. However, this (nor the very personal AND scientific background) didn't win the love of the voting audiences, and I got no prize. Maybe winning three consequent Palikkatakomo contests last year was enough.

-Eero.