Advocate and advisor of traditional courtyard urbanism&new traditional architecture. For inquiries&consultancy please email me at michael.diamant@newtrad.org
Jun 30 • 5 tweets • 4 min read
A LARGE NEW TOD AT PONTOISE: While it is with relative ease that one find good new traditional architecture today, larger developments are still quite bad. No matter the reason, the result is often classical architecture in a modernist setting (thread)
This new project "Quartier de la gare" aimed at developing an area adjacent the train station in Pontoise outside Paris. And it has been done totally right! A former storage area & surface parking has been transformed to a student& senior residence, a nursery, social housing..
May 30 • 7 tweets • 4 min read
🇪🇪 SAVING HERITAGE BY BUILDING NEW HERITAGE: Estonia and Latvia both have a rich cultural heritage due to the tapestry of peoples that used to live there. This was not necessary in harmony but nevertheless have enriched them (thread)
One notable group were the Baltic germans that arrived during the first crusade. After conquering the lands they installed themselves as nobility, priests and merchants. In short a ruling class that strived to assimilate the different fino-ugric and baltic peoples.
May 12 • 7 tweets • 4 min read
🇦🇺LIONS&TURRETS: There are many false beliefs in the modern world and one seem to be that diversity is new. What is new however is the lack of a strong identity to assimilate into. Neither French "amalgamation" nor an American "city beautiful" movement exist today (thread).
While modernism is the architecture of atomisation, a local traditional architecture show something to aspire to belong to. As humans we want to identify with beautiful places and what can create more curiosity in the new immigrant than an imposing built environment.
Apr 5 • 6 tweets • 4 min read
🇩🇪 WHY CONNECTING IS SO IMPORTANT: One of the reasons I founded New Traditional Architecture was to connect over the language barriers. Not the least for the advancement of the classical tradition as countries that does not recieve foreign classical input seem to stagnate (thread).
A perfect example is France, where the best new traditional architecture is built adjacent (American) Euro Disneyland. Outside of it, "construction company classicism" is the norm. But now excellent German classical architect Sebastian Treese has entered the market
Feb 18 • 4 tweets • 3 min read
🇫🇷TRANSIT ORIENTED DEVELOPMENT THE RIGHT WAY: A few fresh photos have come out of the previously tweeted TOD development at the train station in Yerres. It looks great and parking was not lost but put underground. Unlike the consensus that state that you should make (thread)
TOD's to high rise slums, the commune of Yerres understood that in order to create a secure place for commuters, you have to attract middle class families. They will "police" (by terrorizing local politicians) the area so that it does not attract drug dealers&addicts
Oct 25, 2023 • 6 tweets • 3 min read
🇷🇺BEHIND THE NEW IRON CURTAIN: In the sad state that is global affairs, a new iron curtain has once again been erected between Russia and the West. Trapped behind are the countless talented classical architects as well as interesting projects (thread)
The main centers of new traditional architecture in Russia are of course Moscow and St Petersburg. But there are projects all over the wast country and a third center is undoubtedly Tatarstan's main city Kazan.
Aug 6, 2023 • 4 tweets • 3 min read
🇳🇱A HISTORICAL SOCIETY PUSHES ON: In the dutch city of Alkmaar (famous for its cheese market) a historical society has found a way to make impact. By awarding prices&creating media attention, a lot of positive developments have happened in the city (thread) https://t.co/uRXS5IiiOItwitter.com/i/web/status/1…
The small bridge "Boombrug" with its beautiful gate was erected 1725, but then torn down 151 years later in 1876. That could have been the end of the story but with new development in the area in the 2000s, a successful push was made for the reconstruction of the historic bridge.
Mar 6, 2023 • 5 tweets • 4 min read
The more globalized the world get, the more interesting the local gets. And in the ebb&flow of towns and cities, local traditional beauty may very well be what make some places survive and others not. The village of Tisbury (UK) had the advantage of a direct train link to London,
but the 1h 46 min train ride did hardly promote commuting. But what it did was to give Londoners the possibility of a nice weekend trip, given they had a reason.And what do the posh of London yearn for? A traditional English village of course surrounded by a beautiful landscape.
Feb 25, 2023 • 4 tweets • 4 min read
A classical building people will go great lengths to reuse, while a modernist one no one will care if it is torn down. The latter should therefor not be built in the first place. In the beautiful town of Tarcal (HU), a wine research institute was created (thread)
during the communist years out of an old estate building. There was need for additional space and a modernist extension was built for this purpose. It was of course ugly as expected. Post communism and the institute is still active but out of respect of the town both
Feb 4, 2023 • 5 tweets • 3 min read
The real greatness with the classical tradition is all the every-day humble buildings. Much like Mexico, Equador experienced high pop growth+modernism domination during the post war years. And the results were the same with an ugly blt environment.But classical beauty is (thread)
not dead but alive, though on life support. Much of this has to do with a general view, much like the developed world in the 1960s, that the old classical represents poor past and modernism a bright future. A lone warrior, @HumbertoPlazaA is fighting this one bld at a time.
Jan 31, 2023 • 6 tweets • 3 min read
A question that often arise is if it is more expensive to build new traditional, to which the answer is NO! The reason the question arise in the first place is bc the public still at large believe that all ugly modernism built has a logical rather than ideological reason (thread)
It does not help that the modernists frame it this why in their quest to stamp out any option to their ugliness. And as soon as one prove them wrong, their real argument surface, that is one should not build new traditional regardless because (insert bogus reason)
Jan 7, 2023 • 4 tweets • 3 min read
Post-1945 Mexico saw explosive population growth combined with dominance of modernism in building new. This has led to so much urban ugliness similar to other cities in the developing world. But with pop growth slowing and an embryo of new classical architects emerging, (thread)
there is a genuine chance for change now. This is the new Centro Cultural Juan Beckmann Gallardo in Tequila, a museum that exhibits Mexican art and artistic expression from pre-colonial to present. The style chosen is inspired by Mexican baroque.
Jan 2, 2023 • 5 tweets • 3 min read
A while ago I posted about the local benefactor in the danish city of Aabenraa that builds a lot new traditional architecture. One of the first projects he undertook was the transformation of his shipping companies main office park building to something more in line with (thread)
with the harbour area that it lies adjacent to. This was as mentioned just the first of his many projects in the harbour area. A bonus is that they all either replace modernism or surface parking.
Nov 19, 2022 • 7 tweets • 4 min read
While modernism will haunt us for many more years, the revolution is on the horizon. Even an average newtrad building is preferable because it can be positively altered later, unlike modernist monsters. University Arms Hotel in Cambridge (UK) got a needed.. (thread)
demolish and rebuild with the 1960s addition torn down. The new design came from John Simpson Architects (johnsimpsonarchitects.com) and while the exteriors are not perfect, they are an enormous improvement. The interiors though are amazing.
Nov 13, 2022 • 5 tweets • 3 min read
One of the most glorius projects in recent time is not a reconstruction, but old plans in the drawer realized. The plot next to the Hungarian parlament was to be built up, but the war came in the way. The new communist regime was hostile..
to classical architecture and thus a modernist monstrosity was erected. But with new leadership Budapest has seen a transformation with countless buildings reconstructed. For this plot it was decided to tear down the modernist bld & realize the old plans from the 1920s.