Dung Ngo (@misterngo)

The Chapel of Hope at the Woodland Cemetery (Skogskyrkogarden), by Erik Gunnar Asplund, Stockholm, Sweden, 1940.

The Church of San Giovanni Battista, by Mario Botta. Mogno, Switzerland, 1994-96 . Commissioned by the tiny hamlet of Mogno to design a new chapel to replace one that was destroyed by an avalanche, Botta used local marble and granite in alternating bands to create a visually striking space. For Botta, the main feature of the structure is a supporting stone arch bisecting the space, an homage to the original 1614 church that prevented the avalanche from destroying the nearby houses. I liked it more than I thought I would (an impromptu concert helped) because the chapel was designed at the same time as the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, whose top strikes an uncanny resemblance to the chapel, but lacks its sense of material and place (perhaps a few cows would help).

La Conguinta, by Peter Märkli Giornico, Switzerland, 1992 Sculptures by Hans Josephsohn . If you ever drive on a country road and spot a seemingly abandoned industrial building and immediately fantasize about converting it into a residential refuge, then La Congiunta is for you. Built to house a collection of tough, dark bronze sculptures by Swiss artist Hans Josephsohn, the circumstances of how it was commissioned seem as mysterious as the structure itself, and how you get in. According to the terse website: “The key to understanding Märkli’s architecture for Josephsohn’s sculpture lies in the osteria in the centre of the village of Giornico. You pick it up at the reception desk and then it’s not far. The best way to go is on foot. Cross the river over two old stone bridges and walk up the valley, past the early Romanesque church of San Nicola, and you’ll see from a distance a tall, windowless concrete building with a clerestory—no artificial light. The long, narrow, three-part building fits into the narrowness of the valley and allows the two most important typologies in Josephsohn’s work to be arranged as a series. Reliefs and half-figures—these embody the greatest freedom in representation.”

TOM KUNDIG: COMPLETE HOUSES Edited by Dung Ngo Art Direction by Lorraine Wild Published by Monacelli Press — Twenty years ago I worked with Tom Kundig on his first book of houses, a slim volume that has had an outsized impact on practicing professionals, students, and architecture lovers alike. I am so thrilled to collaborate with Tom again, on TOM KUNDIG: COMPLETE HOUSES, which will be published October 8th. Spanning nearly four decades of design, TOM KUNDIG: COMPLETE HOUSES presents 462 residential projects together for the first time. The 600-page book is both a comprehensive overview of Tom’s career to date and an intimate, personal exploration of his creative practice.  What I appreciated the most working on this project — besides spending some time inside Tom’s brain; I conducted five interviews with him on various professional and personal aspects of his career — is the careful attention to all editorial and production aspects by the Olson Kundig team, the Monacelli team, and most of all Lorraine Wild’s design studio, who managed to produce the book equivalent of one of Tom’s houses: substantial, rich attention to details, full of resolved ideas, intimate and grand at the same time — the art of bookmaking isn’t dead. I can’t wait for you to see the real thing in a few weeks. @olsonkundig @wildlosangeles @monacellipress @phaidonpress @laduelala #tomkundig #tomkundighouses

In the perennial New York City debate every summer on where to get away for the weekend, the Hamptons or Hudson Valley, there is a third option. Western Connecticut has all the amenities of those other two areas—about two hours away by car, charming historic towns, farm-to-table restaurants and local shops—but without the crowds and sticker-shock prices. Litchfield county, especially, offers New England charms along with modern comforts and culture galore—Philip Johnson’s @theglasshouse_newcanaan and Louis Kahn’s two iconic museums at @Yale University are about an hour away.  As an early birthday celebration, I booked the @argyll.house—a charming, neo-Tudor built in the 1930s—through @boutiquehomes for a couple of days with a few friends. We spent the 48 hours mostly by the pool, with quick trips to @arethusa_farm for peach ice cream and @bantam_farmers_market for fresh produce. Might need to go back in the fall of apple picking and some diner meals—after all, I was told that the town of Washington, CT,  was the inspiration for The Gilmore Girls’ Star Hollow. Pro tip: instead of fighting New York’s snarled traffic getting out of town, take Metro North from Grand Central to Stamford, then rent a car right across from the train station. You save time, money, and your sanity... Illustrations by @robwilsonwork #sponsored

Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, by Gordon Bunshaft. Yale University, New Haven, CT, 1963 . It’s never not mind blowing to visit the Beinecke, and it’s beyond impossible to imagine such a structure built now.

This is now a church architecture account. - The First Presbyterian Church by Wallace Harrison, Stamford, Connecticut, 1958 - Built by Wallace Harrison at the height of his influence, the First Presbyterian Church was designed at the same time as Lincoln Center and the United Nations Building in New York City.

Church of the Rock (Temppeliaukion kirkko), by architects and brothers Timo and Tuomo Suomalainen. Helsinki, 1969 Photos from June 2023 ✨

The Kolumba Museum, by Peter Zumthor. Cologne, Germany, 2007. . All eyes are on Peter Zumthor’s new building for LACMA, which will open next year — and it’s key to look at the handful of previous museum buildings that Zumthor designed to understand the challenges he faced in LA. In many the Kolumba is a mini LACMA, with its height-ceiling concrete galleries lit by a combination of natural and artificial light. But while the new LACMA building has been called Brutalist, the Kolumba is more “Minimalist”, and the difference has to do with the refined detailing of the latter that seems to be utterly lacking in the former. There are other fundamental differences, but it’s also interesting to speculate what might have been. The Kolumba is an art museum run by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cologne. It is located at the historic site of the former St. Kolumba church, which was destroyed during World War II. Kolumba’s collection spans Late Antiquity to contemporary art, including works by Joseph Beuys, Louise Bourgeois, Roni Horn, Agnes Martin, and Jannis Kounellis (image 9). Before Zumthor’s structure, which was built on top of the destroyed church, Gottfried Böhm added a chapel on the site in 1950 (second to last image). The last photo is by Helene Binet.

Café Wahlen, a Kölner tradition since 1911.

The Mariendom Pilgrimage Church, by Gottfried Böhm. Velbert, Germany, 1966 . Despite having won the Pritzker Prize in 1986, Gottfried Böhm is still a relatively unknown figure in architectural discourse. A third-generation architect (his father Dominikus Böhm was also a well-known architect of churches) Böhm admired Mies van der Rohe and Walter Gropius but forged his own path, informed by his dual education as a sculptor. What struck me visiting the church is not just the grand, expressive interior, but the many stained glass windows designed by Böhm himself, all on the theme of the rose (which is Mary’s flower motif).

Radiohuset, by Vilhelm Lauritzen. Copenhagen, Denmark. 1945 . Along with Arne Jacobsen, Vilhelm Lauritzen was leading proponent of Danish Functionalism, the Nordic take on Modernism that also counts Alvar Aalto and Gunnar Asplund as its main disciples. Radio, especially live broadcast of classical music, proliferated in midcentury Europe, and the Radiohuset not only housed the technical studios for radio broadcasting, but a large recital hall where live music was performed. With a large staff, an airy, vaulted canteen and a rooftop terrace were added for the enjoyment of the employees. In 2008 the building was converted, with little change to the layout into the national music conservatory, the Danish Royal Music Academy. Tours of the building for small groups are available by advance appointment.