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buenos aires: subway my way

Buenos Aires, subte

[Digging through the archives again… originally published as “subway my way” on 11 Aug 2007. Was that really 4 years ago?? As always, I’ve updated a few items to reflect changes since then.]

There may not be much anyone can do about the slow pace of subway construction in Buenos Aires, but how we visualize the network can be easily improved. The firm Diseño Shakespear came up with the subte map used for most of the 00’s. With a black background, it was like some early-80’s vision of BsAs… a bit scary & not particularly useful:

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buenos aires: visiting the casa rosada

Buenos Aires, Casa Rosada

Buenos Aires has its share of iconic buildings & ranking near the top of the list would be the Casa de Gobierno, more popularly known as the Casa Rosada. Let’s just say it: either you like pink or you don’t… not much room for middle ground. In a previous incarnation of this blog, I chronicled the restoration of the building & will have to repost that info later. For now, suffice it to say that the Casa Rosada got a new coat of paint & a lot interior work during Kirchner’s term. For a fascinating & detailed look at the architectural history of the building, Pablo Juan Chiesa has done an amazing amount of research (in Spanish).

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buenos aires: election results 2011

Buenos Aires, elections 2011, mesas

Congrats to Mauricio Macri. The fight isn’t over yet, but Macri definitely won the first round with 47% of the vote… almost the 50% needed for a definitive win. That means a runoff will take place on 31 Jul between Macri & the second-place candidate, Daniel Filmus. Filmus received almost 28% of the vote with Pino Solanas coming in third with a respectable 13%. Not bad for a relatively new political party.

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buenos aires: jefe de gobierno debate 2011

TN, A Dos Voces, debate, Jefe de Gobierno

Since there are 6 candidates for Jefe de Gobierno this time around, TN divided the debate into two programs. Not sure I agree with that decision… the idea behind a debate is to listen to everyone, then compare & contrast. That’s more difficult to do with a week separating debates. During last week’s show, López Murphy didn’t show, Estenssoro rode the transparency bandwagon, Giudici couldn’t get from behind her party platform & Telerman thought the “you already know me” tactic would be good enough. It wasn’t. To his credit, Telerman was the only candidate to discuss saving the city’s architectural heritage.

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coimbra: portugal dos pequenitos

Portugal, Coimbra, Portugal dos Pequenitos, Cassiano Branco

Behind the recently restored Mosteiro de Santa Clara-a-Velha sits what most people consider to be a kids’ attraction. But this playground of miniature monuments, tiny houses & museum displays from around the world —Portugal dos Pequenitos— was designed to do a lot more than entertain children. Built under the Salazar regime from 1937 to 1961 by architect Cassiano Branco, this compact display of the best of Portugal transmits a message that few people understand today.

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