Photo-Blog Hans-Josef Jeanrond

UKV-Gebäude Saarbrücken (Click on the image to enlarge)

Going back to my native Saarland, my uncle and aunt took me to this "moated castle" in Saarbrücken, knowing about my interest in architecture and reflections. The building dates from 1998, but since it is fairly well "hidden" away from the city centre, I had never seen it before.

Il semble qu'il n'y ait pas de mot pour "Wasserschloss" en Français, Comme en Anglais, on pourrait dire qu'il s'agit d'un « château entouré de douves », mais quand les douves ont perdu leur fonction de défense on commençait plutôt à parler de "plans d'eau". Leur destination était celle d'un miroir pour l'architecture et des parcs et jardins, augmentant l'impression de l'ensemble sur le spectateur. (Voir par exemple le Château de Courances ici et ici)

The image above is a reflection of the building (and of my uncle and aunt who graciously accepted to be directed to this exact spot) in one of the landscaped water basins. I turned it upside down to make it appear "upright" again. The lower and brighter part of the "stairs" and the cobbled area to the right are the only "real" (non-reflected) parts. And they seem the most unreal, like floating in the air.
The image illustrates very well how reflections and distortions challenge our perception, the main theme of my work on "Reflets - Réflexions". Fortunately, in French there are these two similar words to denote mirror image and reflection.

The building in these images belongs to an insurance company (who else could build castles these days ☺): UKV - Union Krankenversicherung in Saarbrücken, Germany. Founded in 1979, is a German health insurance company and belongs to the 6th largest health insurance group in Germany. (See here for more information)

A whole group of creative people have collaborated to design and build this "moated castle": Architects, landscape architects, sculptors. (See here)