Switzerland, Germany & France

Many set out traveling this past weekend. Five of us flew to Basel, Switzerland, a town right on the edge boarding France and Germany. This was the perfect place to stay because there were so many places nearby that we could visit quickly and easily. Upon landing, we headed to Vitra Design Museum by Frank Gehry in Weil am Rhein, Germany. We were also guided through other buildings on the site including the Buckminster Fuller Geodesic Dome, Jean Prouvé's Semi-portable Gas Station, Zaha Hadid's Fire Station, and Tadao Ando's Conference Pavilion. Then we took the local transit to Riehen, Switzerland to see Renzo Piano's Beyeler Foundation which housed beautiful works of art by many amazing artists such as Claude Monet and Vincent van Gogh.

The next day, we rented a car and drove to Ronchamp, France to visit Notre-Dame du Haut by Le Corbusier. It was freezing but absolutely worth it. We then drove back through the Autobahn to get to Lorrach, Germany. There we visited the Rotteln Castle and Pfarrgemeinde St. Peter. We were able to make it back in time to see the snow in Basel and finish out the night watching the Superbowl with German commericals. It was eventful weekend, getting back just in time to start class at studio Monday.

Wow, what a week!

This week started off celebrating Matt Arndt's 22nd Birthday on Monday, January 26th. "Happy Birthday Matt!" Tuesday came with the first set of architecture presentations around the city (information about these projects will be posted later). We continued to work hard into the evenings on our studio process work. We're definitely hoping that hard work in the beginning will pay off in the end! On Wednesday, we were invited to a presentation about Landacape Urbanism at the Institut d' Arquitectura Avancada de Catalunya (IAAC). Thursday was filled with excitement for the much anticipated 'Futbol' game. Some students were able to get tickets to Camp Nou, while others just watched from TV. Barcelona now qualifies for the semi-finals of the Kings Cup by winning against Espanyol with a score of 3-2. Even with the game, that didn't stop production of studio work for our group presentations Friday. Our guest critiquer for the discussion was Adam Courtney, a professional photographer traveling from New York we had met within Barcelona.

WINDY DAYS!!!

The weekend had some surprises with freak hurricane-force wind storms causing trees and buildings to colapse all over in France and Spain. Barcelona was hit especially hard with winds up to 160 kph (100 mph)! Many structures colapsed, including a sports center, killing 4 boys and injuring 9 more. The total death toll is now at 16. Public places all over the city were closed in order to protect patrons from downed debris and falling trees. Trust me -- it was even windier than Fargo!

Group Production

We definitely kept busy this week getting a big start to our studio project. A lot of time was spent researching our site and the different responses of the city. We split up into groups trying to define how to best map the city in a poetic and memorable way. At the same time, discussing possible site model options that we can bring back to display in April.

Barcelona constantly reuses materials throughout the city, so we want to try to recycle materials of the city as well, hopefully, bringing back a "piece" of the city for all those who couldn't exerience it with us. We have our work cut out for us for the next 11 weeks, but are willing and up for the task!

Igualada Cemetery

A two hour train ride to 'Cemetery Nou' or Igualada Cemetery proved to be enormous fun. This cemetery was designed by the architects Enric Miralles and Carme Pinós. This twentieth century Catalan architecture was constructed between 1985 and 1994 in order to replace the 'Cemetery Vell' which no longer had room. When Enric Miralles died in the year 2000, he was buried in one of the tombs and is still commemorated there by architecture students all over the world.

Later that evening, when returning to home, our entire studio attended a flaminco dance performance at the Tarantos club. The music was beautiful and the dancing was amazing. It was very inspiring to see how the dancers move to the beat and the intricate foot-work it takes to really perform such a dance.

Inspiring...

On the morning of January 20th, a few of us made our way to the Mediterranean Sea at the coast of Barcelona. The water was so beautiful but still freezing -- not quite warm enough yet, but soon...! We were able to play around on the sandy beach and at the busy port for a while before heading to class that day.Normally on Tuesdays, we will have our seminar course taught by Professor Stephen Wischer. This course requires the students to research two architectural projects within Barcelona out of a list provided and then give a presentation reflecting the history, architecture, and overall design of the project. Because it was the first day of class and the first set of presenters needed a week to prepare, we spent some time exploring Museums within the city. Our first stop was the 'Museu Picasso' or the Museum of Pablo Picasso. This museum presented the life story of Picasso and his entire collection of works throughout his life. We then made our way to 'Museu d'Historia de la Ciutat (MHCB)' or the History of the City Museum. This museum was built a top ancient Roman ruins that were discovered during construction. They have since been preserved and visitors are able to walk down within them. The structure that houses them is comprised of civic gothic arches. Contrary to northern cultures striving to reach impressive heights of arches, there was a drive to make these arches as wide as possible. In the image below, the unique architecture shows the museum structure in which one arch is completely supported on one side by the use of another arch below.

After class, we had our first set of guest lectures organized by a visiting British Architecture class, here to study proposed sites for their semester's project. The speaker on the first night was Beth Gali of Beth Gali Arquitectes, the owner of "The Met Room" where our studio is located. On Wednesday, we had a tour of OAB (Office of Architecture in Barcelona), a firm headed by Carlos Ferrater. Thursday's speaker was a journalist who spoke to us about Catalan history and politics. And Friday's speaker was Benedetta Tagliabue from EMBT Architects, who gave us a presentation about their work.

Barcelona Cathedral

After class on Monday, Rafael Gomez-Moriana, our second Seminar Professor, took us on a tour of the city. Barcelona has a unique history that has gone back thousands of years to ancient Roman times. A part of the autonomous region of Catalonia within the Spanish state, residents speak both Spanish and Catalan, althought many residents know 'un poco' English to keep up with the large amount of tourists. Barcelona was a major thriving city when it was annexed by Spain, through a long and complicated history. However, it was determined that Madrid would be the capital because it was the geographical center of the country. Because of this, Barcelona was confined within its existing ancient Roman and Mideval walls around the city so that Madrid would be able to surpass its quickly growing size. This area within grew organically becoming very dense and is now the heart of the city. After the walls were taken down, the city quickly grew outward, set-up in a more grid-like system, much like many of the cities in the United States.Along our tour, we visited the Barcelona Cathedral. This Gothic Cathedral began construction in 1298, placed on the site of the former Romanesque Cathedral which was distroyed in 925.

Studio Project

On Monday, January 19th at 10am, we had our very first introduction into the courses we would be immersed in this semester. "The Studio project, in particular, will encompass the comprehensive design of a high-speed rail station to include ticketing centers, platforms, commercial components, a hotel, and all essential programmatic requirements in a poetic and comprehensive way. The site for the design is located at the crossing of Carrer d'Arago and Passeig de Gracia, which contribute to the vital 'nexus' already existing. The studio is expected to be enriched by the knowledge gained from the two seminar courses that will run in lockstep with studio. These courses will comprehensively deal with the theoretical dialogue, experience, and urban morphology, particular to Barcelona, at large, and with regards to specific sites/buildings/spaces, ranging from ancient to modern times, that characterize the meaningful context of the city." While visiting our site, we toured the Casa Batllo, designed by Antoni Gaudi. This house, which has now been turned into a museum, is located on the larger site context of our project. More information about this building will be posted later.

Walking the city...

After our first group meeting, we all took the day to walk around the city, learning to navigate the routes as the architecture of Antoni Gaudi and many others surrounded us. Residents and travelers mostly make their way around the city by walking and through other modes of transportation including the Metro, compact vehicles, bikes, and scooters. Walking the streets, it's hard not to find interest on every city block. Small shops and restaurants line the sidewalks with the residents living above. The culture of the city also dictates a very different daily schedule, starting in the morning, often taking long "siestas" in the afternoon, finishing out the work day in the late evening, and continuing the night-life into the early morning again.

Our last stop of the day included visiting the "Hospital de la Santa Creu I Sant Pau" (Catalan for "Hospital of the Holy Cross and Saint Paul"). This hospital was designed by architect Lluís Domènech i Montaner and built between 1901 and 1930. A further explanation will be provided later on during our ARCH 789 seminar course, taught by Professor Stephen Wischer. During this course, each one of us will be learning the history and architecture of various buildings around the city, in order to give a thorough presentation each week and really learn about the city we are experiencing. After each one of these student presentations, a summery of the information they researched will be posted.

Barcelona, Spain - Home Sweet Home!

For 18 brave students, travels to Barcelona took place between January 12th-16th. Being the last group of travelers to arrive, we were greeted by friendly smiles of friends who had arrived earlier that week. We all scattered to our various places of accomodation, splitting into 4 different households located in different parts of the city. After arriving by taxi to our place we would call home for the next 3 months, we got settled in and prepared for our first class meeting with the entire group.

The next day, we arrived at noon to Plaza Reial to discuss plans for the first week of classes and take a look at our studio space. We were all excited to see those we hadn't yet seen and find out about their adventures so far. Our studio space, aka: The Met Room, is located in the heart of the oldest part of the city, only a few blocks from the coast.