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.
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.