Won't be long....

Since the mood of the blog seems to be nostalgia, this is where I will be not long from now and not soon enough. And these will be the guys waiting there.


I have learned a lot this semester. It is the first time I've designed in model form and not used them simple for display. Definitely, I have been pushed to think outside the "box". Even the oddest looking building can have a reasonable construction. Method to the madness.

However, this isnt even the last blog and I really need to get back to work.....Presentations on Monday!

Is it a Small World, After All?

Eleven days of traveling done, and we're all back in BCN. But the memories I made over Spring Break will definitely last me a life time.
Dublin is a fabulous city and I suggest anyone who can visit do so! Especially around St. Patrick's Day. They really do love our Spanish friend Mr. Santiago Calatrava over there. One bridge named for the famous James Joyce is already in existence, and while there I learned another has been commissioned. I spent a good bit of time here wandering the edges of the Liffey River and I found a few interesting buildings. One in particular stuck out to me, but I have yet to find out what it is. Currently under construction, there were no signs marking what the future of the building had in store or who designed it. It seemed to be a play with the intersection of forms: a "glass cylinder," if you will, intersected with a more traditionally rectangular building. I'm still on a mission to find out what the building is - I'll keep you updated. As for the culture and atmosphere there - it was great. And the pints of Guinness there truly are "perfect pints." I made friends with people from Texas (but they weren't Aggies), Copenhagen, Amsterdam, and Australia. And I'm fairly sure I saw a Clemson hat roaming through a crowd somewhere in the Temple Bar area. AND I think I might have seen someone from my high school walking around, but who knows? I could say so much more about Dublin, but I should probably move on to...
Vienna was also fabulous! The city center was busy and it truly is a great location to visit. The St. Stephen's Cathedral which I just happened to stumble on in my search for another building was beautiful! I only wish they had such monuments in the U.S. The Coop Himmelblau works throughout the city are also very interesting. However, after having studied it in AAH 101, I think my favorite project there was the Post Office Savings Bank by Otto Wagner. I showed up just before 2:50, not realizing there was a museum that closed at 3 and had a 5 euro admission, but the one employee there let me in for free! The layout in the foyer of the bank is seemingly simple, but it truly is an elegant space. The Gasometer City project was also pretty interesting - gas container spaces transformed into shopping spaces. Got 5 euro ORANGE shoes there! Sandwiches there are also pretty fabulous.
Copenhagen was also amazing, and probably by far my favorite. Remember how I met someone from Copenhagen? Well, she got a great little hotel room for me where she works there! Never underestimate the power of connections! Aside from our lovely accomodation, the city of Copenhagen is a great place to stay, especially from an architectural point of view. All the BIG projects throughout the city are interesting to see, but their office was by far my favorite. I loved seeing the models and certainly enjoyed the legos used to label everything, but possibly my favorite aspect was the openness of the office and the interaction that such openness makes possible. The BIG exhibit at the Danish Architecture Centre was also interesting - it's something I'm not accustomed to be able to directly interact with someone's projects and not be prohibited to take pictures. Perhaps the most interesting part of our stay in Copenhagen however was the ability to, on a whim, buy a ticket and ride a train into Malmö, Sweden to see the Turning Torso - an interesting piece of architecture, for sure, but the cold we endured to see it was rough, to say the least.

Those eleven days were certainly interesting, but I can say with the greatest certainty that I was exhausted and ready to be back to Barcelona, yet again proving that this place is becoming home for me more and more. I can only wonder how much I'm going to miss it when I get back to Clemson.

Exhausted

so, spring break was a total success. in ten days, my collegues and i (bryce and kelly) managed to conquer four countries and countless lasting memories. the architecture (since this is what this blog is for) was phenomenal, and in copenhagen the sites far outweighed the price of a $70 bucket of chicken from KFC, and no we didn't buy it. but truly from the BIG studio to the touristic sites of Paris, our 10 day travels were much worth the expense. the biggest problem with travel is rest, never underestimate the amount of wear and tear your body will experience with that amt. of travel. i strongly suggest to future students to take time to rest before you get back into class, especially studio. with studio on the brain, i'd like to let everyone know that our final reviews will be a week from tomorrow, on the morning of April 6. With the end of the semester right around the corner, work is really starting to pile up from presentations to seminar research to an entire building design, but it's definitely been worth it. speaking of work, i need to go get some plans done.

what's the point?

i'm just curIous as to whether anyone ever reads what i have to say...i mean, i put a lot of tIme and thought Into these thIngs and i would apprecIate It If somebody out there would take the tIme to sIt down and read what i have wrItten. thankyou

I have a feeling that the upcoming weeks are going to be influencial ones. That is...containing a lot of influence. This "influence" i predict... is going to be largely targeted on myself (and possibly those around me as well)

Architecture. i mean... it's a cool idea i guess, but does it really work? Is it actually doing all these things it claims?

If this whole thing was a just a test...all of it...every single detail... would you pass? or would you just read the questions over and over until you gave up and handed it in blank?   I don't think you would.

Where does inspiration come from? within? without?  or is it a state of being without?

Barcelona has seven beaches...but i only have two legs. how does that make sense?

If you are reading this...and i hope you are, cause otherwise you are just staring a words on a screen... then you are probably wondering... 

..."what would it be like to be illiterate?"

it might be kinda like playing basketball for the Gamecocks. (boom! roasted!)

I'm done now

thanks for reading. 

                                                                 your welcome

Paris/London/Copenhagen

That was the most flying/walking/sightseeing I've ever done in a 10-day period, very exhausting. I probably can't even recall over half of all the buildings we went to see. Overall, though, I think it went pretty well considering how last-minute we planned the whole trip.

Paris [1.5 days]: the first day we just got there so we did all the tourist-y attractions, then the next day was our only full day actually in Paris. We managed to visit about 10 or so buildings, but unfortunately did not have much luck with LeCorbusier's stuff... It was also pretty hectic trying to make the most of that day though. Oh well. I'm probably going back after classes are done. Also of note: Paris is pretty smelly. For some reason I felt like Paris didn't live up to how great it seemed to be.

London [3.5 days]: London on the other hand, I have always heard it was just so cold and gloomy and rainy and overall depressing, but I guess we hit it on a good week because it was sunny the entire time. Being able to space out our sightseeing a bit more since we had more days here was a relief. It was also nice to be able to speak to native English speakers. A little weird actually because it's been such a long time. However, I think it was pretty much the least interesting architecture-wise. For cool architecture see ---vvv

Copenhagen (+Malmö) [3.5 days]: Copenhagen had a really nice atmosphere, sort of similar to Amsterdam/Holland with a good bit of the city being very modern (and clean). I just wish it wasn't so expensive there. I've never felt so poor. It was really cool to see a bunch of BIG projects, see their exhibit, and then actually be able to take a mini-tour of their studio. Thank you press lady with a semi-hangover. It was pretty funny that we took the train into Malmö and only stayed for a couple hours just to see the twisting torso building.

Independent Travel

Back from independent travel and still exhausted from the trip. We made a quick tour through Paris and tried to see several projects, though we were unsuccessful when it came to the LeCorbusier work. At least it made for some good memories. On our way to Villa Savoye the people on the bus were so nice, practically holding our hands to take us to our destination. However, it was past closing time by about half an hour and Kevin almost got eaten by the guard dog. There’s more, but it’s one of those “you had to be there” stories.

London was perhaps my favorite city we visited. It helped that the weather was beautiful and clear the whole time we were there. I can’t really explain it, but the atmosphere of the city just felt right. We were able to visit several works, and it was so easy to get around by bus or the metro. We also took a walking tour and caught the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace. Our tour guide was great; he had a ton of fun stories to tell throughout the tour.

Copenhagen was TOO EXPENSIVE. Eight dollars for a coke or a fifty dollar bucket of chicken is just ridiculous. It definitely made me miss my free refills from home. However, there was a lot of great architecture there and we even got to go to the BIG office and see their working environment.

I can’t believe it’s only been a week since we got back. I feel like the trip was weeks ago. I’ll be excited when classes start wrapping up though so that I can rest and enjoy Barcelona.