The past week has been so much fun……Lauren, Jake, Mom and Dad were all here and I got to show them where I have been living for the past three months. I met them at the airport on Friday, and from there we drove down to stay at a hotel on the beach in Calafell/El Vendrell. It was really cool to finally get to go to the towns outside of Barcelona, especially to stay on the beach. The hotel was so nice. Its right on the beach, and really short walking distance from the town center area where there is some shopping and restaurants. That first night we got to the hotel, and it was late enough in the day that we just went to dinner and then back to bed.
On Saturday we woke up and went to drive around the countryside and go wine tasting. After getting a bit lost, we finally found one of the wineries and did a tour and tasting. It was so neat to see a winery and how it worked. This was the first wine tour I have been on, and to see one in a region where the wine is so popular was really a lot of fun. One of the rooms they took us through on the tour even recreated the smells as the seasons changed so that you could really get a feeling for what it was like during that actual season. After that we went back to the town and did some walking around and mom, Lauren and I did some shopping. We went out for dinner again that night, and since the family was not used to the fact that dinner starts here at around 9:30 to 10pm we went back to the hotel afterward and slept.
On Easter Sunday Lauren, Mom and I woke up and got a massage in the spa in the hotel. It was my first real massage, and it was awesome! Plus, I got to see a whole other section of the hotel. After that everyone slowly got ready and then we went out to go sight-seeing around the area. We drove up to the Calafell Castle, but it was closed for Siesta (the mid-afternoon break time) and so we drove to some of the other towns and ended up in Sitges, a big beach town with a really cool old section. We walked around there for a while, saw the old section, and Lauren and I did a little shopping at some stands. When we left there Jake, Lauren and Dad wanted to go back to the hotel so Mom and I dropped them off then went back and saw the castle and an Archaeological site that was in the town we were staying in. We ate that night at the buffet in the hotel since most things were closed for Easter Sunday, but there was so much food that I don’t think anyone was complaining.
Monday we were off to Barcelona, and before we got to the hotel we drove to Parc Guell, a park designed by Gaudi, a famous architect. It was really cool to go there because I haven’t been yet, so it was as new for me as it was for my family. Lauren and I bought some jewelry there that was Gaudi style designs, and I bought some birthday gifts for some of my friends whose birthdays are while I am here. I took them out to dinner at a popular Tapas Restaurant, and they seemed to like it a lot. It is one of my favorites, so it was cool to take them there and see if they liked it.
The next two days I didn’t get to go sight-seeing with my family. We had full day classes, in which we did a lot of sketching and studies of areas of the cities. Right after class each day I met up with my family and got to hang out for a bit before and after dinner. Tuesday we went to a restaurant that I have been wanting to try on La Rambla, and the food was really good. Then on Wednesday we found a little Italian places on one of the ramblas, the Rambla Reval, in the historic district.
I just left them, which is really sad because I won’t get to see them for a little over a month. But, tomorrow we leave for Morocco which should be a really cool experience. We are spending five nights and six days there, and we have a tour guide that will be showing us around the entire city. So keep updated and find out how that trip went!
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Architecture in Calafell and El Vendrell …… and Prep work for Morocco!
For Easter weekend I went with my family to a town on the beach about forty five minutes south of Barcelona and then they spent the last three days in Barcelona. It was really cool to see the smaller towns around Barcelona and how they compare architecturally and in regards to my topic. The towns are not very dense and not very large, so they naturally need less planned open spaces. So it was hard to observe urban space and green space since it was a more rural area and green space was everywhere. But, town planning wise, it was interesting to observe how they worked. There is the same idea in the town center areas of the lower level being commercial and restaurant, and the upper areas being housing. But this was a relatively small area, and outside of that the housing space goes all the way to the bottom level. The beach area, and the houses and shops that bumped up to it, reminded me a lot of the way our beach edges are designed. It was shops at the core area and townhouse and apartment style as you move away, and then there was a boardwalk space with movable vendors and then the beach. The height of buildings is kept pretty much at three to four floors, so it was not a town that has been built up.
Also, another thing that we saw that was really architecturally interesting was the Torres Winery that we visited. When you first drive up you see an older style brick looking building which contains the store and the beginning to the wine tour. On the tour they drove us through the vine fields to the actually winery area. It was completely different that what I had pictured, they took a completely modern direction with the architecture. They also explained how it is a very green complex, and that they use solar panels to power the building and a lot of green materials in the building. I thought this was really interesting as I pictured old wineries like this to still have these heavy brick buildings and not be very up-to-date with the movements that architecture is making. But I was very wrong in that.
For the two days before we leave for Morocco, we have done two full days of sketching class. So, I got to see other parts of the city and look at the architecture in Barcelona again. The first place we went on the first day was a place inside of the cemetery on Montjuic. It is a memorial space, but what really caught me in regards to my topic is having this open space in the city system that completely seems to be removed and cancel out the noise of the very close neighboring port. Walking up to the space you can hear the noise from the port, but as you cross the threshold and enter the area, surrounded by cliffs on three sides, you feel as it you have completely left the city. It is very soothing and contemplative and a very successful space within the city. I would not call it an “Urban Space”, but as a space within the urban space it was incredible to me how removed you can feel. The main part that really pertains to my topic that I want to discuss is our further study in Montjuic. I have been there before, but not looking in as much detail as we did for class. We went to the Botanical Gardens and I got to observe a large scale designed green space in the city. It feels completely removed, and noises are cancelled out. There are platform areas from which you can look out onto the city, but you feel like an outsider looking in, when actually Montjuic is within the city. It is a phenomenal place to get away and be removed without having to drive outside of the city limits. Montjuic is a successful creation of green space within the city, as well as having individual parts that further remove the person from feelings of urban to country. For the city, it creates a space that is an extreme relief from urban density.
It is Wednesday night now, and I am reading information for our trip to Morocco tomorrow. We will get to not only look at the city as a whole, but also get to look into how they internalize their architecture and base it around courtyards and inner gathering spaces. This is much in contrast to a lot of the architecture that I have seen and studied, so it will be really interesting to get to see and study this architectural type.
Also, another thing that we saw that was really architecturally interesting was the Torres Winery that we visited. When you first drive up you see an older style brick looking building which contains the store and the beginning to the wine tour. On the tour they drove us through the vine fields to the actually winery area. It was completely different that what I had pictured, they took a completely modern direction with the architecture. They also explained how it is a very green complex, and that they use solar panels to power the building and a lot of green materials in the building. I thought this was really interesting as I pictured old wineries like this to still have these heavy brick buildings and not be very up-to-date with the movements that architecture is making. But I was very wrong in that.
For the two days before we leave for Morocco, we have done two full days of sketching class. So, I got to see other parts of the city and look at the architecture in Barcelona again. The first place we went on the first day was a place inside of the cemetery on Montjuic. It is a memorial space, but what really caught me in regards to my topic is having this open space in the city system that completely seems to be removed and cancel out the noise of the very close neighboring port. Walking up to the space you can hear the noise from the port, but as you cross the threshold and enter the area, surrounded by cliffs on three sides, you feel as it you have completely left the city. It is very soothing and contemplative and a very successful space within the city. I would not call it an “Urban Space”, but as a space within the urban space it was incredible to me how removed you can feel. The main part that really pertains to my topic that I want to discuss is our further study in Montjuic. I have been there before, but not looking in as much detail as we did for class. We went to the Botanical Gardens and I got to observe a large scale designed green space in the city. It feels completely removed, and noises are cancelled out. There are platform areas from which you can look out onto the city, but you feel like an outsider looking in, when actually Montjuic is within the city. It is a phenomenal place to get away and be removed without having to drive outside of the city limits. Montjuic is a successful creation of green space within the city, as well as having individual parts that further remove the person from feelings of urban to country. For the city, it creates a space that is an extreme relief from urban density.
It is Wednesday night now, and I am reading information for our trip to Morocco tomorrow. We will get to not only look at the city as a whole, but also get to look into how they internalize their architecture and base it around courtyards and inner gathering spaces. This is much in contrast to a lot of the architecture that I have seen and studied, so it will be really interesting to get to see and study this architectural type.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Topic of study for class
For studio, as i have said before, we are to observe a topic of choise throughout the rest of the semester and document on our blog what we figure out. I chose to do Green Space in the city, and have slightly skimmed the top of this and am delving more into it for the last two months. But as i thought about my topic, I realized that I needed to clarify not only to everyone, but mostly to myself so that I can look at spaces with the objective eye and perspective necessary to truly analyze. SO, here are the first questions that I decided to address:
1. -What is Green Space by definition?
2. -What is Green Space to me?
3. -Does it need/require vegetation?
4. -Does it have to be large like a plaza, or can it be small like a sidewalk?
5. -Where is it appropriate/necessary or not?
6. -How much is to much? Is there such thing as to much?
7. -Do cities today need more Green Space?
After listing out the questions that I feel like needed to be answered, I did some reading and started to answer them.
1. A defenition that I found of green space states that it is any piece of land covered with vegetation. Which stands true to what I originally though it was. But, I feel that in an urban context, which is what i am studying it in, there could potentially hold a slightly different definition.
2. Based on some of the research I have done, and observing the city around, to me Green Space could potentially be something a bit different. In a city, I want to explore if green space can revolve around a gathering space larger that just the area in front of the building. I still lean towards the fact that Green Space requires vegetation, but I am looking to explore if in the urban context other types of areas can be "Green Space".
3. At this point in time I feel that vegetation, at least to some degree, is necessary to make a space a Green Space. But, in walking around a city I have seen some areas with vegetation that dont accomplish what the purpose of green space is and become very un-inviting places, as well as spaces that have no vegetation that break the urban fabric and create less density and outdoor gathering spaces which I feel is a major purpose of Green Space. But Green approaches can be addressed on the small scale on sidewalks and such.
4. Green Space in the urban context is a relief in the density and fabric, and therefore needs to, in my opinion, stand as a larger space than merely a sidewalk or a street corner. It needs to break the urban fabric and create a space in which people can freely gather at least slightly seperated from the busy denseness and built environment of the city.
5. Green Space is necessary wherever the are of the city has gotten to dense, and there are no spaces of relief in which people can gather.
6. When well designed, a specific space can never be to "Green", but excess comes when many plazas begin being put extremely close to one another and removing all of the urban fabric. Green Space is meant as a relief in the city, not to completely replace the city. Excess can also come when nothing is accomplished by the space. This can be caused by poor design or poor location.
7. This is more of an opinion question, but one I feel like can be re-addressed at each analysis and especially at the end. After traveling to a bunch of cities, I feel that all major cities need to address the topic of Green Space more and can start by creating more zones of relief throught the city. So many of the cities, especially the old ones, have some green spaces in the old area, especially around the ruins and things of the sort, but once you move to the outer newer areas it becomes more dense and built up. Even if it is addressed in areas such as making buildings more green and putting Green Space on the tops of buildings, it is something that will help a lot especially with the battles we are fighting with the environment right now.
So, there is my beginning break down of my topic. In breaking down my thoughts, I have narrowed my topic a bit to be Urban Space from a Green perspective. I want to analyze where green spaces are in a city, and what makes something an urban space versus a green space. This may be a lot to tackle in two months, but i am going to try my best to look at spaces and see if they work and which topic they fall under.
1. -What is Green Space by definition?
2. -What is Green Space to me?
3. -Does it need/require vegetation?
4. -Does it have to be large like a plaza, or can it be small like a sidewalk?
5. -Where is it appropriate/necessary or not?
6. -How much is to much? Is there such thing as to much?
7. -Do cities today need more Green Space?
After listing out the questions that I feel like needed to be answered, I did some reading and started to answer them.
1. A defenition that I found of green space states that it is any piece of land covered with vegetation. Which stands true to what I originally though it was. But, I feel that in an urban context, which is what i am studying it in, there could potentially hold a slightly different definition.
2. Based on some of the research I have done, and observing the city around, to me Green Space could potentially be something a bit different. In a city, I want to explore if green space can revolve around a gathering space larger that just the area in front of the building. I still lean towards the fact that Green Space requires vegetation, but I am looking to explore if in the urban context other types of areas can be "Green Space".
3. At this point in time I feel that vegetation, at least to some degree, is necessary to make a space a Green Space. But, in walking around a city I have seen some areas with vegetation that dont accomplish what the purpose of green space is and become very un-inviting places, as well as spaces that have no vegetation that break the urban fabric and create less density and outdoor gathering spaces which I feel is a major purpose of Green Space. But Green approaches can be addressed on the small scale on sidewalks and such.
4. Green Space in the urban context is a relief in the density and fabric, and therefore needs to, in my opinion, stand as a larger space than merely a sidewalk or a street corner. It needs to break the urban fabric and create a space in which people can freely gather at least slightly seperated from the busy denseness and built environment of the city.
5. Green Space is necessary wherever the are of the city has gotten to dense, and there are no spaces of relief in which people can gather.
6. When well designed, a specific space can never be to "Green", but excess comes when many plazas begin being put extremely close to one another and removing all of the urban fabric. Green Space is meant as a relief in the city, not to completely replace the city. Excess can also come when nothing is accomplished by the space. This can be caused by poor design or poor location.
7. This is more of an opinion question, but one I feel like can be re-addressed at each analysis and especially at the end. After traveling to a bunch of cities, I feel that all major cities need to address the topic of Green Space more and can start by creating more zones of relief throught the city. So many of the cities, especially the old ones, have some green spaces in the old area, especially around the ruins and things of the sort, but once you move to the outer newer areas it becomes more dense and built up. Even if it is addressed in areas such as making buildings more green and putting Green Space on the tops of buildings, it is something that will help a lot especially with the battles we are fighting with the environment right now.
So, there is my beginning break down of my topic. In breaking down my thoughts, I have narrowed my topic a bit to be Urban Space from a Green perspective. I want to analyze where green spaces are in a city, and what makes something an urban space versus a green space. This may be a lot to tackle in two months, but i am going to try my best to look at spaces and see if they work and which topic they fall under.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
So, I have decided a new format for my blog. I want to keep everyone updated at home as well as keeping up to date with my topic of study for class. So I decided to switch back and forth in each blog post what I am writing about. Every other post will update everyone on what I am doing, and have pictures of what I see and do, and the ones in between will be analysis and sketches and pictures of the topic that I am doing for class. So hopefully it doesnt get to confusing, but I think it will be cool for everyone to see both the work side and the fun side of what i am doing here. And to help that I am going to start posting the work that I have been doing so that everyone can see i am doing just as much work as I am fun stuff.
This past week has been awesome. Two of my really close friends were here, and that can never go bad! Caryne got here Thursday March 6, and Amanda got here Saturday March 8. I had classes starting monday, so i mostly just got to spend late afternoons and nights hanging out with them, but they got along really well and had each other to go sight seeing with. So that worked out really well.
Last Sunday, though, i got to take them around the city and show them where i live. We went down to the port area, and shopped a lot at all of the stands that are set up. We all spent more money than we wanted to, of course, but love everything we bought and absolutely can live without any of it! We also got to eat a huge seafood lunch. I havent had a real seafood meal here yet, after stuffing ourselves with all of it I can honestly tell everyone it is as good as I expected. After that we worked our way to the beach, and around the Olympic village. We walked a lot, but even I got to see stuff that i have never seen before. So that was a lot of fun.
All of the other days, when I got out of class I got to go back to the apartment and then go out to dinner with them. We went to a tapas bar one night, the most a mazing mexican place ever another, and pretty much every resteraunt that I have been to since being here. One day we go to meet up for lunch, and we went to this sushi place that is down the street from my apartment. It was sooooo good, but made me miss home because I eat so much sushi at home!
We also went out to this one place on one night called the Champagneria (I probably spelled it wrong), which is a place that sells bottles of cava for 2 euro and has amazing sandwhiches for pretty cheap. Pretty good for poor college kids. Cava, for anyone who doesn't know, is the local version of Champagne. It is so good! That same night we went to a latin bar, and then to an Irish pub. I had to show them all of the fun places to go!
Thursday was Amanda's 21st birthday, so we went out to a nice dinner at a place that in my opinion has the best Paella that I have eaten here. We got to drink wine and eat dinner and it was sooo much fun and so good! Then we went to this bar called Chupitos, which is a place that has a menu the size of the wall full of drinks and stuff. I was so glad I got to take Amanda out for her birthday, and especially that she got to spend it here!
Friday Caryne left, and then today Amanda did. I am definately not happy to have them leave, it made me miss home more than I thought it would, but it was so much fun to have them come visit! On Friday the family is coming in, so i have something to really look forward to!
Well, I gotta actually go and accomplish some work. So I will update again soon!
This past week has been awesome. Two of my really close friends were here, and that can never go bad! Caryne got here Thursday March 6, and Amanda got here Saturday March 8. I had classes starting monday, so i mostly just got to spend late afternoons and nights hanging out with them, but they got along really well and had each other to go sight seeing with. So that worked out really well.
Last Sunday, though, i got to take them around the city and show them where i live. We went down to the port area, and shopped a lot at all of the stands that are set up. We all spent more money than we wanted to, of course, but love everything we bought and absolutely can live without any of it! We also got to eat a huge seafood lunch. I havent had a real seafood meal here yet, after stuffing ourselves with all of it I can honestly tell everyone it is as good as I expected. After that we worked our way to the beach, and around the Olympic village. We walked a lot, but even I got to see stuff that i have never seen before. So that was a lot of fun.
All of the other days, when I got out of class I got to go back to the apartment and then go out to dinner with them. We went to a tapas bar one night, the most a mazing mexican place ever another, and pretty much every resteraunt that I have been to since being here. One day we go to meet up for lunch, and we went to this sushi place that is down the street from my apartment. It was sooooo good, but made me miss home because I eat so much sushi at home!
We also went out to this one place on one night called the Champagneria (I probably spelled it wrong), which is a place that sells bottles of cava for 2 euro and has amazing sandwhiches for pretty cheap. Pretty good for poor college kids. Cava, for anyone who doesn't know, is the local version of Champagne. It is so good! That same night we went to a latin bar, and then to an Irish pub. I had to show them all of the fun places to go!
Thursday was Amanda's 21st birthday, so we went out to a nice dinner at a place that in my opinion has the best Paella that I have eaten here. We got to drink wine and eat dinner and it was sooo much fun and so good! Then we went to this bar called Chupitos, which is a place that has a menu the size of the wall full of drinks and stuff. I was so glad I got to take Amanda out for her birthday, and especially that she got to spend it here!
Friday Caryne left, and then today Amanda did. I am definately not happy to have them leave, it made me miss home more than I thought it would, but it was so much fun to have them come visit! On Friday the family is coming in, so i have something to really look forward to!
Well, I gotta actually go and accomplish some work. So I will update again soon!
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
I promise i am trying to get better at this!
So its been a while and so much has happened since then! The time after i last wrote we were preparing for final review of our second project. The review was scheduled for thursday before we left for spring break. On thursday it was pushed to the monday we get back, and then friday early morning i hopped on a plane to greece!
Athens was amazing. There was so much green space and it was such a beautiful city. At every plaza there were multiple trees, at least in the area we went around, and with so many roman ruins it added to the immense patches of green. The first day we were there, after we landed, we decided to just walk around and basically observe the city. Our hostel was pretty much at the base of the Acropolis, so we were pretty easy access to most of the areas we wanted to see in the day and a half we were there. When we started to walk around the corner to the acropolis, it was a city that then opened up to what felt like walking out into a smaller town. The acropolis is up on top of the hill, and the base is surrounded by so much grassy open space it was incredible. And right behind it from the direction we were coming was a mountain that was completely trees. We walked past a really modern building, that is apparently the new acropolis museum, and were so fascinated that we decided to figure out when we could go back and actually try to go in it. It was eventually figured out that, though it is still under construction and not open yet, they let people in between ten and twelve am.
Lindsey and i decided to go ahead and go up to the Acropolis, us history buffs just couldnt wait till tomorrow. It was so incredible to look at from below there was just to much of a draw. Everyone else decided to walk around some more, and that we would just meet up with them in the hostel in a couple of hours. Going up to a place that is thousands of years old was one of the most incredible experiences. And just the fact of seeing a piece of architecture that influenced so many people throughout history and that we have learned to much about was just incredible. We had to walk up the hill to get to the entrance first though. The area around was so well designed. It felt like we were in a garden that had planned paths and organized flows of travel. There were so many trees, it was almost like they had created an area in the city that removed you from the city. And this was what we had to go through to get to the entrance. In designing all of this green space, and maintaining it all the way up to the "hill" madethe experience so relaxing and removed you from the knowledge that the city is so built up around it. When we got up to the top, everything that was up there just made us awe struck. It was such a cool feeling to stand where people stood for so many years, and just picture how it was before time took its toll. At 5:30pm though they started blowing whistles and kicking everyone out, so it was our time to leave, and stop admiring, and go to the hostel to meet up with everyone else.
Our full day in Rome consisted of waking up and going to the Acropolis museum, the new modern building at the base of the Acropolis. This building, we learned, when they struck ground for construction they hit roman ruins with artifacts that date back over 4000 years. So, the design was re-evaluated and the building was lifted and now creates a canopy over the ruins, protecting them and opening it up for everyone to see. The floor on the inside of the building is made of glass and in periodic areas opens up so people inside of the building can look down on the ruins. After we stayed there for a while and sketched, Lindsey, Josh and I decided to start walking to all of the areas a bit to the outside of the Acropolis. We had been told the day before that we need to walk up the little mountain/hill next to it and that there is an incredible view of the entire city. Again, we got to a place where when walking around it and then up it I felt completely removed from the city. It is amazing how a city maintains the areas like this instead of letting them get built up and populated. It becomes a retreat for so many people, and is so serene in so much chaos. More cities need to have spaces like this in which it is in the center of the city, and a person can go to "leave the city" without actually leaving the city and be in a place with so much nature and calm. When we got to the top there was so much space to walk around, and so many incredible views of the city. In observing green space for class (as you have probably been able to tell that is what i am doing) I really looked around and tried to observe the city outside of where i had seen and see if the rest of the city was so observing of the necessity of green space. It appeared, that outside of the "old city" area, the plazas with trees and green space seemed to trickle away and one moved away from this center. It was a really beautiful sight to see though because at two of the edges of the cities were mountains that were vast and green and on one side you could see the water. After that we walked around the old city, and went to the Agora. By this point i truly began to realize that, as in Rome, the city maintained a lot of green space in the old areas and lost it progressively as the new areas arose. That is one thing i can say for Barcelona, at least for where i have been so far, that though there are not a lot of places in the city that maintain a lot of large green spaces, the places in both the old and the new city contain trees and at least some growth giving life to some plazas.
Sunday we hopped on a boat, and took a ferry to Santorini. The ferry ride was so amazing, we went past so many greek islands an basically just got to spend the day looking all over the Aegean Sea. I really cant complain to much. When we started to pull up to Santorini, the whole side of the island we saw were these huge cliff faces. The cities were all at the top built into the edge of the cliff and looking out over the water. Their connection to the waterfront were these incredibly long, winding paths that gradually led you up the cliff. The island was really cool, and when we finally got up to the top was like being in the country. The houses/buildings dont exceed two story, and there are just miles of fields. And from each side of the island you can see all the way across. The island was big length wise but width wise it was pretty narrow. Our time on the Island was spent visiting the black, red, and white sand beaches, going to the towns and shopping where we could. Basically it was an amazing place to just walk around and see everything. The green space is hard to explain in the city. The cities did not feel like cities, and many of the places that you walked did have trees but there was no planned green space and it was not the feeling in itself of being a city so the green space was not completely necessary. And the rest of the island was fields and farm and beach and cliff. We missed tourist season by about a week, so a lot of the touristy stuff was closed so that just meant doing what we could on our own.
On thursday i came home, with Alwin, three or four days before everyone else. And Caryne came! It was/is really exciting to have my best friend here! And then Amanda came on saturday so the week just kept getting better and better! And so far i have just been taking them around, going to class, and spending as much time with them as possible. Sunday we ate a huge lunch/dinner down by the beach. It was the most amazing food i have had so far. Seafood here is definately amazing. And i am definately going to have to eat it more.
Tonight, we are going to watch an orchestra at the Palau de Musica, which not only is it cool to go watch this but it is a really cool architectural building with what we hear is an incredible stained glass ceiling. SO that should be a really fun experience. Amanda's birthday is tomorrow, so of course we will be celebrating that. But i will get on tomorrow and i am going to be updating this with at least a little blurb every day. So keep updated and i will be posting frequently!
Athens was amazing. There was so much green space and it was such a beautiful city. At every plaza there were multiple trees, at least in the area we went around, and with so many roman ruins it added to the immense patches of green. The first day we were there, after we landed, we decided to just walk around and basically observe the city. Our hostel was pretty much at the base of the Acropolis, so we were pretty easy access to most of the areas we wanted to see in the day and a half we were there. When we started to walk around the corner to the acropolis, it was a city that then opened up to what felt like walking out into a smaller town. The acropolis is up on top of the hill, and the base is surrounded by so much grassy open space it was incredible. And right behind it from the direction we were coming was a mountain that was completely trees. We walked past a really modern building, that is apparently the new acropolis museum, and were so fascinated that we decided to figure out when we could go back and actually try to go in it. It was eventually figured out that, though it is still under construction and not open yet, they let people in between ten and twelve am.
Lindsey and i decided to go ahead and go up to the Acropolis, us history buffs just couldnt wait till tomorrow. It was so incredible to look at from below there was just to much of a draw. Everyone else decided to walk around some more, and that we would just meet up with them in the hostel in a couple of hours. Going up to a place that is thousands of years old was one of the most incredible experiences. And just the fact of seeing a piece of architecture that influenced so many people throughout history and that we have learned to much about was just incredible. We had to walk up the hill to get to the entrance first though. The area around was so well designed. It felt like we were in a garden that had planned paths and organized flows of travel. There were so many trees, it was almost like they had created an area in the city that removed you from the city. And this was what we had to go through to get to the entrance. In designing all of this green space, and maintaining it all the way up to the "hill" madethe experience so relaxing and removed you from the knowledge that the city is so built up around it. When we got up to the top, everything that was up there just made us awe struck. It was such a cool feeling to stand where people stood for so many years, and just picture how it was before time took its toll. At 5:30pm though they started blowing whistles and kicking everyone out, so it was our time to leave, and stop admiring, and go to the hostel to meet up with everyone else.
Our full day in Rome consisted of waking up and going to the Acropolis museum, the new modern building at the base of the Acropolis. This building, we learned, when they struck ground for construction they hit roman ruins with artifacts that date back over 4000 years. So, the design was re-evaluated and the building was lifted and now creates a canopy over the ruins, protecting them and opening it up for everyone to see. The floor on the inside of the building is made of glass and in periodic areas opens up so people inside of the building can look down on the ruins. After we stayed there for a while and sketched, Lindsey, Josh and I decided to start walking to all of the areas a bit to the outside of the Acropolis. We had been told the day before that we need to walk up the little mountain/hill next to it and that there is an incredible view of the entire city. Again, we got to a place where when walking around it and then up it I felt completely removed from the city. It is amazing how a city maintains the areas like this instead of letting them get built up and populated. It becomes a retreat for so many people, and is so serene in so much chaos. More cities need to have spaces like this in which it is in the center of the city, and a person can go to "leave the city" without actually leaving the city and be in a place with so much nature and calm. When we got to the top there was so much space to walk around, and so many incredible views of the city. In observing green space for class (as you have probably been able to tell that is what i am doing) I really looked around and tried to observe the city outside of where i had seen and see if the rest of the city was so observing of the necessity of green space. It appeared, that outside of the "old city" area, the plazas with trees and green space seemed to trickle away and one moved away from this center. It was a really beautiful sight to see though because at two of the edges of the cities were mountains that were vast and green and on one side you could see the water. After that we walked around the old city, and went to the Agora. By this point i truly began to realize that, as in Rome, the city maintained a lot of green space in the old areas and lost it progressively as the new areas arose. That is one thing i can say for Barcelona, at least for where i have been so far, that though there are not a lot of places in the city that maintain a lot of large green spaces, the places in both the old and the new city contain trees and at least some growth giving life to some plazas.
Sunday we hopped on a boat, and took a ferry to Santorini. The ferry ride was so amazing, we went past so many greek islands an basically just got to spend the day looking all over the Aegean Sea. I really cant complain to much. When we started to pull up to Santorini, the whole side of the island we saw were these huge cliff faces. The cities were all at the top built into the edge of the cliff and looking out over the water. Their connection to the waterfront were these incredibly long, winding paths that gradually led you up the cliff. The island was really cool, and when we finally got up to the top was like being in the country. The houses/buildings dont exceed two story, and there are just miles of fields. And from each side of the island you can see all the way across. The island was big length wise but width wise it was pretty narrow. Our time on the Island was spent visiting the black, red, and white sand beaches, going to the towns and shopping where we could. Basically it was an amazing place to just walk around and see everything. The green space is hard to explain in the city. The cities did not feel like cities, and many of the places that you walked did have trees but there was no planned green space and it was not the feeling in itself of being a city so the green space was not completely necessary. And the rest of the island was fields and farm and beach and cliff. We missed tourist season by about a week, so a lot of the touristy stuff was closed so that just meant doing what we could on our own.
On thursday i came home, with Alwin, three or four days before everyone else. And Caryne came! It was/is really exciting to have my best friend here! And then Amanda came on saturday so the week just kept getting better and better! And so far i have just been taking them around, going to class, and spending as much time with them as possible. Sunday we ate a huge lunch/dinner down by the beach. It was the most amazing food i have had so far. Seafood here is definately amazing. And i am definately going to have to eat it more.
Tonight, we are going to watch an orchestra at the Palau de Musica, which not only is it cool to go watch this but it is a really cool architectural building with what we hear is an incredible stained glass ceiling. SO that should be a really fun experience. Amanda's birthday is tomorrow, so of course we will be celebrating that. But i will get on tomorrow and i am going to be updating this with at least a little blurb every day. So keep updated and i will be posting frequently!
Thursday, March 6, 2008
So......Updates on studio. I am in Greece right now, but can update you on that when i can overview the whole trip and figure i would give an update of the work that i have been doing. When i scan the work in at the end of spring break you will be able to see what we have been doing. But the project was that we had a site assigned to us in Barcelona, and we were to create an analysis and potential transformations and present them in a layout of hand drawings. My plaza is called Plaza De La Merce, and it is down by the water. There is a design school that pretty much is the main activity on the plaza, but there is a really cool church for the patron saint of Barcelona that is at the head of the site. The plaza is simple a stone ground plane, with not a lot of activity and pretty much just a place that people walk through to get to their destinations faster.
So through the project, which was a group project, i learned a lot about the history of the site and some of the city. The city in this area became so dense that they chose this place, which used to be a normal city block, because of the entrance of the church on it and demolished the buildings on it to create a relief in an overly dense area. It is really kinda cool to look at the more urban scale, which this semester is all about, it is just kind of daunting to zoom out so much when we are so used to looking at a little area and designing one building. It is definately openin my eyes up to new ways of design.
This past week we also went to a building that used to be a hospital and was converted into a library, which is what it currently is. We were here for our sketching class, so we got to walk around a lot and really just observe and analyze how this building (or series of buildings) worked and how we felt in the space.
It is still, two months later, really cool to be studying everything about this city. There are so many pockets within in that people would never see unless they lived here, and not only do we get to see it but we get to analyze it and walk around it and observe it. It is like no where that i have seen before, and i see something new ever day that just completely fascinates me over and over again. I cant wait until today/tomorrow when i get to start taking friends around and show them not only what most tourists get to see but what is a little more hidden and has been showed to me through learning here.
Check in soon for a full breakdown of greece! I will have pictures and all of that fun stuff loaded as well as sketched that i did and studio work that i have been doing.
So through the project, which was a group project, i learned a lot about the history of the site and some of the city. The city in this area became so dense that they chose this place, which used to be a normal city block, because of the entrance of the church on it and demolished the buildings on it to create a relief in an overly dense area. It is really kinda cool to look at the more urban scale, which this semester is all about, it is just kind of daunting to zoom out so much when we are so used to looking at a little area and designing one building. It is definately openin my eyes up to new ways of design.
This past week we also went to a building that used to be a hospital and was converted into a library, which is what it currently is. We were here for our sketching class, so we got to walk around a lot and really just observe and analyze how this building (or series of buildings) worked and how we felt in the space.
It is still, two months later, really cool to be studying everything about this city. There are so many pockets within in that people would never see unless they lived here, and not only do we get to see it but we get to analyze it and walk around it and observe it. It is like no where that i have seen before, and i see something new ever day that just completely fascinates me over and over again. I cant wait until today/tomorrow when i get to start taking friends around and show them not only what most tourists get to see but what is a little more hidden and has been showed to me through learning here.
Check in soon for a full breakdown of greece! I will have pictures and all of that fun stuff loaded as well as sketched that i did and studio work that i have been doing.
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