Week 14_Photo Inspiration

Habitat Sky Hotel, Diagonal

Works of RCR, Girona

Stair Detail, Girona

Week 14_Back in Barca

Finally, a weekend without travel...and from here on out I will be spending my last few weeks in Barcelona discovering what more the city has to offer. This past Friday, our class ventured out to Rambla Poblenou. The area is an up and coming area filled with redevelopment projects and young people keeping the trendy Barcelona alive. The area of Poblenou is quite different from the Eixample, it does have the lay out of the Eixample, yet instead of dead and open intersections where the streets meet, Poblenou has elevated circles in the center of the intersections. This creates a nice progression of space and experiential walk as one walks up the street from the water toward Diagonal. The surrounding area of Diagonal, which use to be an industrial area of Barcelona is turning into an adaptive reuse area, where developers are turning these old industrial parks into new housing and office spaces, keeping much of what was left behind at the time of industry, but also introducing a great deal of new eye-catching architecture. This area will be an area to see and revisit in the next few years.

We also paid a visit to the Barcelona Botanic Gardens this weekend. Located on Montjuic, the Gardens offer a get-away from the chaos of the city life in Barcelona. The Gardens are filled with various tropical plant species laid out on a triangular grid to conform to the topography of the land. Thus, the architecture of the Gardens is informed by the topography and the triangular grid, which is imperative on a site such as Montjuic.

As our final weeks come upon us in Barcelona, its time to see what the city has to offer us. We will be out and about for the rest of our stay here in Barcelona - aiming to not regret one thing we do or leave one place in the city unvisited. We have a check list to accomplish and accomplish it we will. Barcelona is our home and we have to prove it to ourselves that we know it like the back of our hand.

Week 13_Valencia

The City of Calatrava. Well, it is the home town of the famous Calatrava and he sure is making quite a statement with his relatively new Cuidad de Arts y Sciences. The five building complex boasts soaring elegant forms that ignore any and all of the surrounding architecture. The complex puts a label on the city, a label of liberation from the rectangle and other monotonous forms that seems to define most of the architecture seen day after day. Calatrava is definitely a contemporary architect, yet he seems to more of an engineer as anyone who has visited any of his buildings can attest to. How? is usually the question that "pops" into mind when looking at one of his structures - How does this stand up? and that is the great question and element that makes Calatrava so famous. Even though the independent buildings within the Arts and Sciences Center do not coincide with each other, they are so individually intriguing and set on a "water based" grid they become the art and the science - they become the face of what they represent. Calatrava...how do you come up with these designs? we may never know...

As for Valencia, the city was beautiful. It is somewhat of a mix between Bilbao and Seville. And unlike Gerona where the city turned its back to the river, Valencia displays a new concept of the river, where a park winds through the city as a "living green river." (It may have been a river, which I'm assuming it was, and it was turned into a park that cuts through the city and connects to the Mediterranean). All in all, Valencia was worth the trip, from the quiet Old City to the Contemporary Calatrava City it was quite an amazing city.

Cool Architecture Note: the Valencia Roman Ruins are housed by a steel support structure, underground, and at grade level they are covered by a glass roof with a thin layer of water above the glass, which provides for a beautiful reflection of the surrounding buildings at night.

Week 11_Morocco

Manual Labor. Yep, that pretty much describes the people working in Morocco. By visiting Fez, I really fully appreciate everything that I have at my disposal in the US or even here in Spain. Morocco really is, as our tour guide Mo Mo said, "like going back in time for us." Everything is still done by hand - textiles, the leather tannery, the pottery and clay works, the hand carved bronze products, wood carpentry...etc...and this is what makes everything in Morocco so authentic. The tile work throughout the city (all hand placed and painted), the beautiful plaster carvings, and the amazing wood craftsmanship are all so awe inspiring because they are all done by the human hand. In terms of the culture, beware of the "Balecs" which translates to an oncoming donkey, yes they still use donkeys to transport goods around the city...and they are everywhere. The markets are all outdoors with meat hanging from the ceilings of the stands and chickens in cages waiting to reach the butcher block...yeah it was kind of eye opening to see that people actually still live like that...


With the "day to day" culture aside, the architecture of Morocco is definitely an agent of the culture and more importantly the religion. The Islamic style architecture found in Fez is based around the religious function of the society. The geometries used in the much of the designs are informed by the perfection of God and His pure state of being. Typically, the architecture is symmetrical and based around a similar plan that is repeated throughout Fez. This plan consisted of a portal entrance leading to a courtyard with a central fountain; the courtyard is, in most cases, surrounded by salons and/or a small mosque. The housing typologies within the city followed this same symmetrical style; the two main housing typologies we studied in Fez were that of a Dar and a Riad. We actually stayed in a Dar (Dar Al Andalous), as our hotel was a renovated Dar, and let me tell you it was like a Palace, it was beautiful. The center of a Riad or a Dar is usually occupied by a fountain; this architectural move may be symbolic of the idea that the human can never occupy the center of a space as the human is not perfect and thus the center is reserved for God alone. So as one can see, the architecture in the Islamic/Muslim World is very informative of their cultural practices and their strong religious following.


Overall, I have to say, despite Morocco being so different from anything I have seen thus far, it was probably one of my favorite trips since I've been in Europe. It's definitely something everyone should experience at least once in their lives.

Selected Sketchbook Pages

Week 10_Bilbao + Wine Tasting

I can honestly say that when I saw Frank Gehry's Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, it was the first building that I have ever thought of as a"beautiful" piece of architecture. The building is so elegantly constructed and the materiality of the building only adds to its contemporary elegance. The circulation through the museum as seen in the initial lobby space flows through the structure like "major arteries through the heart," symbolic to a living and working body. The building really is Bilbao's claim to fame, it's a must see...

As for our wine tasting travels in the La Rioja, we saw works by three of the most famous names in architecture - Zaha Hadid, Frank Gehry, and Santiago Calatrava. Each building, regardless of size, made a marketing statement for each of the wineries. The most impressive, for me, was Calatrava's sweeping wavy structure, not because the building was the most impressive I have ever seen nor was it extremely detailed, but because he paid clear attention to the landscape and the building mimics the enormous mountain range in the background of the building; and with the sweeping angles of the roof, the mountains are replicated in the roof structure. The scenery was awe inspiring for the architect and I don't think anyone would argue with that.

Week 9_Post Spring Break

So it has been a couple weeks since Spring Break, and let me tell you it was quite the trip. In all we visited Paris, London, and Rome all in 10 days - 3 of the largest and most expensive cities in Europe in 10 days...that's an accomplishment or should we say a "power trip." It was interesting from the architectural stand point in that each city had a different urban fabric, and in my eyes the urban fabric of each city informed how the culture was defined. As each city was built around a major river; the river became a reference point and a standard for mapping oneself around the urban jungle.

Paris is definitely a city of liberation. The urban fabric is free flowing as is their culture. The people are very open as one can imagine, although the city is very dense, the flow of the streets is more medieval and organic in nature thus relating to the culture of the people. With Paris comes the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, Villa Savoye, the Pompidou Center, Notre Dame, and St. Denis...and much more. Of course we visited each site and all of them were absolutely out of this world. Like I've said before, its hard to believe that you are actually seeing the places you usually only see in magazines and online photos. The Pompidou Center, or the "inside out building," really is a building that breaks all the rules in regards to relating to common site context and adjacent buildings. Paris certainly made a statement in constructing such a building and now it is seemingly stuck with it. As a museum of contemporary art, the building itself becomes a show piece - its one of those buildings that you love and love to hate because it is just so "out there." It's symbolic of Paris' free and liberating culture.

Villa Savoye, on the other hand, is the complete opposite of Pompidou as it follows the "5 rules of a new architecture." These rules follow a free flowing plan and a strict emphasis on the horizontal and linear elements. Villa Savoye is an architect's playground - it is a perfect example of a free and open plan and the simplicity of the structure is truly beautiful. To this day, Villa Savoye still serves as a precedent on many contemporary buildings.

London, even though it was cold and rainy, was the "New York City" of the UK/Europe. The nature of the city is very proper and strictly ordered, which again reflects the people who inhabit the city, even though London is mainly a commuter city as there are only roughly 3,000 people who live in the actual city and about 5,000 people travel to the city on a daily basis. Of course we saw Big Ben, Parliament, the Tower of London, and Buckingham Place which were all beautiful buildings with breath-taking ornamentation. However, we spent much of our time in one of the largest contemporary art museums in Europe - Tate Modern designed by the famous Herzog & deMeuron. The building use to be an old electric industry building, yet with the idea of adaptive reuse and the design skills of Herzog & deMeuron the old industrial dump turned into one of the most impressive museum I have ever seen. Although the building is simple, its elegance is shown through its adaptive reuse design which emphasizes horizontal volumes within a large rectangular space. The collection itself is makes the trip to the museum a must; with 5 floors of crazy contemporary design, modern design ideals and inspiration is floating all throughout the building.

Rome - a city stuck in Roman times, and this isn't a bad thing. Coming from London, which is mainly a contemporary city, Rome offered a history lesson wherever you were in the city. In seeing the Colosseum and the Pantheon, I felt myself in a true sense of awe. I keep thinking to myself...how did they ever build these massive structures? The Romans were really an amazing and intelligent civilization, once you see the Roman Forum, the Markets of Trajan, and all of the Roman ruin scatter across the city, you truly see how vast their empire really was and how advanced they were for their time. I was extremely impressed with the city. In terms of the urban fabric of Rome, for one there are no straight streets in the entire city. Secondly, the city is connected through a web of plazas and small squares which offers a number of places to rest from all the sightseeing and to eat some of their amazing gelato. All in all, Rome (the city, the food, and the culture) was definitely one of my favorite cities.

Well I can honestly say that this past Spring Break was one of my best Spring Breaks, if not the best. I have come out with a better sense of different urban conditions and how culture play a significant role in formulating these vast cities.

Week 6_Pre-Spring Break

Well it's been six full weeks of Barcelona "bliss," the weather is getting nicer and life is getting easier here in Catalunya. This weekend Alec, Mike, and I went to Gaudi's famous apartment complex, Casa Mila. The structure, if you have never seen it before, is very organic and wavy. The undulations on the facade inform us of an architecture free from the strict forms we see today. Gaudi certainly was not afraid of breaking away from the norm. To me, his architecture speaks of liberation from the restraints of society. He is creating an art form within his architecture; he is giving the people of Barcelona something more than a building, he is giving them something to be proud of. The roof of Casa Mila is an experience in and of itself. The chimney like statues, representing Catalonian soldiers give the roof character and a sense of awe with the background of Barcelona flanking all sides of the building.

Next week is our spring break; I will be visiting Paris, London, and Rome...it should be an adventure...

Week 5_Southern Spain...Where did we go again??

So it's been a week since we have returned from southern Spain, and let me tell you 5 cities in 8 days a lot to handle. Our itinerary went a little like this...BCN to Madrid, Madrid to Cordoba, Cordoba to Granada, Granada to Sevilla, Sevilla to Merida, and finally Merida to Madrid to BCN! It was a ton of traveling, but I definitely learned a great deal of history on Spain and saw amazing architecture, from the Alhambra to contemporary bridges by the famous Calatrava.

In Madrid we got to see famous works of art by Picasso in the Prada Museum, the largest in Europe. We also got to do some sketching at Placa Mayor, an interesting space as it is very ordered in nature, however it is inset in a very "chaotic" old city form and this can be seen by simply entering from the city context into the placa itself. We also got to do some "power sketching" at Renia Sofia and the Ciaxa Forum. Renia Sofia is an excellent example of successful "exterior circulation" experienced through its glass circulation towers.

In Cordoba, we were treated like royalty the first night in the Baths of Cordoba. The next day we visited the great Mosque of Cordoba, and learned how to formulate the proportioning system of the hundreds of horseshoe arches supporting the structure.

Moving on to Granada, we visited the beautiful Alhambra. The level of articulation and detail is surreal, especially for the time that it was completed. The idea of hierarchy and passage through space and emotion is also evident in the design. This had to be one of my most favorite places that I have visited since being in Spain.

Sevilla, a beautiful city, brought the Alcazar and the Cathedral of Sevilla. Both were amazing sites and as if the Alhambra wasn't amazing enough, the Alcazar paralleled it with its beautiful sequence of gardens and breathtaking architecture. I have definitely taken a liking to "Islamic architecture," in its detailing and its proportional geometries.

Merida was a city taken out of Rome and placed in Spain, so it felt...We got to see the Roman Ruins in Merida (a typical Roman theater and amphitheater) along with the Museum of Roman Architecture" and the famous Roman aqueducts, where we did some more "power sketching."

All in all, the trip was awesome and I would do it again in a heartbeat. And as for the food...Madrid takes the cake, no pun intended, but tapas hoping was definitely a good idea...

Week 3_This isn't CUA

As the my third week comes to a close here in Barcelona, I begin to appreciate what I took for granted back at home and at CUA - free meals already cooked and prepared for me, being able to get to studio in 2 minutes as opposed to 20, a dryer, and of course the comfort of being able to converse with everyone around me. I guess its just a lesson I'll have to bring home with me - not to take things for granted and to be happy to enjoy a Pryz burger...

In the architectural scheme of things, I have begun to look at how the architecture of the city informs the culture. The small alleys and roads often become pedestrian pathways and combined with the many shops and restaurants they bring a certain life to the city that is not really found in the US. I like the idea of a pedestrian city and I think that is what I associate Barcelona as. The placas scattered around the city act as gathering spaces and points of reference. The large placas begin to introduce an element of interaction, whereas the smaller more enclosed placas create a sense of intimacy amd privacy. There is something nice about the hierarchy of space in Barcelona, there's an even balance of large Vs. small and private Vs. public.

As for my travels during this past week, we visited the Forum and the open exhibition space surrounding it. It was interesting how the outside exhibition space seemed so grand and open; it was very inviting to the water's edge, however it was sparse. I know there is a great dealof construction and expansion going on surrounding the Forum so I have hope that this will bring the area back up to par with the rest of the city.

Week 2_Cultural Landmarks

This week was filled with the exciting architectural landmarks of Barcelona, in short we visited...MACBA, the Forum, the Picasso Museum, Santa Maria Del Mar Church (built around 1328); Gaudi's Casa Batllo, Casa Mila, and Sagrada Familia; Calatrava's famous Communication Tower; the Olympic Complex on Montjuic, FCBarcelona!, and finally Torre Agbar. All of the sites we visited were amazing architecturally and seemed even better in real life as opposed to the photos we would see in a class back at CUA. Gaudi's architecture is unreal and to think that he executed these sturctures successfully without the aid of computers that we have today is remarkable - his architecture is an art. Over Christmas break, I picked up a book on Calatrava and was paging through it thinking of how impressive his work was and now to see it in person is truly breathtaking; the Communication Tower is an architectural and engineering work of art. The views from Montjuic overlooked the entire city of Barcelona, it made the city and Europe come alive, as it was everything I had pictured in my head.

Life in Born, my neighborhood in the Old City, really is a symbol of Barcelona's cultural idenity. Not only is it always lively and full of locals passing by, it is also quite calm and relaxing. Its nice to wake up in the morning and hear the sounds of the old European street and smell the fresh air and the small bakery across the street. In this blog I want to bring the culture of Barcelona alive - from its Old City to the new clubs along the ocean, and everything in between. The experience of this city so far has been a life lesson on its own and I hope to learn much more on the life and the cultural traditions of Barcelona and its neighboring countries. Of course architecture plays a role in this, architecture shapes the way people live - it is the living designed environment.

Week 1_Culture Shock

Life in a foreign country is not easy, to say the least. No one really speaks any English, making verbal communication extremely hard; their way of life, in Spain, is much slower and less advanced than that of the US; the food portions are smaller, which is tough for me especially when you're paying the same if not more for a smaller portion than that of the US and you're really hungry, but the food & the Tapas are really amazing; they have no dryers here and you have to hang your clothes outside to dry, weird...however, its not as bad as it sounds. We do a lot of walking...you can get anywhere you want to go on foot and you can see the city from the perspective of the human scale, you do a lot more sight seeing this way. The architecture is amazing, the Old City looks just as it did in the history books. There are a maze of small ally ways and cobble stone streets that are all interconnected, creating an interesting urban fabric and directional movement. As you could imagine, getting lost in such a condition is extremely easy, especially when there are no street signs like you would see in the US. I guess getting lost is just a given and part of the whole "experience."
When we first arrived in BCN, we of course, got lost after getting off the Areobus from the airport carrying 4 large bags around the main placa, Catalunya, trying to find our studio - no where to be found because it was covered in graffiti, a popular art here in Barcelona. We eventually found the studio, and from here we made our way to find a taxi to our apartment in the pouring rain...not a lot of fun considering our situation, we were not happy. When we arrived at the apartment - Portal Nou, we walked in to find that it was literally half the size of our CUA apartment, and the next morning of course, there was no hot water to take a shower with...yet as our week progressed we started to settle in and work out the "kinks" to say the least. We went sight seeing (Arc de Triomf, Sagrada Familia, the Old City...), and began to realize what an amazing city we are living in.


A few days later, during the week, we were walking home from studio on a normal night, and as we were just 30 feet away from our door we were approached by 7-8 young males. Before we knew what was happening and could do anything we were violently mugged and had our bags stolen from us, along with Alec's cards and Mike's phone...it was not a good night and really made us scared to even go back out of the apartment as it could happen again anytime. We still have yet to recover any of our stuff...and unfortunately we probably won't; now we carry pepper spray - so don't come near us at night.

So that's week 1 in a nutshell, hopefully week 2 will be smoother and we can have some real fun and get into the culture even more. Oh yeah...the bars and the clubs are awesome here, DC doesn't even compare...