Cavin Family Traveling Fellowship

Sketches

2007-12-11T12:42:00.000-08:00

Here's a cross section of my sketchbook(s), about a third, spanning from helsinki through italy. I'm no Picasso, so the majority of my sketches are intended as visual note taking, which involved quick studies in recording the conceptual or compositional ideas that spoke to me. As a result, I tried to keep the "scene" sketches to a minimum, not only because they take much longer but often hold similar content to the quick 5-10min character sketches, supplemented with short hand notes. Occasional splashes of color always help too.

Milan, Italy 11.30.07

2007-12-02T16:44:00.000-08:00

Our last stop before we fly back to the States. Came into the industrial yet elegant Milan train station.

The Galleria, which has spawned so many imitations.

Duomo di Milano

up on the roof

And that's it!

Back to work on Monday. What an adventure! I'm glad we kept the schedule so intense, or we might have drifted into thinking this was a vacation (which we could really use now, ironically). Every hour of the day, for 70 days straight, was filled with something new and exciting. Even this blog was a way to sort through the thousands of images and collate my thoughts and lessons.

The architecture and cities we visited were only a part of the value gained on this trip. Anyone who has traveled understands that absorbing different cultures, languages, people, food, and traditions broaden one's perspective of the world. It's this larger understanding of who we are and where are in time which will affect everything I do from here on, not only as an architect, but as a person. Mark Twain's well quoted quote describes it well, "Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.."

Thank you to Brooks Cavin and everyone apart of the Fellowship who helped make my "vegetating" dream more than a reality. It has been an incredible learning experience, and with luck will continue with further travels. Thanks to Mom+Dad for coming to visit us in Prague and Vienna. Thanks to LMSa and Group4 for not firing us. And countless gratitude will be continuously paid to my wife Asti, for whom without this trip would have not been nearly as eventful.

Aloha

Florence and Tuscany, Italy 11.27.07

2007-12-02T15:35:00.000-08:00

Firenze's Duomo, a little car, and scaled figure (Asti)

Ponte Vecchio

Boboli Gardens

A day trip to San Gimignano and Siena was my favorite part of Italy.

View from tower, San Gimignano. The main piazza was actually 3 squares loosely linked together.

Largest of 3 piazza.

From San Gimignano we went to Siena. We took the wrong bus, which fortunately took us through some other Tuscan hill towns. If I had more time I would have loved to drive to more of these great little gems.

Siena's clam shell shaped Piazza Il Campo

Another day trip from Firenze, Lucca, with its old town fortified by a tree-lined wall.

Veiw from atop Torre di Palazzo Guinigi.

Looking down at Piazza Anfiteatro, a public square built upon an old Roman amplitheater ruin. Thus the elliptical shape.

An interesting model for an urban project. Depth of structures was around 45', inside Piazza diameters 150'-250', surrounding street around it was 12' wide. 3-5 floors, ground floor retail and opened up to street and piazza. All it needs is some underground parking and it's ready for anywhere.

Rome, Italy 11.21.07

2007-12-02T15:07:00.001-08:00

Ahhhh, Roma.
I now know what a deer feels like just before it gets run over by a truck, while inhaling another truck's exhaust.

Anticipating Romes drawbacks, we had a nice time there. How can you not at the Pantheon.

Piazza Campidoglio

Some of the more interesting chapels are ones that have a dynamic context surrounding or preceding the focal point: a formal cloister, a crooked narrow street opening up to a tiny plaza, or a small arcade leading into the tempietto courtyard.

Vatican. The guidebooks said stay way from going on the free Sunday of the month, we didn't listen: it was an interesting lesson in crowd control.

Rome's ruins

Hodgepodge architecture, renovation and reuse of structures.

Only a few modern buildings on our list we visited. Meier's Ara Pacis Museum.

Piano's Parco della Musica. Whether you like the beetle-like structures is a matter of opinion, but I found the parti of the complex interesting: circulation and lobbies under an outdoor amphitheater with stairs leading up to individual enclosed auditoriums.

Sevilla, Spain 11.19.07

2007-11-30T16:24:00.000-08:00

Renfe Train Station

Giralda Cathedral, 2nd or 3rd largest in Europe (depending on which guide book you read).

Barrio Santa Cruz. "Kissing Lanes" as they are named because they are so narrow the building kiss each other. From our hotel balcony I could easily touch the balcony railing of the building opposite. Another lane was barely 3' across. Like Granada and Cordoba, the unusually compressed fabric helps in the hot summers, providing shade. Some areas had much more color which makes the lanes even more cozy, perhaps claustrophobic to some. This is opposed to the white washed stucco in Granada and Cordoba which reflects a lot more light on the street.

Plaza de Espanya

Moneo's airport

Cordoba, Spain 11.19.07

2007-11-30T16:20:00.000-08:00

The Mezquita.

Cordoba's Jewish Quarter, and it's tight streets and hidden surprises.

Granada, Spain 11.18.07

2007-11-30T16:12:00.000-08:00

Granada's Cathedral. Not the biggest in Europe (not in top 4 anyway), but the uplighting and the white makes it feel much larger than others on our trip.

Alhambra Palacios Nazaries. Amazing.

Alcazaba

Getting lost until sunset

Valencia, Spain 11.16.07

2007-11-26T15:47:00.000-08:00

Valencia's Central Mercado. Spain has some great markets, and fewer supermarket chains. Gerry, I couldn't find the lady selling goat heads, so I got you one order of 'shopping cart full of mixed meats'. I know what you're thinking, and don't worry, that guy is wearing a hair net.

Nice housing project we stumbled upon. Brick and wood windows and louvers, simple but bold palatte.

Jardin Del Turia. Old river transformed into one of the nicest urban parks I've seen.

"Calatrava Extravaganza, on Steroids" as Gerry put it. Performance center building looks like something out of Star Wars. The entire complex was on an incredible scale. I'd have to compare it to the R. Meier's Getty Center and T. Ando's Awaji Umebutai, given the enourmous scope/budget and freedom of design.

Solar ovens cooking up some Paella. Smelled good. Vamos Greenpeace!

School field trip!

Door open, door close, door hinges, behind closed door.

wow

and Calatrava is building another one. Looks interesting.

Chipperfield's America's Cup building. Looks like the bridge of a battleship more than a sailboat. Look at those clean lines though, no rail posts, continuous soffit.

Madrid, Spain 11.13.07

2007-11-26T11:17:00.000-08:00

Rafael Moneo's extension to Prado Museum.

Jean Nouvel's extension to the Reina Sofia Museum.

Teatro Valle-Inclan, local community theater.

Community Library addition and reuse of an existing old church, damaged from the war.

Richard Roger's Barajas Airport terminal.

Herzog + De Meuron's CaixaForum, still under construction.

Perforated and patterened Corten panels.

San Sebastian + Bilbao, Spain 11.09.07

2007-11-26T09:59:00.000-08:00

San Sebastain is a wonderful and clean city. Asti's paranoia of pet droppings has been subdued in Basque country. Pintxos and txacoli are specialty food + drinks.

Moneo's Kursaal.

Eduardo Chillida sculptures, Chillida Leku. Wonderful outdoor sculpture museum. I fall under the group of people who are particularly intregued with his series of rough massive objects (stone, steel) with sharp, smooth boxes subtracted and interconnected to create these almost architectural voids. Perhaps coming from his architecture training.

Bilbao's airport, Calatrava. Lots and lots of custom steel.

Another one of his elegant bridges.

Guggenheim Museum and "Mama" spider sculpture.

Fuel guzzling art.

Barcelona, Spain 11.04.07

2007-11-26T01:39:00.000-08:00

German Pavillion, Mies van der Rohe. I was expecting to see every joint, edge, and mullion to align. That wasn't the case. It was the free flowing spaces, blurred distinction between the outdoor and indoor spaces, facilitated by the clear definition of each plane, wall and column that made this such a memorable experience.

Caixaforum, Arata Isozaki. New addition to old brick silk factory was a nice and respectfully done project. 'Respectfully' meaning, instead of building a monster modern addition that would dominate and block the existing facade, Isozaki sunk the plaza/sculpture garden/entry allowing the white travertine to contrast with the richly colored brick.

Edifici Forum, Herzog + De Meuron. Asti thought this was the worst building she'd seen so far, referring to the parking lot like asphalt floor, dark atmosphere, funky construction/details, and the weird-for-weird sake geometries. Photographs are snazzie though, and the mirrored lightwells are "coooool dude", was my response.

Barcelona has redeveloped it's waterfront, with lots of public spaces, swimming facilities, a massive PV array structure (shown here),

and covered areas for what I assume are for food markets/swap meets? The place was a ghost town, as you can see, because it's winter, but summer pictures reveal tons of life.

Jean Nouvel's Agbar tower.

Moneo's Auditori de Barcelona.

Meier's MACBA.

Caltrava's Torre. Eyelash curler and a toothpick.

Carlos Ferrater's Jardin Bontanica.

Pompeo Fabra University Library. An old reservoir, renovated into a library. There is a large body of water above (no public access, we tried hard...) but the upside down mirror-pyramids over the skylights wash down a blue reflection of light.

Sagrada Familia, Antoni Gaudi. Only a couple of more decades left! I can see the inspiration behind Calatrava's work.

Woahhh. I can only guess at what half of these were. Wish I could try each and every one. I read that Barcelona, a seaport town, only supplies 15% of the seafood it consumes. They eat a lot of fish, and jamon.

Like the plethora of seafood at the markets, barcelona is big and booming with lots of trendy architecture and skin buildings. Housing projects, univeristy building, library, office/retail development.

Gaudi's parc Guell, Casa Botin, bunch of clay vases on the wall, Miralles' mercat St. Catarina.

the three of us at the beach, pointing to gehry fish in the background.

Firminy, France 11.02.07

2007-11-24T02:20:00.000-08:00

Eglise St. Pierre, Corbusier. hot off the press, concrete barely cured. The only building where it would have been actually nice if it rained: long vertical scupper drops water onto horiz band wrapping building, then down another vertical scupper. Our tour guide unfortunately took us backwards, through the understory (now a Corbu museum), then up a side stair to the main chapel volume.
The intended procession is up the grassy berm...

over a bridge to the covered entry, through the steel butterfly doors,

under the dark, low ceiling of the mezzanine level,

the curve of the mezzanine seems to correspond to the stippled light pattern, drawing you into...

the large space. Compression and release, works everytime.

Seems like musicians love concrete boxes. This artist is jamin' on a cello with some special effects, rehearsing for a concert.

Unité d'Habitation: very interesting. Not as great as the Marseille version, the "Rolls Royce of the Unité" as our guide put it.

Lyon, France 11.01.07

2007-11-24T02:02:00.000-08:00

Beautiful city, large central park, and nice architecture. Looking down on the tight urban fabric, you can imagine the traboules (passages) winding their way from building to building. Nouvel's semi-circular Opera House to the right.

Traboules: click a button at the door for access (trial and error), into a tiny courtyard and up the winding stair. Amazing color and light.

Another opens up to spacious terracing courtyards, access to several buildings, 2 sets of circular stairs, one with a prominent tower.

The traboules are actually quite the tourist attraction, heavly romaticized in the guidebooks, telling of silk trade stories and excaping invaders through the secret passages. Here are several popular ones, and a parking garage (right). Interestingly, for every amazing passage, there are probably 50 unglamorous traboules, dark and unkept, filled with trash, and potentially dangerous (per Asti). It will be interesting to understand the evolution of these, more common, passages.

Lyon has an ambitous urban lighting plan. In keeping up with the Jones (Paris), it even has a mini Eifel tower. Though a bit Disneylandish, the city was quite lively at night, even dispite the really cold temps. The riverfront with tons of joggers and kiddies playing in the sandboxes, feels very safe and inviting. One can imagine night festivals in the warmth of summer.

I hate to see the energy bill. One positive lesson might be: the strategic placement of necessary lighting and architecture can also serve to promote a night atmosphere. The underground parking garage lights up the river banks quite elegantly.

Hasn't stopped the grafitti, still a big problem in nearly all the cities we've visited.

Piano's incredible Cite International: huge project, 20+ buildings, along central pedestrian avenue. Seems to have all the right elements, pedestrain friendly, mixed-use (housing, office, retail on ground floor, underground parking, movie theater, museums, and even government buildings), next to beautiful city park... But, I got the sense that it wasn't the success it could have been. I didn't see that many people there, there were lot's of 'for lease' signs on the retail windows, and - I could be wrong but - the units seemed vacant. Perhaps it needed its own metro line, maybe there isn't enough individuality among the buildings, or it just needs more time to generate its character. Anyone know if my assumptions were off and this really is the ideal urban high-density model it aims to be?

At the end of the mini-cite: the spaceship has landed! beam me up Renzo.

On the opposite end of Lyon, the void to Piano's solid: Roman amplitheatre ruins.

La Tourette, France 10.30.07

2007-11-18T13:58:00.000-08:00

2 nights in La Tourette's guest house, as Corbusier's monestary is under repairs. We met some nice folks during our stay: a couple and daughter (the father works at Nouvel's office), and our new friends from Lisbon (walking another grassy hill with us). Sorry Pedro and Rita, we couldn't manage a detour to Portugal in this travel, definitely on our top list for next time.

So many lessons to learn from this building, one of which is Le Corbusier's play of daylight. A french photographer, on exhibit in the Refectory, took shots throughout the building interior, during the different seasons.

Corbu wasn't afraid to use color: selective surfaces to highlight and contrast against broad planes of concrete. Imagining the surfaces without the bold primary tones one might argue the form itself would still be there and just as powerful, say compared to Meier's purely formalistic white spaces. I don't know. Being a little habitually colorphobic myself, I was quite impressed and this has hopefully loosen me up a bit.

One of the friars pops a mean tune on his violiny.

Ronchamp, France 10.29.07

2007-11-18T13:40:00.000-08:00

Chapel of Notre Dame du Haut, Le Corbusier. Iconic, perhaps cliché, shot from the grassy slope (actually spot with no grass because everyone stands there to take their picture). I chose to be no different.

Another from atop the zigurat.

Series of pictures of the sculptural roof. After seeing so much Picasso in practically every museum we went to, one can start to see the parallels between the art and architecture of the two, and a reflection of that period.
Side note: Renzo Piano is designing a convent on the current parking lot site, due to be completed in 2008. what a challenge. any guesses on what it's going to look like?

Bern + Basel, Switzerland 10.27.07

2007-11-16T09:50:00.000-08:00

Asti says:

Stopped by Bern on the way to Basel to visit Renzo Piano's Paul Klee Center. Very cool construction, see interior shot and model. Although we're disappointed we can't walk on the earth berms.

Not to be missed, we arrived an hour early! We did not realize it was daylight savings time that day. It's 10th year anniversary and still looks great. The interior daylighting quality was superb - the most sophisticated museum going experience so far. That is until a swarm of visitors arrived later in the morning.

Vitra Complex. In the Gehry building, there was a big exhibit of Le Corbusier's works (including process, journals, original models, etc.). Perfect timing since we'll be visiting Ronchamp, La Tourette, Firminy later on. Ando's conference center.

A few of Basel's modern building collection. Basel Mulhouse airport, Herzog de Meuron's Signal Tower, and Zumthor's housing complex.

concrete shell structure

Lugano + Bellinzona, Switzerland 10.25.07

2007-11-16T09:37:00.000-08:00

Here's another post from Asti:

We drove through the Oberalpass on our way to Lugano and Bellinzona. Typically it is closes down in the winter...we can see why. It was a beautiful and thrilling drive, with lots of switchbacks and steep roads. Oh...we also got a free upgrade to an automatic car (Thank God!).
The castles of Bellinzona are a UNESCO world heritage sites. The Castle Grande (built 1100s) is located within the Old town. In this picture, a plaza/ parking garage was added to the complex. Restoration and addition to Castle Grande was done by Aurellio Galfetti in the 1980s.

The entry procession starts by entering from the base of the hill through a crevice about 200' deep, taking the elevator to the top of the hill, then hiking up a ramp to the main courtyard. The Castle has been converted into a museum. The view from the tower is worth the hike.
Castle Montebello (1400s) was another one we visited, now houses an art and history museum. The hike up was strenuous!
Lugano's breathtaking waterfront. Perfect weather...
Lungano city, with some Botta buildings.

Graubruden, Switzerland 10.23.07

2007-11-08T00:54:00.000-08:00

Chur: Protective Housing for Roman Ruins, Peter Zumthor

That's Zumthor.

Stacked firewood for Brent and Laura

View of Haldenstein from area near Zumthor's senior housing.

On the way to Vals, we detoured to a small hilltown, Trin. Took a short steep hike to the top, near the castle ruins for lunch.

Therme Vals, Peter Zumthor.

Sumvitg Chapel, Peter Zumthor. Chilly, but lucky to have sun. we met a nice couple from Tokyo, who were traveling for 5 months! how exciting.

Zurich 10.21.07

2007-11-07T02:52:00.000-08:00

Santiago Calatrava's Stadelhofen Bahnhof

details

bridge over tracks

below in the Bat Cave

Le Corbusier's Heidi Weber Pavillion

Schiffbau Redevelopment. Several old industrial buildings renovated with mixed-use. This project chose to cover the entire existing building with a modern facade, adding program elements around, over, and beyond. I wonder if the shops on the interior warehouse space suffer from this, as they get little street exposure. Other projects (not shown) did the opposite: inserted modern shops, restaurants on the interior, leaving the old warehouse almost as is.

Freightag shop. Interesting view from top.

Tram station in Kreis 5 neighborhood. Interesting area, thanks Sophie!

We decided to cut Zurich short a day just to see Peter Zumthor's Kunsthaus Bregenz, not on our original itinerary. It caused a lot of headaches, but was worth it for the immaculate building and details...

...and there just happened to be an Exhibit on Zumthor's work. It was apparently the 10th anniversary of the building, and the entire museum was filled with his models and drawings. Ground floor with his larger scaled models.

Exhibition, Hannover 2000. Poetic Landscape, Germany. Topography of Terror, Berlin. Facade model of Kunsthaus Bregenz. In the advent of 3D modeling and
photorealistic renderings, these models seemed to describe spaces and reveal more character exponentially.

The 2nd + 3rd floors housed a video exhibition of his projects. Various camera angles let you view each building in reference to a plan on the brochure. Projects
changed every 20 minutes, staggered between floors, allowing you to see all of them within 4 hrs. Sadly, we didn't get to see them all.

On the top floor: models, drawings, and sketches. You can see the development of
each project, all of which, seemed to benefit from study models: many rough, crude,
but capturing the essence of the space to come. Like his buildings, the exhibit was
incredibly well thought out and crafted. What a treat.

Vienna 10.18.07

2007-10-29T16:24:00.000-07:00

Got to Vienna on Asti's birthday and ate indian food to celebrate (all we could find,
nothing against indian food, we loved it).

Ferstel Passage, much more stately and formal then the ones in Prague. Announced at the street with a colonnade, this set of linked courtyards has shops and access to offices. A skylit corridor leads to a small hexagonal atruim.

Directly linked to this small interior open space is another deep double colonnade to
the back street, a well lit stair to offices, and another stair and set of atrium that were
closed (too early).

Back at the corridor, a small side access leads you to another outdoor room with a
modern glass stair, then out to another larger courtyard with shops and restaurants.

Donau City / UNO City

Perfomance Hall - extension to Stadium and Ice Ring

Leopold Museum Stair

Gasometer - 4 old gas tanks were renovated to residential - mixed use. A crinkled tower leans on one of the tanks, a shopping mall extends throught he 2nd floors of each cylinder and links up to a new cinema complex (not shown because it was ugly). A new subway station was added at the main entry. As much as I liked the grassy berms, I think the project would have been more successful and vibrant if it had opened up a continuous street facade: otherwise it seemed kind of dead. However, in all it was a well done redevelopment.

Wagner's Postparkasse bldg.

Hunderwasser Haus

Herzog & de Meuron bldg? I can't wait to work on a project that can afford two full skins of glass. I'll hold my breath 'til then.

Vienna was freezing, slightly. Mom looked it up: 34 degrees with the wind chill factor. Its hard to sketch in the cold. It makes each line extra squiggly. On the up side, crowds are small. Last day with Mom and Dad in small university eat, down the road from our hotel.

Prague 10.14.07

2007-10-23T16:52:00.000-07:00

Our first long train ride from Berlin to Prague. Not so long actually, only about 4 hours, but a nice break from flying. We whizzed by this station in Germany. I forgot the station name, but this is pretty close to what I had in mind for my competition entry: a large, welcoming, repetitious structure with a luminous canopy. l wish I had this as a precedent earlier. I usually wince at fabric-tecture due to is tendency to just show off it's warping capabilities, but I like this example in particular because it's used in a way to facilitate the larger space, not dominate it.

Mom and Dad, reading my list of sites to study, broke the bank and traveled exactly half way around the world (from Hawaii) to tag along in Prague and Vienna. They actually wanted to test out how bad jetlag could get, but they kept up with us on our hike from Staro Mestske to Prazsky Hrad (Prague Castle), and back. The view of the Castle's outcroping buildings: the terracotta tile roof shapes tell the story of the area's patchwork evolution; Charles Bridge and the old town in the background. With warm and sunny weather and a great view, we topped off a long walk with a round of Pilsner Urquells (water with bubbles for Asti).

Municipal House, with decorations by Art Noveau artist Alphonso Mucha. He did a bay of stained glass at Prague Castle as well. The Mucha musuem revealed his success in Paris and his devotion to his country with the Slav Epic.

Staro Mestske Namesky, Old town city center square. Aside from it's character of perimeter buildings, this square is also memorable for me because of it's large uninform layout, with smaller pockets of openspace allowing for a small grid of trees and shade, restaurants, and....

the collection of lemmings (myself included) on the hour to watch an astronomical clock do what??? (Nobody understands the clock, not even the tour guide on the left with the microphone and speaker strapped to her chest). "yeah but, its cooool."

Deer Moat Passage (tunnel) near Prazsky Hrad. Very nice.

In Prague I got a taste of the passages (Pasaze) that are somewhat hidden in the dense fabric of the Old Town. Some are more straight forward than others, leading into a courtyard lightwell, not far off other tight knit city old towns.

Others, unassuming from the street, twist and lead you into little gems, then perhaps into a nicely kept garden.

The largest set of pasazes are near Vodickova, the most interesting of which is centered around an upside down horse. Sadly, most of these passages have not seen their full potential, usually filled with sub-prime shops and cheap eats. Vienna and Lyon are said to have their own versions of the passages.

Kampa Musuem. The interior of this stair has a kind of M.C. Escher like feel as it dynamically links the two existing buildings with different floor heights. I wish they had made more of an event out of it though.

Fred and Ginger, Ed and Karen.

Berlin 10.10.07

2007-10-23T16:40:00.000-07:00

Of course, I can't take all the credit. My wonderful wife Asti is more half the reason we are still keeping a good pace here on our trip. I think I'd still be lost in Helsinki if it wasn't for her dilligence and level mind to keep me in check. So for Berlin, at the very least, she is going be blogging this entry. Only a token for all the work behind the scenes. Plus, I am falling behind.- Mark

Asti:
After a whirlwind of fast paced travelling through Berlin, Prague, Vienna & Zurich - we finally found time to download photos and update the blog (with proper wireless connection).

Started Berlin by visiting the Bauhaus Archiv Museum by Gropius. A portion of the exhibit area was closed for restoration, only the ground floor has exhibitions on Bauhaus greats - among them Gropius, Mies, Jacobsen, Kandinsky, Klee, Bauer. Luckily there was also a temporary exhibition on the competition entries for an addition to the Bauhaus Archiv. All very interesting proposals, the winning entry was from SANAA (Kazuyo Sejima + Ryue Nishizawa) with their cool glass 'box'.

Nearby, we visited the Scandinavian Embassy complex. One of the buildings is actually open for public and has exhibit areas. This time highlighting Norway's western coastline, see link for more info http://www.turistveg.no/. Norway is definitely next on our list!

Hansaplatz Interbau Housing Development - Tiergarten. Various projects by International Architects: Aalto, Taut, Jacobsen, Niemeyer, etc.

On our must see list: Reichstag Dome, Bundestag Archiv, National Gallery.

Libeskind's Jewish Museum, on the right is the new courtyard canopy.

A highlight of our Berlin visit is the Berlin Mauer 'Church of Reconciliation' - which was built along the 'wall', a serene yet powerful space. Wood slats and rammed earth made of the old church ruins.

We took the train from the Hauptbahnhof - the largest train station in Europe. Amazing, high speed rails, local trains, underground rails and buses all converge in this station - and they threw in retail and restaurants while they're at it... We hope San Francisco will get it's transbay terminal to rival this one...

Copenhagen, Denmark 10.04.07

2007-10-10T00:27:00.000-07:00

Central Station. Transit in Kobenhavn is excellent, with regional trains, S-trains (local), and expanding Metro (subway), and bus network.

We were in luck, not only blessed with nice weather, but there was an city-wide architecture 'campaign' exhibiting the new architecture and revitalization of the Copenhagen, going on until the 21st of October: www.copenhagenx.dk

Rundetarn (Round Tower). 7 floors, dizzying.

Radisson SAS Hotel, Arne Jacobsen

Opera House, Henning Larsen.

Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Vilhem Wohlert.
Exhibitions of Cecil Balmonds of ARUP and Richard Avedon (portrait photographer) were particularly intriguing.

Statens Kunst Museum Extension

The space in between: "Black Diamond" Library; Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek Extension; Old Torpedo Hall converted to Housing; IT University Business School.

A forum by IFHP Ranko Radovic, at AkitektSkole, in Holmen area, held an international student competition titled "Futures of Cities": http://www.ifhp2007copenhagen.dk/, image of 1st prize's model on the right.

Orestad Highschool, 3XN. The concept was to break away from traditional classrooms and lounges towards a more flexible and open way of learning. Four "study zones" with a central staircase and foyer provide physical and visual connections, facilitating an interdisciplinary approach. Conceptually this was similar to my Thesis project, only more cohesive...and built. Ka-ching, ex-pensive!

Gemini Towers, MVRDV. Units are added to the exterior of old soybean factory silos. Really cool interior!

Various projects in Orestad Neighborhood.

Ouch... VM Housing.

Student Housing, ITU, Lundgaard and Tranberg. Idea is based on a traditional type of chinese village. Clad in copper, the rooms are on the outer ring, w/ common spaces facing the green courtyard. Not super efficient, but super interesting.

Ahh, tired. Relaxing in Amelienborg in between a long day.

Stockholm, Sweden 09.29.07

2007-10-08T11:43:00.001-07:00

More text, at the request of mum. Sorry for the bad grammar, no spellcheck.

Arrived at the Central station, quite daunting at first, with a complex underground connection between the regional bus system, train, and the Stroget Torg (plaza - center image). It is nearly a quarter mile long which also ties into the main commerical galleria and Kulturhuset. The multi-level plaza is a dynamic open space especially imagined full of people. The sculpture in the center of the plaza fountain was the original design, but was too expensive (this is a picture taken from an exhibit at the Architecture Museum). The Central station (left) is roomy enough for a temporary tennis match promoting the professional circuit happening that weekend. James Blake was the most notable entrant. On the right, more chanterrelle mushrooms and berries. mmmhh

Gamla Stan, the old town. Story goes, a small town frustrated with constant raids, floated a log with all their valuables and vowed to start a new home where it landed. "Stock" means "log" in the old language, so I'm told. The island was packed w/ tight streets and colorful stucco buildings, so tight that the streets and alleys became their open space. Small nooks in the street fabric allowed for the occasional tree, dramatically more special in such a context. Sequence of small alleys near our hostel.

Milles Garden's new gallery. Carl Milles museum for his bronze sculpture collections (not shown).

Skogskyrkogarden: Crematorium and Woodland Chapel, E. Gunnar Asplund. I altered the first image to distill the experience of the dark plane above with rustic oculus and vibriant green landscape in the background. The procession up to this point is also integral in experiencing this space. Chapel, golden rectangle?

Asplund Library (Stadsbiblioteket - City Library), unfortunately these pictures don't do the building much justice. Competition link for the library expansion proposals: http://www.arkitekt.se/s21087, ehh?

A residential tower at Hammarby Sjostad neigborhood (eco-town), and stair at Tekniska Hogskolan University Library

Turku, Finland

2007-10-01T15:24:00.001-07:00

Paimio Turberculosis Sanatorium, Aalto
Paimio, near Turku

Church of the Holy Cross

Resurrection Chapel

Turku Main Public Library, JKMM

Noormarkku, Finland

2007-10-01T15:14:00.001-07:00

Villa Mairea, Alvar Aalto
the birch lined path
and some mushrooms

Tampere, Finland

2007-10-01T14:17:00.001-07:00

Kaleva Church

Jyväskylä, Finland

2007-10-01T11:26:00.000-07:00

University of Jyväskylä, Alvar Aalto campus design and numerous bldgs.

Museum of Central Finland, Aalto

Muuratsalo, Finland

2007-10-01T01:44:00.001-07:00

Experimental House: Aalto's original procession was by boat, through the trees to the rustic white "ruins" of a structure, then contrasted by revealing an intricate brick patchwork of the courtyard.

Säynätsalo, Finland

2007-10-01T01:23:00.000-07:00

Saynatsalo Town Hall. We stayed in 'Elissa' one of 2 guestrooms. The building program consists of: the officials' offices, meeting rooms, and council chamber; a library; retail spaces; and living units, centered around the raised courtyard.

the stair leading to the council chamber is just wide enough for a good story telling.

Helsinki, Tapiola, Otaniemi, Viikki, Finland

2007-09-23T15:15:00.000-07:00

Arrived after a very long flight. City is very walkable with great transportation system. Contextual buildings are a bit on the dreary side in my opinion, perhaps due to the Russian rule in the 1800's, or maybe it's just the overcast weather. Contrasted against it's sociallistic forms and motives, are abundant contemporary Finnish design and the presence of Aalto's work. I am guessing that the vast majority of the international tourists I see are here to visit his buildings.

Second day: we got rained on pretty hard. Finlandia Hall was closed, but I was surprisingly impressed with Holl's Kiasma, and his ability to wash light in a variety of sculpural moves, as with his St. Ignatius chapel in Seattle.

To highlight Helsinki in no particular order:

Auditorium, University of Technology, Aalto

Tapiola Church

Habitare '07: Design Contest for a reading environment

Habitare 07: Container City
Individual containers filled with art installations

Kiasma, Steven Holl

Artek Pavillion (temporary installation), Shigeru Ban

Academic Bookstore, Aalto

Temppeliaukio Church

Aalto House

Viikki: small development near Helsinki. Eco-Housing includes lots of pv's slolar thermal systems, community gardens, bus and bike lanes. Also with an elegant church.

Cavin Family Traveling Fellowship

2007-08-24T18:54:00.000-07:00

Original Competition Boards