Sketches

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

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

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

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

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