Chase This Light

Yesterday, Sarah, Jeri, and I went on a mini adventure to Museum Island to visit the Altes Museum (by Karl Friedrich Schinkel) and Berliner Dom (by a lot of architects I don't remember).

Initially I had thought that they wanted to see the exhibits at the Altes Museum, but all we did was explore the exterior a bit. I may or may not return to see the artwork. Most of the works are Roman and Greek, which I feel like would be the same as the MFA or Getty Villa.

For the Berliner Dom, we paid 3€ with our student ID to get admission into the cathedral. The interior was gorgeous; sadly there was a crane right in the middle of the cathedral! But the details were incredible, and the way the sunlight entered the dome was pretty spectacular. We walked around a bit and explored the museum part of the cathedral and saw several models they had on display. Finally we made our way to the top of the dome where you get a nice view of Berlin. I wish we went during sunset so we could get some sweet pictures! But nevertheless, it was a nice day with blue skies and below freezing temperatures. Under the cathedral is a crypt/mausoleum with several coffins (kind of creepy actually), but I recognized the name Sophie Charlotte (of Charlottenburg) and a few of the kings.

Afterwards, Sarah and I walked over to the back part of the Altes Museum to take a few more pictures before heading to studio. I cannot explain how difficult it is to be productive when you're in a foreign country. All I want to do it travel and explore!

Lady in Spain

Spain is fantastic.

I instantly fell in love with Madrid when we arrived. It was so different from what I have been experiencing in Berlin. In a way, it reminded me of Boston because it is such a historic city yet there are attempts to make it modern. Their way of life is just so wonderful. I wish we could have participated in a siesta fiesta in the middle of the day! And people don't eat dinner until at least 9pm, which I've been doing for the past few years because of architecture anyways. The city has this energy I can't describe; the people are friendly and so very attractive. I'm happy to be returning to Barcelona this coming weekend.

Now on to my travels.
Thursday morning was brutal; we had to wake up before the sun did and take a private bus to the airport at 6am. While we were waiting to board the plane, Tyler met a girl named Tess, and I ended up sitting next to her on the plane as well. She was from the US, lived in Madrid for seven years, and is now in Berlin looking for work. It worked out perfectly because she provided us with all these little insider tips, and she also talked to me about Barcelona.

When we disembarked the airplane, we were at our first site: the airport. We went over to Terminal 4 to check our Richard Roger's terminal, which I happen to love very much. The general shape is a wing that is extruded horizontally, but the use of materials and colors is just wonderful. The roof is covered with bamboo, providing this warm feeling that makes you want to stay in the terminal, and the colors cover the steel structures that are supposed to help direct you (but the terminal is covered with signs everywhere... not thrilled about that). But the terminal is just a great space.

We took the Metro to our hotel (Petit Palace in Puerto del Sol) and found lunch at a random cafe. We met up again as a group to walk around the city. Our first stop was Plaza Mayor, where our professors discussed how the urban design was accomplish, and then we sketched some of the ideas in our sketchbooks. After an hour or so, we walked over to a palace (I think it was the Patrimonio Nacional) and talked a bit before being "dismissed" for the day. A group of us tried finding a park that Tess recommended for seeing the sunset, but, being with groups, people wandered off, time was wasted, and we didn't end up where we wanted to. We headed back to the hotel to take a break before going out to dinner.

I had googled for a tapas restaurant, but the one I looked up didn't exist, so we wandered the streets a bit and ended up at a hookah bar called Color. The food was shit and drinks were weak, but hookah was pretty good. After a few drinks, we decided to find another bar but didn't know where. Let me let you in on a secret; if you're ever bored, walk around Puerto del Sol because you will get a million little cards and ads. One girl convinced us to go to an Irish pub because everyone got free shots and girls got a free cocktail, so we followed her and found a group of our classmates already there! It was a very fun night filled with lots of drinks. In the morning, I realized that I sadly forgot my black hoodie at the bar, but I bought the same one again at H&M next door.

Our first destination on Friday was Escuela Pias, and old church ruin that had been converted into a library (initially proposed as a gym!). The outside wasn't much, but the interior was absolutely beautiful. The architect, José Ignacio Linazasoro, respected the ruins and incorporated it into the new building. There are other spaces that are used by students, but we didn't get to tour that part. We did get to see the roof though, and on the roof is a cafe/bar called Gaudemaus Cafe. I was hoping to go back one of the nights we were in Madrid, but I guess I will just have to return someday.

Next stop was another renovation of an old beer factory that turn into a disco that turned into a cultural center that turned into a library and city archive. Unfortunately, no pictures were allowed, but that doesn't matter because the building was very unimpressive after seeing the Escuela Pias. Seriously nothing special.

After our lunch break, we all walked over to my precedent building, the Prado Museum, extension designed by Rafael Moneo (original by Juan Villaneuva)! Ever since having my epic almost-encounters with celebrities at the LA Cathedral, I've been a big fan of Moneo. Again, this building fits perfectly with its surroundings. Moneo, like Linazasoro, respected the exisiting site. He used similar materials that let you know that it's part of the museum. Most of the extension is underground except for the part where the cloister exists. The cloister was part of the old monastery, but it was taken apart, stone by stone, cleaned up, and reassembled and incorporated into Moneo's extension. Like most awesome museums, photographs were not allowed on the inside, so I did my best to sneak a picture of the entrance area. A group of us walked around the museum to look at the exhibits, but the artwork wasn't my favorite, so I just tagged along and admired the architecture. We walked around the exterior afterwards to see the front of Villaneuva's original design before heading back to the hotel.

I took it easy that night and went out to dinner with a group of guys to a buffet. Madrid is expensive when it comes to food, so I was constantly hungry the entire time. I stuffed myself as much as I could at the buffet and called it a night after that.

Saturday was another packed day. We switched our itinerary a bit, so our first stop was Las Arquerias, which was an old Metro tunnel that was converted into an architectural documentation center. The exhibit currently on display explored alternative habitats. It was a great exhibit, and the renovation of this space was fantastic. You could see every little tectonic detail--it was all very honest in its construction. 

By the time we finished, it was already noon. We headed over to the Caixa Forum, an old power station, renovated by Herzog and de Meuron. We were given time to explore and eat lunch, but I skipped lunch to walk around the center. As it was with the de Young Museum, I wasn't too impressed. To me, Herzog and de Meuron are all about materials and facades, and there's no doubt that they're the masters of that. The interior wasn't special though. The only "cool" aspect was the staircase, but when I got to the top, I was hoping to see more natural light than they had. I will give them credit for suspending the first floor plate--a detail I would have missed if our professor hadn't pointed it out. The Caixa Forum is lifted off the ground, but there are no columns supporting it when you're looking at it from the exterior. I thought that was a clever idea.

Our last destination on our itinerary was the Reina Sofia, extension designed by Jean Nouvel. The original building was once a hospital, but eventually it was declared the national museum, and now houses some of the most famous paintings in the world. We discussed the exterior a bit and went to the terraces as well, and then we were free to explore the museum. The place is huge, so we narrowed it down to a few artists we wanted to see. I was thrilled to see that they had Richard Serra! We also found Picasso's Guernica and a lot of Dali's works.

That night, I wanted to go to a tapas restaurant, but other people wanted entrees and meals, so we compromised and found a restaurant that had both. It was about 8pm and we were the only ones in the restaurant. Like I said before, Madrid is expensive when it comes to eating out. People ordered steaks for 18 Euros and it looked so pathetic on the plate when it came out. Fortunately, the people I was with were great; we had a good dinner and funny conversations. After dinner, Jeri, Sarah, Erblin, and I wanted dessert, so we walked to a nearby cafe called Cafe & Te and ended up getting ice cream, churros, some sort of waffle and ice cream dessert... it was a good way to end the night. When we got back to the hotel, I fell asleep attempting to write in my journal (a physical journal, not this blog) but was awoken by others who were trying to get me to go clubbing. Thankfully I passed because the next day, I heard it wasn't that good of a club.

Sunday, we left Madrid with our own private bus and visited the town of Sanchinarro to see the Mirador building by MVRDV. I happened to like the building, at least from the exterior, because it took the usual housing block with a courtyard in the center and flipped it on its side. Sadly, the area around the building was pretty much desolate. There was barely any life around. We went down a couple blocks and found a lot of housing complexes, but again, it was barren. Lots of things to consider when you're an urban designer.


We ended our trip in the old capital of Spain: Toledo. We were given about four hours to explore the city and get lunch and whatever else we wanted to to. I walked around with Sarah, Jeri, Erblin, and Jeff, and for lunch, we stopped by a cafe/bar called Scorpions, and we all got entrees for only 10 Euros each! It was so nice to find a "cheap" restaurant and actually feel full! Toledo was a nice city, but I would never stay more than a day.

Eventually it was time to leave, so we all met up to go to the airport and fly back to Berlin. It's nice to be back.

Listen

As I mentioned previously, Tuesdays are our days off, but because we had a pin-up today (I'll get back to that point later), I decided to spend the day doing laundry in the bathtub, preparing a PowerPoint presentation for our trip to Madrid (we're leaving tomorrow!), and working on studio work.

In the evening, a group of us attended a strings concert at the Philharmonie. The interior of Hans Scharoun's concert hall is beautiful. I couldn't stop looking up. When we were checking in our coats, I asked the woman if photography was allowed and she said no, so I checked in my camera bag. We entered the Kammermusiksaal (Chamber Music Hall), one of two music halls at the Philharmonie, and headed to our seats. Luckily a lot of seats were empty so an usher told us we could move forward. From the moment I stepped in, I wished I had my camera. The space was intimate, the details were very captivating (especially the ceiling), and the center lights and sound system were hung beautifully. As I looked around, I realized that other people were taking pictures (with flash, nonetheless!) but I had checked mine.

When the music started, it was as if I had been placed in the middle of a movie. I kept imaging scenes that the music would be perfect for. There's something incredibly beautiful about watching a person produce music from their hands (or mouth for the clarinet and oboe players). During intermission, I headed straight for the coat check and got my camera and photographed all that I could.

We got out around 10pm, and a group of us went back to studio to work on drawings and models. I ended up staying in studio until 3am, taking a bus (the U-Bahn line we normally take wasn't running), then taking a taxi back to the apartments and pulling an all-nighter. In the morning, I learned that my professor was sick so we didn't have a pin-up today. All that stress for nothing... welcome to architecture!

We're off to Madrid in the morning until Sunday night, so look for an update next week! Mach's gut!

Best Days

So much has happened in the past couple of days! Unfortunately it's hard for me to update my blog or Facebook photo albums from my apartment. Speaking of which, I've been so caught up in talking about architecture that I completely forgot to talk about living in Berlin itself! Bear with me as I give you a quick rundown. We have internet in studio but not in the apartments, so a bunch of us bought these internet USB sticks and pay for the use of a SIM card (think cellphones) but the limit per month is 5GB, so rather than using up all of the data by uploading a million pictures, I wait until I get to studio to do that.
Shopping for food has been an experience. It's difficult to find a lot of things, but it's also because I don't know where to look. Eggs and some cheese aren't refrigerated which was a total shock for me. Grocery stores also don't give free bags; you have to buy them. Beer here is ridiculously cheap. Half a liter of beer is as cheap as 0.65€ ($0.91) and can be as "expensive" as 1.80€ which means that I have been drinking quite a few beers throughout the week... But I doubt I will get a beer belly because I've been walking around so much! Berlin is completely walkable, but their public transportation is a fantastic alternative. They have the U-Bahn (underground subway), S-Bahn (above ground), trains, and buses. It is the best public transportation I have ever experienced; the stations tell you when the next train is arriving, they're super clean, easy to figure out, and they run pretty much 24/7.
Dogs are everywhere here, probably more than I saw in LA. The best part is that they're unleashed. They're so well behaved that they just walk on the sidewalks with pedestrians.
Berlin is proactive about recycling, and it is awesome. A lot of places have separate cans for garbage, paper, plastic, and glass. Also, if you recycle your plastic and glass bottles, you get a lot of money back. One plastic bottle got me 0.25€.
Stores close fairly early here and some aren't even open on Sundays. It's so different because in America, stores try to stay open as late as they can to get more customers.
Letters and pronunciations are very interesting here. In Germany, they pronounce every letter and the emphasis is almost always on the first syllable. It also took me a few days to realize that "ß" is equivalent to writing "ss."
That's all the observations I can remember right now. On to my explorations!


Thursday was a half day so after my German language class, I went over to the Jewish Museum by Daniel Libeskind. I was fortunate enough to experience his Contemporary Jewish Museum when I was in San Fran, so I was able to compare the two. When I was reading his book Breaking Ground, Daniel actually talked a lot about fighting to get the Jewish Museum built in Berlin, and after being able to see and experience it in person, I am much more impressed with his work. From the outside, you can't really understand the form of the museum, but in an aerial view, it almost looks like a lightning bolt (there's actually an explanation for the form but I can't remember it right now). Admission was only 2.50€ with my student ID. The museum starts off by going down to the lower level where there are three axes. The first is the Axis of the Holocaust which leads to the Holocaust Tower, a 24m tower that is only lit by natural light. When I was there, it was about sunset, so the tower was almost pitch black and you could hear every little sound reverberate around you but you couldn't see a thing. Very scary feeling but definitely serves its purpose.
The second axis is the Axis of Exile that leads to the Garden of Exile, an exterior "garden" comprised of 49 concrete squares extruded at different angles as the floor plane shifts (very similar to Peter Eisenman's Holocaust Memorial). As you walk around, the varying angles start to make you dizzy and disoriented, just as Daniel intended.
The last axis is the Axis of Continuity, which the other two axes branch off of. It's pretty much just a hallway lined with Berlin history that leads to the staircase up to the permanent exhibitions.

The ground floor (which is referred to as first floor in America... it gets confusing) is where the Memory Void is. Currently the installation Shalekhet by Menashe Kadishman is in the void. There are hundreds, maybe thousands, of steel faces just laid out on the ground. When I first entered, I was the only one there, so I just photographed the installation. The next thing I knew, a girl was walking across. I didn't know that was allowed, so then I started to walk across. It's a very strange feeling to be walking on all these unknown faces that represent Holocaust victims. With every footstep, you hear the clanking of steel reverberate in the void. I was actually uncomfortable.
Level 1 and 2 were the permanent exhibits. Lots of interesting facts, history, stories, etc. I was very glad that I got to experience the museum. Here's another quote from Breaking Ground:


"There's a magic to a great building. Maybe it has to do with the way light falls on it; maybe it has to do with the acoustics, the sound of footsteps in its hallways. Some buildings take a long time to get to know, but still they make you want to make the effort."

 After the museum, I walked over to the Tempodrom designed by gmp. It's an event venue, and I was hoping it would be open when I went, but sadly it was closed. It was still interesting to look at from the exterior.

On my way back to the U-Bahn, I came across the Museum of Technology, so I walked over and took a few pictures. It was aesthetically pleasing with its glass, steel, and blue lights. There's also a spiral staircase that is enclosed by glass blocks.


Friday was our field trip to Dessau to visit two buildings. The first was the Bauhaus, the birthplace of modern architecture, designed by Walter Gropius! We were given a tour by one of the guides, and she proceeded to show us spaces and explain the ideas behind the designs. For some reason, after hearing about the Bauhaus year after year, I was expecting so much more from the school. Don't get me wrong; I love the Bauhaus and what it represented and did for architecture, but I wanted it to blow me away. I do admit that it's amazing that it looks like it could have been built a few years ago, even though it was built in the late 1910s. 

Our second stop for the day was Umweltbundesamt (UBA), the Federal Environmental Agency, designed by Sauerbruch Hutton. This building was amazing. Fantastic interior atrium, super environmentally friendly, beautiful use of wood, and a nice use of color. I loved it.

Saturday was a gorgeous and very cold day. I decided to explore the Tiergarten, but I started off at Checkpoint Charlie. Checkpoint Charlie was the crossing point along the Berlin Wall between East and West Berlin. Today it's just a tourist attraction, fully equipped with a guy dressed in uniform. 

Around the corner I could spy a pink/red building which I recognized as the GSW building, also designed by Sauerbruch Hutton, so I had to walk over and check it out. It was actually an extension to one of the old office towers. It was an interesting design, but it felt very disconnected. It was like volumes were just places on top of/next to each other.

Across the street from the GSW complex was a building that I do not know but thought was interesting. When I find out the name/architect, I'll update this post... But it was two intersecting volumes with different materials.

Next stop: Staatsbibliothek by Hans Scharoun. Unfortunately I wasn't allowed to get into the library stacks without a card or the supervision of a guide, so I have to return at some point. The library itself is directly across from Scharoun's Philharmonie (where I will be attending a concert tomorrow night!) and Sharoun used similar materials for both buildings, creating a nice connection. 

And because I was walking by Mie's gallery, I had to photograph it on a sunny day. 

I walked along the river, passing a handful of nice architecture, until I reached the Shell-Haus by Emil Fahrenkamp. This was very much an early modern work of architecture. The corners are all curved (and there are a lot of them) and they create this wave of ins and outs along one of the street-sides. 

I walked towards the Tiergarten and arrived at my next stop, the Nordische Botschaften (Nordic Embassies) by Alfred Berger and Tiina Parkkinen. A very surprising building to see in person. At first, I thought the "green" panels were glass but they I believe they were actually copper. On the other side there is a great wood facade and a courtyard area (unfortunately it was closed)

 

 

I proceeded towards the Tiergarten and checked out the Siegessäule (a Victory column) monument in the center of the garden. On top is the goddess of Victory, who is also on top of the Brandenburg Gate.

I walked around the Tiergarten as I waited for sunset to go to the top of the Siegessäule. I headed over to the Schloss Bellevue, which was/is the palace where the president of Berlin resided. The place is massive and exactly what you would expect for a president. Even the grass was green! I tried looking for the Akademie der Kunst (not the one by Behnisch) but I got lost in the woods, and I was freezing in the cold, so I gave up and headed back to the Siegessäule. Unfortunately, I learned that it was closed! I was so so sad because the sunset would have been amazing from that point.

I walked along Strasse des 17 Juni and stopped by the Soviet War Memorial as I made my way towards the Brandenburg Gate and Pariser Platz. I took a potty break at the Behnisch building and warmed up a bit (I was outdoors the entire day). Since the sky was finally blue, I had to do another panoramic of the plaza (and without a person in a chicken suit, although she was there again).

After that, I walked over to the Reichstag to watch the sun set. Like the Siegessäule, the dome is currently closed for visits. Seems like everything here in Berlin is closed for some reason. So I hung around the area and photographed everything, including the Paul-Lobe-Haus and the Bundeskanzleramt (office of the federal chancellor). All the buildings in the area are wonderful works of architecture. I particularly liked the Kongresshalle. It was a nice form and I loved the concrete structure. There was something for the Berlinale going on there--probably a screening or something--so I didn't go in.

Finally, I headed back to the Brandenburg Gate to get a night time shot, and I'm very glad I did. It's beautiful when it's lit up by lights with the blue night sky behind it. I made my way to the nearest U-Bahn stop to defrost and some one point I ended up in Hauptbahnhof station, designed by Alfred Lent, Bertold Scholz, and Gottlieb Henri Lapierre. The photograph I took was very underexposed (I was carrying two unopened beers) so I played around with it in Photoshop a bit. I rarely Photoshop my pictures unless they're panoramics.

Yesterday I took it easy and watched two movies that were in the Berlinale (the international film festival here in Berlin). Sadly, I woke up early at 8:30am so I could get tickets with Erblin, but looking back, I probably still would have gotten tickets if I went to buy them later in the day. Better safe than sorry though.

The first film I watched was We Were Here which is a documentary about the AIDS epidemic in San Francisco during the 80s. It was a powerful, touching, sad film. I highly recommend it. After the screening, the director David Weissman, his editor (I think his name was Bill?) and Ed, one of the guys interviewed, came up and did a Q&A session. I also got the chance to meet Ed and talk to him briefly. Such a sweet guy.
I went back to studio briefly to pick up my stuff, but on the way back, I stopped by Potsdamer Platz to pick up a Berlinale bag. I was excited, and it was only 15€!
The second movie I saw was Anistia (Amnesty). It was an Albanian film (Erblin convinced me to go) about something or other and it was really boring. Really disappointing. Again, the director and actors were invited to come up afterwards, but it was midnight at that point so we left.


Ahhh! Longest post ever! Until next time! Tschüss!