Moving Mountains

This past long weekend was incredible. I don't know how we managed to fit so many sites and activities into four days because it felt like an entire week. It was an amazing experience with so much beautiful landscape and views.

Last Thursday, our entire class flew to Zurich and were chauffeured around by a private bus. Our first destination was the Swiss Re addition designed by Meili & Peter. From the exterior, I wasn't very impressed. I loved the materials and textures (especially the glass rocks in the concrete) but the form was very basic. However, the interior redeemed itself. We were lucky enough to get a guided tour by the lead architect of the project. You could definitely see the attention to detail on the inside. Everything was mostly flush, the concrete structure met the floor slab at a very specific point, the use of materials was just perfect... I loved the wood beams as well. I drew a quick section sketch to describe how it works. On the inside, there is a wire cable in the shape of a parabola that works in tension to support the cantilever.
We also toured the old part of the building and saw how the building was integrated with the site. Rolf, our professor, was explaining how Swiss architecture likes to hide certain moments from first glances. You have to dig a little deeper to find out these moments. I love that approach.

Our next stop was in Bregenz, Austria, so we were on the bus for a few hours before arriving at Peter Zumthor's Kunsthaus. Simply amazing. We've studied this building a couple times now but as with every work of architecture, you can't understand it completely until you experience it yourself. Most of the time, we focus on the museum building and forget about the administrative building, but the admin building is essential to the urban design. The two buildings create a nice exterior public space (unfortunately it was raining when we were there) that opens up toward the city. On the other side of the museum is a body of water, so the museum is definitely visible in the skyline. Because of the rain, we were able to experience the "ghost" aspect of the museum; the color of the glass facade blended in perfectly with the gray skies. The interior is simple but amazing. There are three concrete bearing walls which support the building, and the other main material is glass. If you look at a section of the building, the glass ceilings are dropped about a meter from the bottom of the floor slab which allows natural light to enter the glass facade and filter down into the exhibition spaces. I loved the building enough to buy a book about it.

The rest of our night was spent on the bus and at our hotel in Switzerland. Luckily the hotel provided us with entertainment in the form of ping pong, darts, billiards, and squash. In the morning, we were up and out by 8:30.

Our first stop of the day was in Chur to see an entrance to the Graubünden Parliament building designed by Valerio Olgiati. My initial reaction was indifferent; I actually didn't even know what building we were looking at. However, as time passed on, I found myself appreciating the structure more and more. Like I mentioned, Swiss architecture takes some time to discover little moments. The entrance itself isn't actually touching the existing building, which makes you think about how it is being supported. From far away, it looks like the column on the right side is connected to the old building, but it isn't. Somehow the cantilever is in balance even though it looks like it shouldn't be. I also like the fact that the entrance follows the line of the building, but then Olgiati takes it a step further and extends the footprint to follow the line of the sidewalk, relating it back to the city block.

From Chur, we took the bus to Scharans to see another building by Olgiati: a studio for Atelier Bardill. The only restriction was that Olgiati had to keep the form of the building that existed previously. It's a great building that respects the village around it but also brings in new ideas. We spent a while photographing the exterior, and at one point we saw a woman park her car outside the studio and unload groceries. Next thing you know, she unlocks the door, and Dan and I make eye contact, both of us wondering, "can we go in...?" and bolt for the door. We only saw the courtyard but it was still enough to appreciate the space. It was the first time that a Wentworth group has seen the interior!

 

Next town was Paspels to visit a school designed by Olgiati. I loved it. Very simple but also very elegant. In plan, it's essentially a square with four classrooms in each corner. The classroom walls are slanted at a very small angle (five degrees or less) so it's almost not noticeable when you're walking through. From the exterior, you notice how the building just mimics the mountains in the background. Inside, the circulation space is all concrete, and when you reach the classroom, it turns into all wood. There are also large windows that provide amazing views of the landscape. If only my school were this awesome.

From Paspels, we drove to Vals to visit the stone quarry where the stones from the thermal baths came from. We got a tour of the area including the factory where they cut and polish and finish the stones. There were plenty of scrap piles so everybody was looting for souvenirs.

Finally, we made it to Peter Zumthor's thermal baths. Hands down, the best architectural experience ever, and it was all paid for by Wentworth (well, technically, I guess we paid for it...). From the moment we entered, it was just incredible. I could not believe it. I've studied the building year after year, and to finally be inside, to experience the baths and just relax... it was perfect. There are several different rooms with different highlights. My personal favorite was the bath that was filled with lavender petals; it smelt fantastic inside, and it was so so relaxing. We made up names for the other rooms like the hot tub, the cold room, the echo room, the music room, the main pool, and the exterior bath. Of course, I couldn't not take pictures, so after a little while, I went back into the locker room to grab my crappy point and shoot to sneak in some shots. I got a few pictures of the corridor, the locker room, and the entrance to the exterior bath. I made the mistake of showing a classmate that I had my camera, because she proceeded to ask me to photograph her with the baths, and I reluctantly did it. Of course, some bitch of a woman came up behind me afterwards and said "lady, give me your camera" and that was that. I had to pick it up afterwards at the reception desk where the receptionist gave me attitude and said "I told you no cameras." Come on. You can't tell an architect not to take pictures of architecture. After spending about three hours at the baths, I went around the exterior and photographed the exterior baths. It's amazing how Zumthor set it into the landscape. From behind, it blends in to the mountains in the distance.

We ended our night at our hotel in Vrin and had a wonderful four-course dinner that was paid for by Wentworth. At the end of dinner, I walked around outside for a little bit and photographed the mountains with the full moon. Then the clouds moved in...

Next morning, I woke up to snow falling outside my window, and I smiled. Because I was in LA for most of winter, I only had one snow storm when I was briefly back in Boston. I was happy to have my second snowfall of the year.
We spent most of the day looking at architecture in Vrin, specifically architecture by Gion Caminada. We had a guide (Timone) with us who had worked with Caminada previously and had lived in Vrin for seven years.
In the morning, we started off with a lecture, where we all struggled to stay awake (not that it was boring, but when I stop moving, I just want to sleep). Afterwards, Timone brought us into the gymnasium addition that Caminada had designed for the school in Vrin. It was made entirely of local wood and built by local carpenters. The tectonics were just plain sexy. You could see and understand how the whole structure works. We also had our fun inside; we had to take our shoes off when we entered, and we quickly realized how slippery the floors were, so of course, we had some sliding races.

Afterwards, we walked over to a phone booth designed by Caminada. The town had requested a phone line to be installed, and instead of placing a generic phone booth, Caminada decided to design one that related more to the village. Another beautiful wood structure, but the wood is having problems because of the rain.

On our way to visit Caminada's slaughterhouse, we stopped by and discussed one of his single-family houses. He follows a lot of the same principles--lots of wood with a stone foundation. When we got to the slaughterhouse, we couldn't enter because it was closed on Saturdays. It was a great building though (with lots of little hidden teases), and it's even better to learn how the slaughterhouse has helped the village. Before, they had to transport their livestock to other towns/villages to have them slaughtered and whatnot, but now, they can do it all locally and generate money within the town. With just a few buildings and ideas, Caminada managed to save this village and help them keep their traditions.

Our last Caminada building was the town mortuary that was located next to the church. The structure was constructed from wood, and unlike his other buildings, this one was painted in white chalk on the exterior to mimic the white church next to it. On the inside, he brings it back to the natural wood color to make the space more intimate and warm. The mortuary is used for people to grieve the deceased. The body is normally placed downstairs where people can say goodbye, while the upstairs there are two rooms (like a dining room and a living room) where friends and family can reminisce about the deceased. The process can last for a few days.

After lunch, we took the bus back into Zurich but made a pit stop in a town to see another Olgiati building. It was called the Yellow House and it was actually designed by Olgiati's father. Olgiati's father was some sort of collector, and before he died, he promised to donate his collection to the town if they promised to keep the Yellow House and renovate it. We didn't enter to see the exhibits but had a brief discussion outside.
When we arrived in Zurich and settled in, Jeri, Sarah, Kemal, and I walked around the city, both exploring the old part as well as looking for souvenir shops. Unfortunately, almost all of the stores were closed by 6pm, so we ended up just walking around and photographing. Eventually we got hungry so we wandered, looking for something affordable. Switzerland is ridiculously expensive compared to all the other cities I have been to. We finally found a decently priced restaurant, and I'm glad that we went to a sit-down restaurant rather than a take-out/fast food place.
When we finished dinner, I wanted to pick up a beer at the grocery store, and luckily it was open until 10pm, so while we were there, we ended up finding a souvenir aisle and buying all of our chocolate there. I also bought a Swiss army knife to replace the one that the airport had taken from me four years ago when I came back from Hawaii. All in all, a good night in Zurich.

Sunday morning, we visited one building in Zurich by Giuliani Honger. The Sihlhof building is a building for two schools that are part of a university. It wasn't spectacularly special in my opinion, but Rolf loves it for some reason. We were fortunate to get a tour by the architect himself so he explained the concept of the building and the process.

The highlight of Sunday was visiting Vitra in Basel, Germany. I can't believe that I had never heard of Vitra beforehand because it is awesome. The company designs home furniture (think IKEA but better) and collects famous designs like Eames, Mies, Gehry, etc. chairs. They cost thousands of dollars!! Needless to say, this company is ballin'. We visited the campus which consists of all Pritzker Prize winning architects except for a few. We saw Herzog and de Meuron, Zaha Hadid, Nicholas Grimshaw, Frank Gehry, Tadao Ando, Bucky Fuller, and a few others.
First structure we saw was Bucky Fuller's dome. There's currently nothing inside, but our tour guide was telling us about awesome events that are hosted there.

Next, we got to enter into Zaha Hadid's Fire Station which is a very strange, intriguing building. Not sure how I feel about her work, but when we were in the women's restroom, I felt like I was falling over because none of the walls were at 90 degree angles. Definitely different.

We also went into Tadao Ando's Conference Pavilion. I believe this was my first Ando building (it's hard to keep track these days) and it was very much Ando. I was a bit disappointed though because I was expecting more moments where light slips into little cracks and openings, but nonetheless, it's still a great structure.

Lastly, we toured the VitraHaus by Herzog and de Meuron, which serves as the welcome center, the gift shop, the cafe, as well as the "museum"/display area. It was very much like IKEA where you look and test out the furniture. I liked the interior of this building much more than all the other Herzog and de Meuron buildings, but the place is like an oven! There's a lot of southern exposure, and it doesn't help that the roofs are painted black and bounce all the heat back into the windows.

Sadly, our long weekend trip had to come to an end. It's been nonstop architecture and studio and all sorts of other annoyances like IDP and FAFSA and grad school decisions and scholarships when I'm back in Berlin. I need a break.

Roxanne

Amsterdam was unreal.

This city is unlike any other city I've ever been to (in a good, crazy way). It was like an extreme of Las Vegas minus the gambling. Everywhere you go, people are smoking pot or eating space cakes. And the Red Light District... such a culture shock!

Jeri and I met up with a group of the France study abroad group Saturday morning at the Amsterdam airport. Our flight was supposed to get in earlier than theirs, and our plan was to meet them at the gate, but when we got out, there was no indication of where their gate was. We used our detective skills to try and figure out where they would exit the terminal from, pacing back and forth from baggage claim to exit doors. Next thing I hear on the loudspeaker is "Angela Neggo and Jeri Hall please report to the information desk." Turns out, their flight arrived early, and they were smarty pants about finding us.

We took a taxi into the city and immediately found some breakfast. I couldn't have asked for a better group to explore Amsterdam with; no matter what we did, it was always fun and funny.

The way Amsterdam is laid out is really simple. There's a center, and then the canals surround it kind of like a ripple effect. It's a completely walkable city; I'd guess that the farthest you'd have to walk would be about two miles. After we had breakfast and coffee, we walked to the Van Gogh Museum. Unfortunately, no photos were allowed of the interior, but the exhibit was incredible. I'm not a big fan of Van Gogh, but seeing all his work definitely brought on a new sense of appreciation.

By the time we finished in the museum, we were all starving for lunch, so on our way to the Heineken brewery, we stopped by a little sandwich shop. I have no idea what the name of this place was or where it was, but the guy made some amazing paninis.

We were all pretty excited for the Heineken Brewery, but when we got there, we quickly realized that it wasn't worth 15 Euros. The tour only included two beers and no "free" glass! We decided to save our money and do a canal cruise later on instead.

We explored more of the city and ended up at a street market. Of course, the first thing that caught our attention was a waffle stand. Even though we just ate lunch, all of us ordered a waffle covered in some sort of sweet (mine was just dark chocolate syrup... and it was perfection).

Next up: canal cruise! For 13 Euros, we were driven around the canals for about 75 minutes or so. It was also perfect timing because it was almost sunset. It's a great quick way to see the architecture and the streets of Amsterdam.

After that, we decided to find the hostel (StayOkay) so everyone could drop off their backpacks. My plan for Amsterdam was to pull an all-nighter and roam the streets at night because the hostels I found required a 2 night minimum stay or they cost close to $50/night. Unfortunately, no one else agreed with my plan, so I got dragged into staying at a hostel with the rest of them. I'm sure it was the better choice, but I still think it would have been epic to say that I pulled an all-nighter in Amsterdam and wreaked havoc.

We headed back into the center for dinner. Our stomachs led us to the first affordable restaurant we found (no idea what it was called). Most of us ended up ordering half a chicken with salad and fries for only 9.50 Euros. Decently priced. It didn't even compare to the taste of Greece, but it was good enough for me in my starving state.

By the time we finished dinner, it was about 11pm, so we figured it was about time to see the Red Light District. The area was clearly marked with red lights wherever possible. I can't even describe how strange it is to walk down these streets. You're surrounded by 80% males (hey, it's like being at Wentworth!) who are oggling these, erm.... "pretty women" that are in behind glass doors, tapping their nails on the glass, trying to get... clients.... to come in. Then there are clubs and theaters trying to sell you tickets to see live... performances. Very different from anything I've ever encountered.

We called it a night after that and headed back to the hostel by taxi. In the morning, we had free breakfast at the hostel before checking out. We wanted to see the Anne Frank house, but when we got there, the line was insanely long, so we decided to skip it and walk around instead.

Eventually the France group had to leave and catch their flight, so Jeri and I hung around the city for an extra hour or two. We mostly shopped around souvenir shops and circled around different streets. We took the subway back to the airport, and I'm pretty sure it was faster and cheaper than taking a taxi.

Needless to say, Amsterdam was different. I would love to return someday to see more of the city. Hopefully my uncle moves there.

Relax, Take It Easy

This past weekend was our first long weekend. Jeri, Sarah, and I met up with Danielle, Pam, and Megan in Athens to travel to Santorini. It was one of the best, most memorable times I've ever had. It was such a relief not having to run around like a mad woman trying to see architecture. I finally just relaxed and took it all in.

We picked one of the quieter times to visit Santorini. In the summer, the island is filled with tourists. When we were there, the majority of the shops weren't open, there weren't any donkey rides or boats to the volcano, the buses weren't as frequent... and it was awesome. It was like having the whole island to ourselves. I would hate to be there with a million people all fighting for pictures and having people haggling me for money or whatever. Anyways...

Thursday, the Berlin girls arrived in Athens at 3pm and took a taxi to the Acropolis to see the Parthenon (our one architecture-related activity). We thought the Acropolis closed at 5, so we booked it as soon as we got off the plane. We paid 40 Euros for the cab ride, only to find out that the Acropolis closes at 3 (last tickets at 2:30). We were not happy campers. We found Megan, Danielle, and Pam, and together we walked the Acropolis and took photos of the view.

We stopped at a cafe called Ouv Adnua for food. Our waitress was hilarious! She was full of energy and jokes. In Greece, people take their time and relax when they eat. It was so nice just to kick back with food and wine.

After spending about two hours there, we headed for our hotel in Piraeus, where we would be taking a ferry the next morning. We weren't quite stuffed yet, so we ventured out towards the water and walked around and ended up going into a Haagen Daz Cafe for desserts. Sadly I didn't have my camera on me, but the desserts were delicious. This was like a high-class Haagen Daz. If we wanted to, we could've ordered alcoholic drinks as well.

When we got back to the hotel, we all took showers, and this is when I was banned from using outlets for the rest of the trip. In my state my tiredness, I plugged in Pam's hairdryer with an adapter but not a converter, so as soon as I turned on the hairdryer, I blew the fuse, and Jeri and Sarah go "Angela...." and the next thing you hear from next door (because the walls are paper thin) is "was that the hairdryer?!" Turns out I blew out the electricity for the entire third floor... Oops.
The staff were nice about it though. They couldn't restore the electricity, so they offered for us to switch room, but I felt so bad that I told them that it would be fine.

The next morning, we woke up early for our 7:30am ferry to Santorini on Blue Star Ferries. It was a 7.5 hour ferry ride, making a few stops to the other islands. The water was the bluest I had ever seen. We spent the majority of our time trying to catch up on sleep or playing card games. We finally arrived at Santorini around 3:30 where we were picked up personally by our hotel, Villa Manos. We only paid 86 Euros for two nights, which rounded to about 15 Euros per person! The ride to the hotel reminded a lot of the roads in Jamaica; there were a lot of sharp turns going up and down the mountain/cliff.

We wasted no time. We dropped off all of our stuff in the room and walked for about 20 minutes to Fira, the "capital" of Santorini. We made a few stops along the side of the road to watch the sunset and stopped by a few souvenir shops for gifts and such. Around 7pm or so, we were all starving, and because we hadn't eaten since the ferry, and we didn't know when restaurants would close, we headed to a restaurant called Ellis (recommended by one of the cashiers at a souvenir shop). This was the most amazing restaurant I have ever experienced. When we arrived, there was absolutely no one in there, and our waiter just looked so bored. I think we made his night by entering the restaurant. He was absolutely charming and adorable. The food was incredible. We ordered a few appetizers (fried cheese, deep fried tomato balls) and everybody tried different entrees. We ended up spending four hours there, and our waiter kept bringing us free food! First he brought out half a liter of white wine and a quarter liter of red wine, and after we finished with our entrees, he came out with four (!!!) plates of desserts! It was a fantastic night full of food and good friends and beautiful sights.

Saturday morning, we woke up bright and early and headed back to Fira for breakfast at a cafe called Classico Cafe. In the morning, it was raining a bit so we were worried that it would be a wet day out, but as soon as we finished breakfast, the sun came out. It was perfect. We walked around Fira for about an hour or so before taking the bus down to Kamari.

Kamari, like the rest of Santorini, was wonderful. We walked around exploring the town. We tried to find Ancient Thira, but we quickly realized that it was located on the top of the cliff. If we had planned it better, I bet we would've rented ATVs to drive to the top. But, regardless, we enjoyed our little hikes around the town, and finally we walked towards the water to experience Kamari's black sand beach. It was surreal to see all this black sand and rocks. The first thing I did was throw my shoes and socks off. It was painful to walk on at first, but after a while, you get used to it. I frolicked around like a little kid. I ran towards the Mediterranean Sea and felt the cold water submerge my feet. It was wonderful.

Because it was the weekend, the buses were running only every two hours, so we decided to call a taxi instead of wasting time. We drove down to our next destination on the island: Akrotiri. This was even more amazing than Kamari's black sand... this was red sand. We had to climb a bit to get down to the beach, but the view was breath-taking. I couldn't believe where I was. The water so crystal clear and so blue. It was beyond words. We spent a few hours there relaxing, taking pictures, etc. I was throwing rocks and attempting to skip them; I was having the time of my life.

Eventually it was time to leave the beach. We headed back to the hotel briefly to clean ourselves up and get ready for the night. While we were looking for Poppy (the owner of the hotel) so we could get a taxi, she decided to feed us food! Seriously, this woman was so hospitable and helpful.

We took the taxi to our final destination of the night: Oia. I had read several articles online and in books that Oia must be experienced at sunset, so that's what we did. We arrived about an hour beforehand so we could walk around and check out the town. It was here that The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants was filmed, and it is here that those famous pictures of white houses and blue roofs are taken.

When we got out of the taxi, we were followed by the most adorable dog. Santorini has several stray dogs that roam around. At one point, we were being followed by four dogs; we even named them! If I could have, I would have taken them home with me.
The sky was a bit cloudy, but the sunset was still beautiful. I personally think clouds enhance a sunset because they create this wonderful palette of pinks, purples, and blues. It was the perfect way to end our perfect day.

We took a taxi back into Fira for dinner at Mama's House, also recommended to us by the same cashier. Like every other restaurant we ate it, this place was delicious as well. Usually I'm pretty frugal when it comes to ordering, but I figured, "I'm on vacation; to hell with it!" I may look like a small person, but I can eat. I ordered a Santorini Salad, fried goat cheese, a bird's nest (eggplant topped with beef, cheese, and tomato sauce), baklava with ice cream, and .5L of red wine. I was stuffed at the end of the night. After dinner, we were all exhausted from our long day of excursions and decided  sadly to call it a night.

The next morning, we had dinner at the hotel (and took a photo with Poppy!) and got driven to the airport. We flew back to Athens on Olympic Air, and the flight was only half an hour! From Athens, we all split up to go back to our respective countries. An amazing weekend right before midcrit.

This coming weekend: Amsterdam!

In other news, I got accepted into graduate school! Yesterday I received an email from Parsons telling me that I was accepted and was being considered for a scholarship! So then I checked my other email account, and found out that I had been denied from Columbia (my number one choice. Sad, but I'm okay about it) and I was being recommended by UIC's arch department to their Graduate College. What a good way to begin my morning after pulling an all-nighter for midcrit.