The Other Side

On Tuesdays, we don't have classes, so obviously I was out and about discovering Berlin yesterday. It was the first sunny day since we've been in Europe and I definitely took advantage of it. Sarah, Jeri, Erblin, Kemal, and I decided to head west to the Charlottenburg district of Berlin to check out the Olympic Stadium. It was constructed for the 1936 Olympic games, where Hitler famously walked out as Jesse Owens won four gold medals. In 2004, the stadium was renovated to what it looks like today. Let me tell you; it was pretty amazing to walk into this enormous (and empty) stadium. The tectonics of the roof structure was also incredible. We spent about an hour or two just walking around the stands, around the stadium's exterior, and around the top. We froze our ears and hands in the cold (but sunny) weather. Completely worth 3 Euros to enter. Sadly, the bell tower was closed for winter so we couldn't get a bird's eye view of the stadium.

Nearby were the Unite d'Habitation apartments by Le Corbusier. Every architecture student should know these apartments since they've been drilled into our minds since freshmen year. I've attached an image that we know so well.  These are the interlocking L-shaped apartments that are two stories.  We entered the apartment building, checked out the lobby, took the elevator to the top floor and explored the stairwell, but sadly, we didn't get to experience an actual apartment. I can't judge the building until I see the interior! But from the look of the hallways, it felt very cramped; Kemal was too tall for the doors (he's about 6'4").

When we finished with the apartments, the rest of the group decided to go to studio, so I ended up flying solo to Schlossgarten. I walked by the Schloss Charlottenburg (apparently a museum?) which is a huuuuuge palace that was built for Sophie Charlotte, wife of King Friedrich I of Prussia.

Behind the palace is an enormous park with fantastic landscaping that was similar to Andre Le Notre's work. I tried going to the Neue Pavillon by Karl Schinkel, but it was closed for restoration. I walked as far as the carp pond, which was filled with all species of ducks, and then walked back to the U-Bahn along Schlosstrasse.

My last stop of the day was the Ludwig Erhard Haus by Nicholas Grimshaw, which I believe is a stock exchange building. It's a pretty impressive building with its arched form and steel and glass construction. I only walked through the lobby, but I could peek an atrium through a side exterior window.

Today I had the opportunity to visit Norman Foster's Philological Library on the Freie Universitat campus. It was an addition placed in the middle of one of the existing courtyards. It's an interesting exterior, but I loved the interior much more. Sadly, the librarians wouldn't let me enter with my camera (they were mean librarians) but luckily Jeri had a pocket-sized camera, so I snapped a couple shots with that. On the inside, the floor slabs are shaped symmetrically with its edges forming waves. As you go up the floors, the slabs are offset a few feet so there's a tiered effect. Very cool library; I would actually study here.

That's all for now. Until next time...

These Streets

Yesterday was a gloomy day in Berlin. The weather was windy, the clouds were gray, and the sky was constantly spitting rain. Regardless, I seized the day with Erblin and Kemal and went around Mitte, specifically Unter den Linden, which translates to "under the linden trees." The whole boulevard is lined with linden trees as it leads you to Pariser Platz and the Brandenburg Gate.

Our first destination was... wait for it... a Behnisch building! Designed by the Stuttgart office, the Akademie der Künste (Academy of the Arts) is a fantastic addition to Pariser Platz, which is surrounded by mostly embassies. The exterior wasn't too significant, but I feel like that has more to do with the neighboring buildings than anything because all the facades are flush. However, once you enter, you know you're in a Behnisch building. To the left, there's a grand staircase that invites you to walk up to the second level (look at the handrail too!) and to the right is the gift shop/book store and mirror walls that we're so fond of. As you walk past the ceiling, the space just soars. We tried to get as high as we could, but eventually we reached a sign that said "No Entrance," but you know how architecture students like to explore... but as soon as we walked past the roped area, a woman ran out of nowhere and started yelling in German. After seeing confused looks on our faces, she yelled in English. Too bad I don't have a Behnisch badge or something that I could flash and get admittance to the rest of the building. So we walked back down, and on top of the glass roof, there were the words "OFF LIMITS FOR GOOGLE." I found that amusing. We exited through the other entrance because I wanted to see what it looked like (and it was very much a Behnisch color scheme), and to our surprise, we stumbled upon Peter Eisenman's Holocaust Memorial.


We walked around and got lost in the memorial for a while. It's pretty much rows and rows of rectangular blocks extruded upwards at different elevations, and as you walk through, the ground raises or lowers and you get engulfed by these structures. It would be a great place to play tag if it weren't a Holocaust memorial. I would love to go back on a sunny day or at night just to see what it looks and feels like at those times. 

We walked back through the Behnisch building and finished exploring the rest of the space. We tried to go next door to the Frank Gehry building, but when Erblin opened the door, some angry German man came screaming at us, saying "geschlossen" which means "closed," so that didn't happen. I managed to sneak a shot of the interior through the glass doors though.

We spent the rest of our time just wandering around Pariser Platz and photographing the area.  After getting tired of the rain, we called it a day and headed to studio. More exploring tomorrow since we don't have classes! And I actually saw the sun today!

The Next Episode

Sorry, sorry, sorry! I know everybody (and by everybody, I mean about five people) has been waiting for me to update from Berlin. It’s been a nonstop pace since I’ve gotten here, but I will start with last week.

I forgot to blog earlier, but when I was in Boston, I shot my one and only air rifle match for my senior year and ended up winning the gold medal with a score of 568 out of 600. Anyways, Monday, January 31^st, about 40 students (20 going to Berlin, 20 going to France) met at Logan Airport and checked in four hours before our flight. I was up until 3am the previous night to finish packing and ended up getting sick (of course) but I didn’t let that ruin my fun. The plane ride to Frankfurt took about 7 hours or so, and we got free drinks (meaning alcoholic as well), snacks, and a meal. I spent most of the time watching shows on my laptop and attempting to sleep. We landed in Frankfurt at about 5:30am and the groups split up. Initially our flight to Berlin was supposed to be at 7am, but when we looked at the departure monitor, it said that our flight was canceled. There we were, a group of 20 students, trying to figure out how to get to Berlin. We kept going back and forth from terminals and help desks until we finally got new tickets for an 8:30am flight. We didn’t get to Berlin until 11am or so, and by then, all of us were just dead.

We met up with our study abroad coordinator Rolf and he took us to our studio space first and then to our apartments. After everyone took a nap, a group of us ventured out to explore Berlin a bit. Our first day we stayed fairly close to home and walked to Alexanderplatz.  So far the weather here has been gray and cold and sometimes rainy and windy, but the city is amazing. There is so much modern architecture around yet it’s filled with such history.


On Wednesday, we officially started classes. We only have about four classes while we’re over here: studio, German, humanities, and material studies. It’s a very light load compared to my usual semesters, and we have Tuesdays off, so I will be doing lots of exploring.

Friday, our humanities professor Ruth took us to a museum called The Story of Berlin which gave a brief history of Berlin by having theme “rooms.” Very interesting and enlightening museum. We also got to tour an underground bunker.
Friday night I had my first European clubbing experience. We went to a nearby club called Tresor, and they charged a 13 Euro cover (13 Euros!! That’s like $18! Ugh). It is completely different than the US. Everyone’s dressed pretty grunge and it’s all about dancing to some crazy house beats. In the basement, the bass was so loud that I could feel it pulsing through my heart. It was insane and definitely not my scene. I left around 3am with a few others, but the other half of the group apparently stayed until 5:30am.

Everyone who knows me knows how much I hate to waste time, so all my free moments in Berlin are being spent exploring the city. My stay here is limited so I’m trying to pack in as much sightseeing and photographing as I can. I’ve left a few weekends for Berlin, but for March and half of April, I will be going to Greece, Copenhagen, Prague, Madrid (with school), Switzerland (with school), Amsterdam, and one other destination that I haven’t decided on for February 26-27 (contemplating between Barcelona, Lisbon, and Dublin, or somewhere else… input is MUCH NEEDED ASAP!!).

On Saturday, my roommates (Jeri and Sarah), Erblin, and I ventured out to Potsdamer Platz to check out the architecture of the area. Twenty years ago after the wall came down, there was nothing in the area. Now it’s filled with several office, commercial, and residential towers; it feels a bit like Manhattan. We went specifically in search of buildings that were listed in an architecture book that Erblin had bought, and for the most part we saw most of the ones in that area.



The first building we went in to was by an unknown architect. It felt very Behnisch to me. The building is made mainly of steel and glass, and when you enter, there’s a fantastic atrium space with green space inside (which makes me think it’s a Behnisch-esque building). Being architecture students, we felt the need to explore all that we could, so we took the escalator to the second floor, and then the elevator to the 8th/top floor. When we got to the top, it looked as if they were completing construction, so there were rooms just filled with ceiling panels, radiant floor panels, lights, etc. We walked all the way around before heading back down. Great building, very tectonic.

We walked down a few blocks and found a building by Richard Rogers but didn't go in (I don't know why). I believe it was a residential building, with a very distinct shape of a triangle.

Next we walked over to the Debis Building by Renzo Piano which I believe is an office building. As I mentioned before, I love everything by Renzo, so of course I loved this building. There's even a water feature around it (I don't know what you'd call it--a reflection pool, a moat?).

We found another building next to it (another unknown architect) and it had this courtyard area (I guess that's what you could call it) that framed views. It's hard to describe what I'm talking about so here's a picture.  




Next we walked a little bit to Mies van der Rohe's Neue Nationalgalerie, which is very very much a Mies building. Simple steel and glass in an open space, and the program is underground. We walked around and inside but didn't pay for the exhibits. I love how simple it looks.
 
Across the street was the Berliner Philharmonie, designed by Hans Scharoun. Very interesting building and not sure how I feel about it. We tried to get it but it was closed. It also started to rain harder so we weren't feeling too adventurous to walk around it. Instead we headed over to the Sony Center where the outdoor area is covered by a large "umbrella"-like structure. It's definitely a landmark in Potsdamer Platz with its unique shape. 
We made a quick stop to grab lunch then proceeded to see the Parkside Apartments by David Chipperfield. I wasn't impressed; it looked and felt like a prison to me, but I didn't go inside, so I can't say what the inside looks or feels like. After that, we were all architecture-ed out, so we called it a day and headed home to relax.
On our way back, we passed the Science Center Medizintechnik, and I just thought it was an interesting form. It managed to be organic yet orthogonal at the same time.

Today I did more adventuring, but that update will have to wait until the morning. Now it's time to work on studio stuff... Tschüss!

Save Me, San Francisco

My last week on the west coast was spent mainly exploring San Francisco for the second time, but this time flying solo without a tour group.

First, I must tell you about the difficulties of buying airline tickets. A few weeks before, I checked Southwest and tickets were $59 one-way. A few months before, I found them for $44 one-way, so I was going to wait for the prices to drop. Instead, the prices went up. I was traveling on January 17th (MLK Day) and returning on the 20th, so first the prices on the 17th rose to $122! I figured I could shift my dates over one day from the 18th - 21st. Next day I checked, the 18th went up to $122 as well. So then I thought, maybe I'll cut my trip short by a day and leave on Wednesday. Nope, Wednesday went up to $122 too! At that point, I was cursing the airlines for raising prices. Finally, I figured out that I could fly to San Jose for $49 one-way and take the CalTrain up to San Francisco. Done. That was my plan.

Monday morning I set out early for my 8am flight with Horizon Air. Initially the flight was delayed for 20 minutes because of fog that was over all of the Bay area, so when we boarded the plane, they told us that if the fog hasn't cleared up by the time we arrive, then the plane would return to LAX.  As I sat on the plane (which is the smallest plane I have ever been on, with the most random brands for beverages and snacks... explains why it was so cheap I guess) wishing and praying that we would land, I saw the fog that was down below... then I watched as the plane was engulfed for 30 seconds in just white... next thing I knew, we were on the ground. Highly impressive. From there, I took the Valley Transit Authority (VTA) bus to the CalTrain station, where I boarded a train for San Francisco. Finally, I reached SF around noon.

The first thing I did was check in at the Adelaide Hostel which I found on Yelp! I had never done the hostel thing (American movies have made me super paranoid about meeting/sharing with strangers) but this was a positive experience. It only cost $25/night with shared bedrooms and bathrooms (where Seattle cost me $74/night), and the location was great. They had free breakfast in the morning, washer and dryer on site, and public computers for everybody's use.
After I secured all of my belongings, I headed for the Contemporary Jewish Museum which Daniel Libeskind had renovated and designed a new addition to the once-abandoned power station. I've recently become a fan of Libeskind after reading his book Breaking Ground, although I do admit sometimes his designs are a bit cheesy. However, I enjoyed the interior of the museum. There's one space where the openings create this great conversation between light and shadow. Because it was MLK Day, admission was free (fantastic, because I wasn't going to pay to see the exhibits!) so I got to experience the gallery spaces as well as the exterior.  Here's one of my favorite quotes from his book:


If architecture fails, if it is pedestrian and lacks imagination and power, it tells only one story, that of its own making: how it was built, detailed, financed. But a great building, like great literature or poetry or music, can tell the story of the human soul. It can make us see the world in a wholly new way, change it forever. It can awaken our desires, propose imaginary trajectories, and say to a child who has seen little and been nowhere, Hey, the world can be very different from what you ever imagined. You can be very different from what you ever imagined.
Buildings--contrary to popular thought--are not inanimate objects. They live and breathe, and like humans have an outside and an inside, a body and a soul. So how does one go about designing a building that can sing? A building that expresses character, humanity, and beauty? How does one begin?

Next stop was SFMoMA designed by Mario Botta. Again, I bought a CityPass for $64, which is more than worth it--five attractions (SFMoMA, Aquarium of the Bay, Blue and Gold Fleet Cruise, California Academy of Sciences, de Young Museum and Legion of Honor or Exploratorium) plus unlimited rides on the Muni (bus, cable car, and street car) for seven days.  From the outside, it doesn't look too impressive, but the interior was great. I love the use of lines and light. There's a large atrium space when you enter, and the circulation is fantastic. I was looking at my pictures when I uploaded them onto the computer, and at one point, I couldn't figure out which orientation was up or down. I love that. The museum also had a good amount of exhibits and a sculpture garden on the roof.

After the museum, I walked around Union Square looking for a place to eat or something to do. I ended up at Beer Zone (over 100 beers!) which was connected to a Lori's Diner. I had a few beers, ate a burger, and watched the Celtics game at the bar. I called it a night after that.

Tuesday was a tiring day. I had breakfast at the hostel and then set out for the bus towards Golden Gate Bridge. It was a beautiful day out--blue skies with a bit of early fog. I spent the morning walking across the bridge, which is a little less than a mile long. When I got to the other side, I was hoping there would be a bus or ferry to take back to San Fran, but the only public transportation back was in Sausalito, and I didn't feel like getting lost, so I walked all the way back across the bridge.

My next stop was Coit Tower, the highest point in San Francisco. I took a bus to Filbert Street and walked towards the tower. My calves got quite the work out going up that hill; they were burning by the time I got to the tower. When I entered, I couldn't figure out how to get to the top. I kept looking for stairs but they didn't exist. Then I saw all the signs posted around the elevator--the elevator was closed due to renovations until January 19th... it was January 18th. So I cursed for a while for walking up that hill for nothing and then turned around and walked down a million steps towards the waterfront.

I was going to walk to Pier 39, but my legs were tired, so I decided to take the street car instead. These cars have been around since the 40s or something, and they're like Boston's above-ground subway lines. So I hopped on free with my CityPass and arrived at Pier 39 to visit the Aquarium of the Bay. It was probably the smallest aquarium I have ever been to... I had anticipated spending a large chunk of the day there, but before I knew it, I was done walking through it! There are only two parts to the whole aquarium. You start off by taking the elevator down one story and walking through a tunnel, with fish and sting rays all around you. That was pretty sweet. The second part is just touching a starfish or shark. That was it! I was so disappointed!
When I got out, I grabbed some lunch at a random tourist trap and headed over to check the times for the Blue and Gold Fleet Bay Cruise. Just my luck; there was one leaving in 10 minutes! So then I stood in line and got on the 2:30 departure. What a gorgeous day it was! We went around the Bay, under the Golden Gate Bridge, and then around Alcatraz before returning back to the pier. The cruise wasn't as good as the Seattle one; there wasn't a person narrating the journey but a really lame recording of a "pirate" or something...

When the cruise was over, I had time left in my itinerary, so I decided to head over to Castro and check out the area. I walked around Harvey Milk Plaza (if you haven't seen the movie Milk, I highly recommend it) and then walked up and down the streets. I've been to West Hollywood (supposedly the gay capital of America) before, but Castro had a completely different feel. Both are great communities, but Castro just felt more laid-back, which makes sense since LA is so superficial. And of course, some drunk guy started talking to me as soon as he saw me taking pictures with my DSLR. Seems I can't avoid the crazies no matter where I am. 

After Castro, I headed back to downtown to meet up with a friend for dinner. We got some pizza and caught up for about two hours, then I went back to the hostel.

Wednesday was a day spent at Golden Gate Park. I got up early, ate breakfast, and made my way to the California Academy of Sciences, designed by Renzo Piano! This is my third Renzo building, and as always, it did not disappoint. When I arrived, I found out that admission was free for the day, which meant two things. 1) I didn't have to use the ticket from CityPass, and 2) there would be a million children inside. The museum (would it be referred to as a museum?) is pretty amazing. Inside, there are two domes--one is the IMAX dome, and the other is a simulated rain forest. When I was in the rain forest, I witnessed a snake attack and eat a frog... it was crazy and awesome.

The ground floor has a variety of exhibits, the cafe, gift shop, etc., and downstairs is an aquarium. On the roof is the most famous feature--the green roof! From the top, you get a great view of the de Young Museum across the way. After spending too much money for too little lunch, I finished exploring the academy and went to the de Young Museum.

The de Young Museum, a fine arts museum, was my first Herzog and de Meuron building, and honestly, I was a little disappointed. The facade is interesting and different, but the form of the museum was ugly. The interior was alright--nothing too special like Renzo's Modern Wing in Chicago. Overall, I was left with a feeling of "ehhh." The art was okay but not my favorite. I also didn't like the fact that I couldn't get out to the "garden" areas (maybe I just didn't look hard enough) or that I couldn't go outside when I was at the top of the tower.

Eventually it was closing time, so I took the Muni towards Haight Street, which is mostly where the hippie scene occurred in the 60s and 70s. The street is filled with smoke shops, thrift stores, bars, cafes, etc. Definitely an eclectic street like Venice Boardwalk. I knew there was an Amoeba Music on the street, so obviously I had to go. I ended up buying four CDs for under $5. I LOVE Amoeba Music. I could literally spend all day in there. I was feeling a bit hungry, so I found a place called People's Cafe and had a wonderful and cheap dinner there. I ended the night at a bar before heading back to the hostel.

Thursday morning, I met a German girl in the hostel and started talking about Europe. Hostels are great for meeting Europeans! They're all young too. I asked her a bunch of questions about Europe and she gave me tips about places to go. After breakfast, I checked out and headed for the the Federal Building.

The Federal Building was designed by Morphosis. I've been a fan of Morphosis ever since I saw their 41 Cooper Union Building. I love the tectonics of all their designs. I could only see the exterior (I didn't want to risk going inside of a federal building) but I love that the facade wraps around the roof of the building as well.

Nearby was the civic center, so I walked towards City Hall just to see the plaza. It was another beautiful day out so I photographed all morning. I was killing time until 11am for an architecture walking tour, but because I hadn't made reservations online beforehand, I called the guy in the morning, left a voicemail, but never got a response (not until the next morning... when I was back in LA), so I decided to just meet him at the gathering spot. As luck would have it, he wasn't having a tour that day because no one had signed up, so that screwed up my plans for the day (I had to decide between the walking tour or Alcatraz and picked the walking tour. Wrong choice). Thankfully there was a Jamba Juice next door to save my spirits. I took a minute to figure out my next move. 

While I was looking at a map of SF, I noticed that there was a Frank Lloyd Wright building close to where I was, so that's where I went next. The building is occupied by Xanadu Gallery, which I believe is a jewelry store (I wasn't really paying attention). The building itself wasn't designed by Frank but it was renovated by him. It's similar to Guggenheim with the spiral ramp to the second floor and he uses a lot of circles and spheres (as you can see in the picture). It's very much a Frank space.
My next stop was in Pacific Heights to find a particular house. It was featured in a very popular 90s film with Robin Williams, and thanks to my Frommer's guide, I was able to find it! There was also a fantastic view north towards the water. I love San Francisco because no matter where you are, there's always a picture-perfect view.
I ended up walking along Union Street (the main street in Pacific Heights) and got some lunch at Jovino before heading to Ghirardelli Square. The waterfront is great in SF. Lots of public spaces, attractions, parks, shops, restaurants, etc. I walked all the way to Pier 39 and then took a bus to Coit Tower. At that point, I expected the elevator to be working and ready, but when I entered, the signs had all been changed to say that the elevators would not be fixed until the 24th. I was pretty mad about that, but there was nothing I could do.
Finally it was time for me to head back to the hostel to pick up my stuff, so I rode the cable car at last and got my stuff. Headed to the train station, took the CalTrain down to Santa Clara, took the VTA bus to the San Jose Airport, and flew back to LAX. Whew.

My friend Tyan (probably my only real friend in LA outside of work and home) picked me up and she took me to dinner at the Alibi Room. Fantastic restaurant/bar with a fusion of Korean and Mexican food. Delicious. Ended the night drinking a bottle of champagne I received for Christmas with her and her neighbor Matthew.

Now I'm back on the east coast where there are mountains of snow everywhere I look, the temperatures are well in the single digits, and my feet are constantly freezing. Feels good to be home.