Only two and a half weeks left....

Well, I have not blogged in awhile, but I have been quite busy traveling and working on projects. I went to Rome with my class for 5 days and we saw everything from the Colloseum to the Roman ruins to the Italian Fascist Architecture to modern Zaha Hadid buildings. I went to the Vatican, toured the Vatican museum, saw the enourmous Pantheon, threw 3 coins into the Trevi Fountain, walked up and down the Spanish Steps, walked through the Piazza del Popolo, toured the Villa d'Este just outside Rome, and also walked through the 1960's Olympics arenas. Also, we toured the Auditorium Parco della Musica by Renzo Piano. We were able to see so many different things while we were there and actually our Professor, Professor Cappelari grew up in Rome and therefore knows the city better than any American professor could. That trip ended on Friday, October 16 and from there I flew to Madrid, Spain.

The Pantheon

Inside St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican


The Vatican

"The Square Collesuem"

The Piazza del Popolo

The Spanish Steps

The Trevi Fountain

The ruins in the Roman Forum

Ruins

The Colloseum

Professor Hasse and his wife in the Gardens of the Villa d'Este

Me and TJ at the Villa d'Este

The Villa d'Este

The Olympic Stadium behind the old track

The Maxxi by Zaha Hadid

Auditorium Parco della Musica by Renzo Piano

Ara Pacis Museum by Richard Meier

San Giovanni

MADRID, SPAIN

I stayed in Madrid for 3 full days, and while I was there I ate some interesting Spanish food, and drank a lot of Starbuck's coffee. I visted several museums and exhibits including the Caixa Forum (designed by Herzog & de Meuron), the Reina Sofia (designed by Jean Nouvel), and the Prado Museum (with an addition designed by Rafael Maneo). I also visited a street on the outskirts of the city referred to as Eco Boulevard. There are many social housing buildings designed by conteporary architects. The middle of the boulvard contains a median of sorts that has 3 different "buildings" that are spread apart. Below is an image of me swinging below one of the "buildings". Each "building" is slightly different, but all contain solar panels. The only function of these buildings is to create a social space for the residents of the surrounding apartments. The solar panels are purely used to supply power to the lights that illuminate the "buildings" at night. Also, I did not know that Spain is known for its ham, so I ate dinner at "the Ham Museum", tha name of the restaurant, and it was delicious. After spending 3 days in Madrid, I flew to Berlin, Germany.

Swinging under a building on Eco Boulevard

Eco Boulevard

The Ham Museum

The Prado Museum

Santa Maria Church

BERLIN, GERMANY

Berlin was much colder than was Madrid. I bought a hat and gloves the first day I was there because I decided I wouldn't make it through the rest of the trip with out them; it was cold!! The first place I visited in Berlin was the Jewish Museum (designed by Daniel Leibskind). After the museum, I walked around much of Berlin. I saw some of the remaining Berlin Wall and also Checkpoint Charlie, which was an American checkpoint at an entry of the wall. Also, I saw the Holocaust Memorial designed by Peter Eisenman. I also ate a lot of Bratwurst and found out that curry and currywurst is my new favorite food.

The Jewish Museum by Daniel Leibskind

A reminder of where the Berlin wall once stood

The Berlin wall today

The Holocaust Memorial be Peter Eisenman

" The Brandenburg Tor"

Mid-Semester

So this past week has been a pretty crappy week. It is mid-semester which means we have our first design project due. Since this past Friday ( a week ago), I have spent all of my time that I am awake in studio, finishing the project. I am designing and building my building in a computer program called Rhinoceros. IT is a 3 dimensional model building program. So last night (or I guess this morning) around 4 am I finally finished the 3-d model. So now I still have a lot to do before Saturday at 10AM. I still need to draw/edit plans, sections and elevations in autocad and I also need to take renderings of the model (renderings are images of the 3-d model that are similar to photographs, they show the materials and textures that comprise the actual building. So we have to present our projects on Saturday.
Since it is mid-semester, we are leaving for our trip to Rome, Italy on Monday early morning. We all will meet at the train station at 5:30 am, take a train to Venice, and then fly from Venice to Rome. We finish in Rome on Friday afternoon, and we then have a week off of school to travel on our own. The school does not make return flights for us to return to Vicenza, instead we each plan our own week leaving from Rome. So my plans include leaving from Rome on Friday late-afternoon, flying to Madrid, Spain. Staying in Madrid for 3 days, then flying to Berlin, Germany for another 3 days, and then returning to the Veneto region of Italy, and going back to Padua ( the city we visited as a class on the rainy day).
So that is my agenda for the next 2 weeks, I will not be posting anything until I return. I am not bringing my computer. But I will take many pictures, and post them when I return to Vicenza. Also sorry there aren't any images to accompany this blog, all there is to show for the last week are some empty espresso cups, and some files on my computer.

The Vilathon

Last Wednesday, September 23 as a class we went on a little trip call the Villathon. I think that the name "Villathon" was made up by UF for this specific tour. We tour the Veneto region by bus. The Veneto is a region in the Northern part of Italy. Vicenza, Venice, Padua, and Verona are all in the Veneto region. The first stop of the tour was in Arzignano (Vicenza) to see the Chiesa di San Giovanni Battista by Giovanni Michelucci, 1965-67.

The second stop on the tour was the Villa emo by Andrea Palladio (c. 1559/67) in Fanzolo (Treviso). I love to visit buildings that we have learned about in school. I remember studying for a history test, looking at little black & white photos, trying to memorize the name of each villa, and building and the architect and each of their significance. Now, I can actually place the building with the name and the architect. I am actually starting to understand the significance and influence tha building has on architecture.

The third stop on the tour was the Brion Cemetary by Carlo Scarpa (1969-75) in San Vito di Altivole (Treviso). This cemetary (in case anyone is interested) is a family cemetary designed for a couple. The cemetary hase 5 buildings in total. The image below is the entry building.

The image below is the family chapel.

The image the below shows a bridge/cover with the sarcophagi of the Brions below the structure. (Side note: in order to determine the correct word for what the bodies of the Brions are in, I decided to ask some of my fellow classmates what they would be called. So then everyone else that is here in studio wanted to know what the debate was about. So then there were about 9 people involved in determining that the Brions are in sarcophagi not tombs.)

Below is an image of Carlo Scarpa's tombstone. He is buried (supossedly he is buried vertically) between the private Brion cemetary and the public portion of the cemetary. He died that same year the construction of the cemetary finished.

Below: Left of the wall is Scarpa's grave, between the private, family cemetary to the right, and the publice portion to the left.

We stopped in the town of Asolo to eat lunch, and this was taken on my walk back to the bus.

This is the Le Bolle- Distilleria Nardini by Massimiliano Fuksas (2004) in Bassano del Grappa (Vicenza).

This was was our 7th and last stop on the tour. We saw the Ponte Coperto by Andrea Palladio (1568-70).

Below: View from the bridge.

Wednesday in Padua

This past Wednesday, we went to Padua with UF. This city was very different from the previous cities we have visited because everything is much newer. Most of the buildings were built after WWII because the city was bombed. The time that we were in the city was quite uncomfortable because it was a little chilly outside and it was pouring down rain. Our professor was somewhat annoyed with us I believe because everyone was complaining and slowing him down. So, instead of staying in Padua for the entire day and going to our 3:00 tour, he let us leave around noon.
The first image below is a memorial to the events of September 11, 2001. It was designed by Daniel Libeskind. The structure contains a piece of steel from the Twin Towers.

The image above is a part of the university in Padua.

This is the Palazzo della Ragione, it is very similar to the Basilica here in Vicenza. Similar to the Banca Populare di Verona, TJ and I researched this building, so we had to tell the class about it.

This shows most of the students at V.I.A. and how we looked the entire day :(.