Segovia Aqueduct and learning how to sketch

During our class trip to the North of Spain, we took a day trip to Segovia. Segovia was a peaceful little town with a large landmark. It had the first aqueduct that I have ever seen. It was unbelievable. You can kinda get a feeling of how big the aqueduct is with the picture of me in front of it. Not only was the aqueduct awesome to look at but it was also a great subject to look at while working on our sketching. With the help of Professor Skinner, we learned how to get the basics of a picture down with only an allotted time of 30 seconds. We learned what some of the most important lines in a sketch are and how to use perspective. One of my main problems when sketching is the fact that my objects look like they are floating. By drawing the basic lines of perspective first, your sketch looks more realistic and you can get a better feeling of what it is like to be in that area. On my A3 sketch sheet, you can see the process of my sketches. The upper left hand corner shows the beginning of my sketching experience where my objects were floating. Then the third sketch, you can see the techniques that Professor Skinner showed me and how I incorporated it in the remaining sketches.

Segovia: My Favorite Experience in Spain So Far

My favorite place so far on our trip has to be Segovia. The walk from the train station down to the center of town was unimpressive, but when we got to the main city, the view told me all I needed to know about what the day would be like. The tiny little town overall had so much character, as evidenced by the parades of people playing music marching down the street. The central plaza is the most beautiful one I have seen in Europe so far. Being near the aqueduct was not only mind-blowing knowing that if was constructed without mortar, but it made me feel so small yet its openness kept me from feeling overpowered...a strange but pleasing feeling. Doug's lecture about Segovia as a medieval city put the city in perspective for me. It gave me a sense of history walking through this compact city. The contemporary architecture in Madrid and Barcelona are amazing, but even knowing they are both so old, I don't get the sense of history that I got as I was walking through Segovia. I was able to imagine how the Medieval people were able to walk from place to place in their daily lives.


I can't understand why everyone wanted to take the early train back to Madrid. This is easily the most beautiful small town I have visited in my life (although I admit my experience in Europe is limited to the last two months). This is why on our independent study travel I want to take as many daytrips to small cities as possible.

I felt like I was crashing a wedding!!!

Last week, the class and our professor went on a trip North of Spain. We went to Madrid, Escorial, Segovia, Bilbao, and San Sebastian. My favorite trip of the entire trip had to be our day trip to Escorial, even though it did rain the entire time. While we were there, we visited El Croquis and El Real Monasterio de San Lorenzo. My favorite part was the monastery. The monastery was a palace and we all took the tour. It was absolutely amazing. It was so big that we spent hours touring through the palace and still missed some parts. I have never been in a place like that before and to think that people actually lived there is unbelievable. I have never heard of anybody getting lost in their house, but if i lived there, it would definitely be the case. It was very interesting. The first part of the tour, we were taken to the ground floor where we were able to see all the floor plans, section cuts, facades, and sketches of the palace. It was really interesting to see the process of the designing and building of something so big. Not only was the entire tour amazing, but as we were trying to find the way to the basilica, we found out why it was closed for the day. Somebody was actually getting married in the monastery. We actually ran right into the wedding and we were able to see the

bride get escorted in. We got tons of picture and, surprisingly, the bride turned to us and smiled for the majority of them. If you look really hard at the one picture of the basilica, you can see the bridal party in the lower left hand corner. It was a great way to finish off our tour of the palace.

For a lingering moment I wanted to be a monk...

I'd really wanted to do a case study on Escorial on the pure magesty and scale of this place. 1st image: observe, we are ants. 2. we were so lucky to be there on a rainy-beautiful day. The art inside was equally wonderful. I know a lot of you probably esteem modern art much more but I can't say anything has actually taken my breath away until walking into that room with the murals and the staircase.

Linear and Spatial drama in Reina Sofia

Jean Nouvel's addition to the Reina Sofia museum was stunning. I was immediately drawn to the contrast between it and the old - formerly a hospital - part. The scale, materiality, and most important to me - orthogonal lines of it were prominent. The lines brought down the mammoth court yard of sorts to a slightly more human scale but also served to strengthen our understanding of perspective, and whether we realized or not, told us what pictures to take as they framed and directed our views. Who knew shadows and straight lines could be so impressive? Nouvel certainly knew drama.

what exactly is wrong with dylan? - part 1 of 19

ok.
setting - parque diagonal mar
time - wed. october 3 2007
scenario -
interactive adult playground in the lower section of the park. innovative musical, motion responsive and spring-loaded devices.
challenge at hand-
analyze the bizzare behavior displayed so eloquently before you.

it's up to us to unravel the mystery of the affliction plaguing a one dylan thomas.
thanks for your support.

the wave (corresponding to Kelly's #5 in her list)

So in San Sebastian after looking at the Kursaal, some of us (Kelly, Madison, Danni, Hali, and I) took our break and tried to get over to the Comb of the Winds, by Chillida. Half way there we decided to stop and grab some menu del dias. We ate. It was good. and we continued on towards the Chillida. Walking along the coast we discovered an area where you could get really close to the ocean. We ventured in to see what was down there. We explored this area and came across a great area right above some rocks. Kelly and Hali decided to get up on this ledge sorta thing behind this big wall. Madison, Danni, and I just stood on the ground. We stood there and watched the waves crash against the wall (nothing too big just normal waves). I wanted to get this splashing action on a video so i started taking some. The first waves i got weren't that great, you couldn't even see the splash. then I looked into the distance and I saw a big swell. I distinctly remember turning to Madison and saying "This one's gonna be good!" However I did not foresee how good it was really going to turn out to be. I thought it would just be big enough to get the splash visible in my film. So we are standing here and I am videotaping this swell, all of a sudden it hits the wall and this gigantic splash engulfs the entire area we were in. I turn and run (still videotaping), because i am not trying to get wet. And Madison Danni and I escape, pretty much completely dry, maybe just our feet wet from the ground getting flooded. When in safety we turn around and from around the corner we see Hali and Kelly walk out completely soaked. Apparently the huge rock wall they were behind was no match for this wave. It wrapped around the wall and drentched them both. After this moment someone points up the hill and notices a tour group of elderly people in perfect view of the entire thing. I really want to know what they were thinking at this particular point. After that fiasco, we figured we could not make it to the Chillida and back to catch the movie, so we turn around and walk back to the Kursaal. Some of us wetter than others. This movie is the clip from when i was filming the wave. You can see as soon as I saw trouble I did not stick around. And as for the screams, I think those are probably self explanatory.

the weekly top ten

seeing as i find it hard to choose only one thing to blog about i will just create a little top 10 list of everything i feel is worth mentioning from the past week or so.
1- el escorial was one of my favorite places we visited...until rosalyn and i got lost.
2- casey, dylan, hali, maria and i got to go into the royal palace during la noche en blanco.
3- someone tried to steal my purse on the madrid metro.
4- a few of us witnessed some basque protesters and the spanish prince and princess in bilbao.
5- as if we weren't wet enough already, hali and i got hit and soaked by a wave in san sebastian.
6- la deliciosa was one of the best restaurants i have ever eaten at.
7- i will go back to bilbao just for that chocolate store.
8- we learned that it is illegal to buy alcohol past 10 in madrid.
9- i really enjoyed visiting the reina sophia and the prado. it was amazing to see such important and inspiring artists' works.
10- whit, rosalyn, hali, danni, dylan, casey and i definitely climbed into the olympic stadium to see the police (the band).

the most relaxing day of our trip

So after finishing our delicious meal and Deliciouso(sp?), Andrew and I decided to explore Bilbao. We had seen a green hill in the distance while walking back from the Guggenheim, and decided to find out a way to get up there. We climbed some stairs in back of the metro stop, climbed for a long time, but even by half way up we could see over most of the roof tops. A young boy smoking a cigarette(questionable) passed up by us and back down before we got to the top. As we got to the top we came to a small park with a soccer court and a grassy hill over looking the city. A guy about our age with a mohawk was sketching, and Andrew proceeded to take photos of him. For some reason it reminded me of the movie Blow-up, at least the park scene. After walking around the park a little more, we discover a strange covered walkway that we realized led to an elevator shaft. It was .37e for a trip to street level. Andrew kept calling it a communist tower, i guess it was very stark and old. We also found some little veggie gardens belonging to some apartments on the hillside. All very European and quaint. The best part by far was returning to the benches overlooking the city and distant hills. After taking in the view, it was amazing to give my legs a rest and listen to my music while watching the clouds. ..... and then we raced back to Barcelona.

Reina Sofia Case Study

A critical study of the Reina Sofia addition by Moneo, an important corner of the Golden Triangle of Art in Madrid, a contemporary piece meant to transform the area and make a sophisticated connection to the existing 18th century building. The Moneo addition is an interesting piece of architecture used to house contemporary collections of the museum, however the central courtyard is quite unsuccessful at creating an inviting place to commune. The case study follows the transformation of the building from a hospital to a renowned art museum.

Adventures in El Escorial: Weddings and Wanderings

El Escorial was one of my favorite cities that we visited last week. Despite the rain and chill the trip to the small city was a refreshing getaway from the big city. I loved touring the Monastery and seeing King Philips quarters and reading up on the vast history of the place. Madison, Andrew, and I enjoyed a leisurely lunch at a very quaint family run restaurant. Unfortunately we were unable to go into the cathedral so we had to satisfy ourselves by staring in through the gate. Little did we know we would witness a wedding! We kept watching as people poured in dressed in their couture gowns. Then the bride shows up all while we're standing there eyeballing the sanctuary and sneaking pictures. We decided that the couple must be "somebodies" to have their wedding in such a famous cathedral. Later we all split up to explore the town and decided to meet back at the train station.Kelly and I branched off from the group and headed uphill to get better views of the city. Unfortunately we thought the town was laid out simply enough and we could catch the road back to the train station from where we were. Unluckily this was not the case. We walked for what felt like hours trying to find the bus station. We asked for directions 3 times, once from a very excited young lady waiting on the bus, once in a grocery store, and once in a gas station. We kept walking, trudging up hills, down hills, and around hills in the rain. Finally we found it and hopped the first train back to Madrid. The moral of the story: we survived and now have an even deeper appreciation for El Escorial.

Guggenheim Case Study

While studying the Guggenheim, I learned that every part of the building was built with curves. In fact, the only straight part of the museum is the floor. After learning this, I studied the curves throughout the building. The curves were never very drastic, but they were obviously not straight. In fact, the curves we so multiplied and gentle that, I think, if you put a straight line in there, it would seem curved; an optical illusion. There were curved arches, walkways, walls and art work, like that of Richard Serra.
Richard Serra created multiple torque de lipses, an oval on the floor and an oval on the ceiling rotated to the one on the floor. With his curves, Serra wanted the people to experience two typed of curved spaces, interior and exterior. The interior some how alters time to your own personal experience, body and movement. As you walk through, you become the experience, there is no prescribed way of viewing.
I think that at least half the people who didn't like the Guggenheim before, will admit to how amazing it is after seeing it in person. It is an incredible building where a picture does not do it justice.

Museo Thyssen Sketch Sheet

A study of flow and the play of light and shadow in Moneo's Museo Thyssen.

I've lost another appendage, and it housed my third brain

If I could describe myself in three words or less, it would be hunched, squinty-eyed, and at any given time 3 inches (at most away) from my computer screen. Because, as all architects know, the closer you are to photoshop, the more accurate everything is. Zoom is just a pain in the tush. I've become so connected with my programs that the old nakedness addage doesn't even begin to describe how I feel without my computer. Amputation could be slightly more accurate term to describe how I felt as I watched my computer eaten alive by a terrible virus. I felt physical pain as I stared at the appropriately themed wall paper (desolate, and sepia-toned) and clicked away to know avail. I knew my third brain was gone, and even my wrongly named international coverage couldn't help.

...and then we saw the police. illegally.

so right after our return to BCN we remembered that the police were playing at 10 on thursday night at the olympic stadium. no time was wasted that night. we ate, dressed ourselves (some better than others) and made the treck up Montjuic in record time. i seriously think we made it to the top faster than kelly and i on one of our runs. anyway, on the way up we heard sting's voice singing "don't stand so close to me"....so i think that was the fuel.
at the top we peeked and assessed the situation of how to infiltrate the stadium. eventually, we made our way to the back of the stadium which was virtually unpopulated. so we (thanks to danni) scaled the gate using a makeshift metal boost. on the other side, the sketchiness ensued, as painfully apparent in the video. security guards, scaffolding and charlies' angels-esque evasion moves were involved.

moral of the adventure - we snuck into the olympic stadium to see the police. a story for the grandchildren.

Frank Matt Sara Hali Andrew Lost Their Chance

Tonight we decided to finish the evening sitting in Plaza Mayor with the locals, and discuss the events throughout the day. We were one group out of many, just watching the people interact throughout the space throughout the carnival of entertainers

While photographing people in Plaza Mayor, an old man noticed us and proceeded over to introduce himself to us, assuming we were tourists of some sort. Being the nice human being I am, I of course said "hello."

He didn't respond.

"Habla Ingles?"

No response, just a wave.

"Habla Aleman?" (Please don't tell the Spanish teacher.)

Still no response. He instead started to gesture to us. As we all looked in confusion, he proceeded to sit down, take out a pen, and use a tourist guide as makeshift stationary.

On it he wrote "Come up to the highest level."

"Shrink your presumption."

By this time, we were not sure quite what to think. We had assumed he was trying to sell us Hashish, or beg for change. He proceeded to write down "To understand the idea of God..." and pulled out a grape. Sara remarked "that's the biggest grape I've ever seen."

He then proceeded to split the grape... perfectly... and offered it to us. Of course, being from Clemson and not Texas A&M, we all politely declined. Although disappointed, he was not surprised.

"Frank
Matt
Sara
Hali
Andrew
Have lost their chance.

But this does not exonerate any of these persons from their duty to stop doing harm to the common interests of humans.

The refusal to share this fruit is the result of fear, educated and grown by motherhood and apple pie. From now on, Sept. 23. 07. All of you have to offer and share your privileges before being asked, of course, if you don't, you will lose them, so this is a friendly warning to all those who this word [of] God without having understood."

With that he handed us the card, and left the plaza. By then all of the other people sitting around us had vanished- an entirely new crowd of people were in the space, and we were the only ones left sitting.

Material Transition and Thresholds

Barceloneta offers an array of materials for beach-goers to use in different ways. This video examines how the different materials and their transitions can both create and erase barriers between different types of users.

HAZING

After going through two years at Clemson, in a sorority, I have never been hazed like I was at the RESA Party. I think what the Spanish students did to us is illegal in the US. like writing on our faces, herding us around like branded cattle, taping us together and making us try to run across a finish line, and taking us to a party that we couldn't leave until 5 o'clock. I'm surprised one of us didn't get lost in the cracks and crannies of the metro. None the less, I had the time of my life pretending to know the words/moves to Spanish dance music and watching Spanish students try to figure out why the hell Americans love the YMCA so much.

RESA PARTY

Our initiation into the Spanish youth culture -- a group of RESA kids sent out a list for a party...so I signed up, thinking I'd just see what they had in mind. Little did I know that they had studied our names, put us into groups with Spanish "leaders" and color coded us. They wrote our names on our foreheads in our assigned colors. I was in the "blue group." The tiny girl who was my assigned leader saw how few of us there were with her and said with a thick accent, "I need more blue." They took us to the Forum, yelling on the metro the entire way (pissing off the old sleepy guys) and taped us together, and made us run to a finish line. I really had no idea what the point of anything was, but I had a fantastic time nonetheless. The club was pretty snazzy, too.

MACBA

MACBA is the only building I've seen so far in Barcelona that I can say I love. I'm not a big fan of the exterior...gotta be honest. It was a little stark, and I'm not sure why the front is so linear while the back is and the addition on the front are so curvilinear. The interior, however, made so much sense and was so light and spacious. The high ceilings, and the skylights. and the view down all the levels to the very bottom made the building seem weightless. The galleries were well-planned too -- very accessible.

something a little special...

yeah, i know. i'm the last one to post their second entry. i promise it's with good reason. here's a little justification for those of you who we woke up/disturbed from whatever you were doing without warning. kudos to hali, whit, and danni for helping make this happen! we just hope this makes everyone feel good in general--but mostly two certain people.

Lessons learned

This is the bunny that Hali and I decided to buy on Las Ramblas the first week we were here. We named her Caféla because her color is café con leche. She was a lot of fun to have around... at first. Then she learned how to get out of the make-shift cage we made her and liked to disappear behind the fridge. She also liked to pee and poop all over our desks, it was like she saved it until we took her out of her cage.
As adorable as she was, we decided to give her back. That is what happens when you compulsively buy pets. But now she is back with all her bunny little friends...

so for all you animal lovers.... as much as you may think a pet is cute... make sure you have the endurance to keep up with it.

Santa Catarina y MACBA

Look how many letters I crammed into the upper right hand corner!

But fragmentation is what makes Santa Catarina so interesting. When sketching it I continuously got the impression Enrique Moralles just couldn't take his pencil off the damn paper when designing this thing. 5 shots of Spanish coffee and architect's block, perhaps. Nothing in it is simple and clearly defined, and even to this day I still don't have a grasp on the extent of the canopy structure.


MACBA is minimalist.

light and shadow

Richard Meier is renowned for the magnificent chiaroscuro in his building projects. I found the interior architecture of the MACBA to be quite fascinating and incredibly well thought out. Each walk way, wall, and column is positioned in a way that creates beautiful shadows and streams of light as the sun shines through the huge glass facade of the building. The everchanging visual interest of the interior makes it a pleasure to walk through and serves as a complimentary backdrop to the avant guard artwork displayed at the museum.

barcelona's waterfront

For my film, I wanted to take a broad look at Barcelona's coast as a whole. This of course includes the beach, the yacht ports, the industrial port, and various tourist locations situated on the water's edge. I tried to differentiate between the diverse uses of the waterfront through my use of audio. I overlaid sections of sound for a given location (ie. trucks, workers, and beeping for the port), and faded my sound in and out to show transitions between places.

I tried a few times, but was unfortunately unable to post the actual video. However, this is my sketch sheet explaining my thoughts as I was making the video.

Barcelona Beach: Day vs. Night

Since I have been in Barcelona, I haven't had a chance to go to the beach and just look around. This project gave me the opportunity to explore the beach and look closer and find whatyou cannot see with a human eye. I started my journey of the beach on the south side in the afternoon. I explored the way people acted, the direction in which they were traveling, the water, the sand, and even the noise. After actually sitting down with the crowd on the south end, my video camera and I made our way to the north side of the beach. I concentrated on the same characteristics. After my journey was complete in the afternoon, I came back to the beach later in the day. I came back arounddusk, where you could still see through the video camera lens.

Once again, I started on the south side and made my way to the north end of the beach. I concentrated on some of the same characteristics as earlier in the day. I began to realize some drastic differences. One major difference was the atmosphere of the beach. With less people, the beach seems more calm. I also realized more people being physical during dusk/night than during the day. Another major difference was the amount of litter on the sand. Earlier in the day, all you saw were cigarettes or can tabs in the sand. During the night, there were full two liter coke bottles, big plastic bags blowing in the wind, and beer cans. As it got darker and darker, the artificial lights came on around the beach. These artificial lights gave the beach a different, almost fake feeling. A beach is known for its sun and natural light. Adding artificial light to a beach takes away from one of its many unique characteristics. Another major difference was the noise. During the day, you would hear a lot of screaming, laughing, and people talking. During the night, all you would hear would be the waves from the water. So I found enjoyable characteristics in both my day and night visit. Maybe I will have to make a couple more trips to the beach to find out what part of the day I like more!!

Words

This past weekend, a few of the Spanish RESA veterans planned a welcome event for all the residents. It certainly turned out to be a crazy time, but one particular moment pushed my night into the realm of ‘truly meaningful’. Upon entering the FORUM, I found myself walking with one of the Spanish students I had become acquainted with the night before. After a few minutes, he turned and began a conversation with a group of local students, from which I felt extremely isolated. But after a while, he opted to introduce me to the students. “This is Will, an American.” I’ve learned that description doesn’t always rub people the right way, and he clearly knew that, because he proceeded, “He is really good guy, a lot like us.” I was touched, and immediately accepted by the group. I will always remember that.

Social Mapping :-D

I know everyone should have already seen these pictures on facebook but I thought since I was the only one with a camera the other night, that I'd post a social mapping of RESA's shall we say, bondage night? On the architectural side of things, this took place at the Forum. I walked to those porta-potties (wow that word is awkward to type) with a girl (Marianne?) who is also a third year architectural student at UPC about the Forum. She told me that it is an unusual and empty space most of the time, only being used for conferences and big concerts. It was the best place for a lot of people to go out the other night just because there was a lot of space, but personally, I found the space to be a little uncomfortable. I think it goes back to my video focus of scale and speed. The Herzog building was one I wanted to walk by quickly. It was interesting, foreign (aliens anyone?), and created sheltered space, but it just wasn't at a comfortable scale with the size group we were with. I'm sure that would all change when the crowd size, like for a concert, would balance the massing of the building.

Anyway, great night! When/where else could you get THISCLOSE to being trampled while taped up?

Scale vs. Speed

I don't believe I've ever filmed anything before, but I hope from watching this, you can gather that I was trying to compare the scale of the surroundings with the speed, specifically urgency and pace, of people and their modes of transport. The buildings along Carrer del Doctor Aiguader were smooth, grand, and dwarfing. While the sidewalks were plenty wide enough and there was plenty of public space, few pedestrians seemed to be walking there for leisure (and why would they with the noise of traffic right there?). Trucks, cars, mopeds, bicycles, and people moved quickly by with a generally agressive stance. As soon as I turned right onto the smaller Caller de Ramon Trias, more pedestrians and leisure walking appeared. Still, the pace of vehicles and people was relatively fast. The scale of the buildings remained large until just reaching the boardwalk.
On the boardwalk, the scale was brought down by the size of the people, umbrellas, coverings, stands, barrels, and vegetation. Because people played the role of living architecture by the beach, the pace was at a human scale: some people shuffled, others rode bikes, others sauntered about. The pace slowed even further under the intimate canopies beneath Gehry's Fish and the trees surrounding. The quickest motion there was that of the escalator. My favorite part of this video shows the platform in the water beneath the Fish. In one clip, you see a bum deem it a perfect spot to pass out. In another clip, you see the same platform chosen by a photographer to capture pictures of newlyweds. While in completely different situations, the idea that the area is peaceful and beautiful is shared. The newlyweds and the bum have the same pace. Architecture certainly shapes how we feel in an area, but also how fast we experience it. Speed and scale correlate.

MACBA, MERCAT, FISH/VIDEO

MACBA
Richard Meier, designer of the Museu d’art de Barcelona, was an influential architect known for his use of the color white. White heightens visual form to create intense contrasts of shadow
and light; it is the combination of all the colors of the visible light spectrum. As a tint, white
has the highest possible brightness, one hundred percent, and has no hue. The impression
of white light can be created by mixing appropriate intensities of the primary colors of
light: red, yellow and blue.
Although Richard Meier’s building is all white, it allows color to reflect off it when natural light is eliminated and chemical light is reflected on it, as
shown in the series of photos on the bottom left.
This is the process I took when analyzing this building. Instead of viewing the building in its natural color state of white, I used the three primary colors and sketched the building. This created a completely different perspective which allowed the different geometric shapes to converge and become more dynamic. Interestingly, when the colors were mixed they created black, which is also an achromatic color, but highly different then white. This project allowed me to physically see the difference between colors of light and colors on paper and also allowed me to experiment with a different medium.

MERCAT de SANTA CATERINA
The bottom building is the Igualada Cemetery built buy Enric Miralles and his first wife Carme Pinos. Like the Mercat de Santa Caterina, this Cemetery was designed to replace and existing place, the Cemetery Vell.
This building had many contingencies, mostly becasue it would be such a sacred place. The couple wanted the represent the cycle of life, linking the past, present and future. This picee transformed its surrounding aread, bringing new life.
Although they were bult at different times and with different wived,The Igualada Cemetery has many simialarities to the Mercat de Santa Caterina.

The Mercat de Santa Caterina was also built buy Miralles, but in conjunction with his second wife, Benedetta Tagliabue.
This site was not originally a market, it was a garden. The two quickly started working the the reconstruction of this building, when they ran into a little problem. In the building process, the construction worker dug up son old ruins which halted building until preservation codes could be discussed.
Like respecting the dead in the Igualada Cemetery, they had to respect the ruins found. Both structures contain floors below, this is where you can see some of the ruins in the Mercat.

SKETCHES AT GEHRY FISH
These sketches represent the path I took to the site where Gehry’s fish was. The lower sketch it the walkway to the North end of the beach. The following sketches, reading from left to right, area basic chronology of the sketches I did while filming the site. They are quick details of the full picture on the top right.



Well this is an interesting story; I filmed this video with an actual video camera, however, the file that it holds is not compatible with any form of video editing software. So, what i did was play it on my computer and then film it on my camera. This will explain the poor quality of the video.

Anyway, the point of this video was to capture the surroundings of the north end of the beach in a panoramic system at different times of the day. The video progresses through and past sunset. As the video plays, I zoomed in on different aspects to see how they were changing as the light changed. My favorite part was when the sky got darker and the beach was illuminated by lights that made the buildings and street glow.

a hazing experience

So, on Friday night (9/14), we were all invited to welcome RESA party. Little did we know that gathering outside meant that we would we herded into groups, then have our name written on our foreheads in different colors. What I had believed to be a night to get to meet other students in our building turned into a strange journey. We were all herded again into the subway, with the RESA leaders yelling at everyone to get onto the metro train faster. When we finally got to our destination, we realized we were back in the Forum, a place we had gotten lost a week before. From here, they stopped us in the type of plaza and taped us in groups of those standing closest. Much to my dismay, we were then told to run a relay. I suppose this was a way to gain team working skills, however I would have much rather meeting my foreign partners another way. Instead I got to be the girl who lost her shoe and made the team lose. Ooops. On the way back from our adventure some of us got to explore the playground near by and the Forum Building. We agreed this was the highlight of the night.

these aren't my photos, but i thought they accurately show the unique aspects of this building.

i like public spaces

Our site visits consisted of the MACBA and the Mercat Santa Caterina, as well as an exploration of Barceloneta through film. I discovered in my exploration of the coast, the lack of real beach front business as usual in the US. I found not far from the beach, were some well designed public spaces that were practically completely empty apart from those passing on the way to the beach. I journeyed through these public spaces to experience what most people seemed take for granted. As I moved from these city like area around these public spaces and crossed the street, I discovered the slowed pace of the beach. It seemed strange to me that so many people would rather slow down and experience the beach with had little depth for exploration. In my view, even though the beach was relaxing in a sense, I would have much rather contemplated at the public spaces I had visited.


In the boards for the video and case studies, I tried to demonstrate the experience of the places. For example, at the MACBA, I observed the many layers of shapes that created the facade of the building. The part I felt most interesting about the building was the voids that created form. Not only did these voids in the building allow for new shapes, but also created new areas of hang outs for homeless and skateboarders. The Mercat was also a very interesting space. The roof that covers the market is extremely breathe taking. I discovered that there had been a market in that same place since the 1840s, and before that vegetable pots had been planted there. The colors in the roof and the structure of the building reminded me of colorful plants springing up from the ground .

transitions.

in my video, i used different textures that where both found in nature and created by man to convey a sense of energy throughout the area of study. i entitled it transitions as a way to make the viewer attentive to the changes in texture as one moves from the more urban spaces of the villa olympica to the sands of the beach. certain clips are sped to stress movement and the business of urban transport. longer shots are saved for the beach, as this more patient method reflects our tendency to seek the beach for relaxation. i wanted the video to be fairly abstract, so that the viewer could deduct on his/her own what the path from villa olympica to barceloneta would be like.

ViDeOz

The assignment this week was a challenge for me in a couple of different way. One, it forced me to go to the beach and work, when normally I would just go with Rosalyn with our books and IPods and sleep. Two, I've never worked with video much, and it terrified me until I realized I could have a lot of fun with it, manipulating colors and lights and music.
I concentrated my study of the beach through peeling back its layers, which, to me, came in three parts--the commercial, the social, and the natural. Starting at the beach (the natural, of course) one can lay on the beach and soak up the sun, or continue up to the sidewalk. This is the social area. It provides an open transportation space for bikers and pedestrians, connecting the various part of Barceloneta, and acting as a barrier between the shops and restaurants and the beachfront.
Barceloneta is special because of this confluence of traffic.

Barceloneta-Villa Olympica

This project was interesting because we had to use a new type of media (to me at least) to capture our observations. It was different, but enjoyable at the same time, especially since it was at the beach. On my walk I observed many interesting things about the beach front. After just learning in Arch 412 about how new the whole beach front area was, it amazed me at how integral it seemed to the Barcelona community. The beach was packed and there were many people doing numerous activities. Most of the beach activity was near the barceloneta area, and then as I walked further down the coast, it got scattered more and more. I am used to a small beach in South Carolina, that even in peak season is not as crowded as any day here. The fact that the beach so close to a major city and can still be an enjoyable and nice place is amazing.

Dia Nacional/Best Day Ever

Ok, so this past Tuesday, as other people have blogged about already, was the National Day of Catalonia a.k.a. Dia Nacional De Catalunya. This day being a holiday and all, we did not have class, even though noone informed us of that at the time. We waited on the professor for an hour! anyways. Wanting to see the festivities a couple of people and I went around noon to the Arc del Triumf area near Parc Ciutadella. There was a lot happening already. Everyone had Catalan flags and were showing their pride by wearing them. Dylan and I both purchased flags and wore them that entire afternoon. We stayed in that area listening to local music and talking until the Big event of the night happened. There was a huge, free, concert that we could not miss. The concert was incredible. Dannielle and I made it to the front row by going with the mosh that was pushing us up front. The front row was the place to be, besides for the thousands of people pushing against your back constantly. My favorite part of the concert was when two of the band members had a duet solo on a gigantic xylophone thing. It was awesome!! After the concert a bunch of us headed down to the waterfront. On our way there we found a park type thing with playground equipment. We played around on it for a while then continued to the Olympic port area. After chilling on the beach for awhile we decided it was time to come back to RESA. The day was very eventful and one of the funnest I have had in Barcelona yet.


The video comes from the park with the playground that we went to. Casey, Kelly, and I revisited it while walking this weekend.

barceloneta: a different speed of life

for the movie i walked along the sidewalk located on the outskirts of the beach. this walkway was the dividing line between the beach and the urban context that has developed just beyond the sand. the people on the sand, had a much slower pace. most people were laying out, a few people casually strolling along the sand, or swimming in the mediterranean. on the walkway, there was much more activity. people were moving at different speeds. there were a lot of bikers, runners, rollerbladers, walkers, and people just sitting. there was also a lot of street activity such as buses and cars. the street sounds created quite a contrast from the quiet beach. this contrast reflects the movement of people in relation to the setting. these contrasts demonstrate the urban layer that has developed just beyond the sand. these different patterns of movement and speeds of life occur in such a small area with a great deal of activity on a temporal level.

The Beach and I

My journey began, like most of them, near the start of Barceloneta...making my way toward the Olympic Port. I noticed that, as you look north, the beach side is teaming with activity on the water and small restaurants. The street side was lacking in that intense energy, with most of its restaurants serving only a lone couple. I found this dynamic interesting, especially how it changed as you make your way to the Olympic Port. As I made my way to that area, I took the higher path so as to get fair views of both sides for documentation. As I reached the Port area, the former two deuling intensities fused into one, one large teeming mass of energy and people. This area cannot help but to promote tourism and activity, bringing the sense of the Barceloneta beach vibrancy and merging it with the element of the street and shops. These aspects mesh well and provide a great ending point for the journey.

Sun, Sand, and Cinematography

Saturday Madison and I spent the day juggling a bike and a camera, and let me tell you it was quite the juggling act. Our tour of the coastline of Barcelona however was enjoyable and informative. The notion of an "urban beach" is very interesting to me as well as the way in which Barcelona so aggressively tackled the coastline in hopes of a successful renewal by hauling in tons of sand, sculpting swimming and leisure areas, and carving out a marina. The beach is very different from the ones I know back in the Southeastern US. It is just as I would imagine an "urban beach" to be - loud, vibrant, and full of life. There are so many activities going on at once. The beaches are packed and full of people laying out, swimming, selling beer or massages. The boardwalks are packed, full of people eating, biking, blading, or strolling. The sidewalks beyond the boardwalks are packed and beyond that the streets are busy, and even further beyond that buildings are bursting with activity from the older architecture of Barceloneta to the high rises that mark the Olympic Port and Forum area. The beaches of Barcelona are very fast paced there is movement everywhere. A different, but new and exciting scene from the leisurely beaches back home.

another week has passed...

everything exciting i have done this week everyone else has posted about, but i guess i will sum up the odds and ends of these activities. like a lot of people, i went to the concert on the 11th. we were pretty much front and center. it was crazy to be in the middle of a spanish mosh. the music was fun, even though i didn't understand any of it. afterwards we walked down past the zoo towards the ocean. we found a sweet children's park, even though i think most of the park is probably not best for children. the seesaw-esque swings were a lot of fun. we even ended up revisiting the park after our video mapping. since we were already in born, we had to go to the amazing pizza place en route to the museu de la xocolata. we found the museum while wandering around aimlessly at the festival and decided to go back for a visit. the chocolate sculptures were very impressive and consisted of gaudi's most famous buildings here in barcelona, willy wonka's chocolate factory, and other various random things. the chocolate drink from the cafe there was to die for. however, i would recommend bringing a glass of milk with you. oh also this week, we had access to an oven since danni and hali were apartment-sitting. the other night we made pizzas and cookies. the pizzas were delicious. we discovered that american cookie recipes just don't convert well with the different spanish ingredients. nonetheless it was nice to have a home cooked meal that wasn't cooked on a burner.

(yes everything in the picture is chocolate)