Monday, February 26, 2007
A lot has happened in the last few weeks and time has been moving fast. This semester is quite different from the last. I only have 2 courses, Architectural Design and Structures: Dynamics of Materials. We meet 4 days of the week allowing us to have Wednesdays off. To fulfill the remaining credits we need, we also participate in two different seminar-like courses. The first of which is a history seminar with William J. Curtis, a world renowned architectural critic and historian. The course is divided into 2 intensive weeks the first we concluded at the beginning of February. We have a total of 16 lectures and take several related field trips throughout France. We also receive credit for sketching during two separate sketch trips. The first trip ended today. We had midterms and mid-reviews just two weeks ago. Following exams and reviews we had 10 days allotted to travel and sketch. I spent my break along with 7 others studying in Valencia, Seville, Barcelona, and Lisbon. It was quite nice after a stressful week of academics. The weather was great and the cities were beautiful. We saw quite a bit and I took a number of photos. The second sketch trip concludes our semester and follows our final exams. This trip will be in April and will last 3 weeks. 10 days of our April break is spent in groups, each lead by a visiting architect. I am going with the Greece group, studying in Athens, Mykonos, and Santorini. During the rest of our break I will go to various cities in Italy, including Rome, Venice, Florence, Naples, Pompeii and possibly a few others. I am also trying to get to Istanbul and Croatia. So I have a lot to look forward to.
In design studio this semester I am working with an architect from Ateliers Jean Nouvel, Jean Nouvel being the architect of the new Guthrie in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is quite an intense studio and has really been demanding of my time. This semester, we are to design a living bridge to span the width of the River Seine in the Eastern limits of Paris. The bridge is to provide a link for pedestrian traffic as well as inhabitable space for a youth hostel. It is quite a difficult project for a number of reasons. In terms of contemporary architecture, inhabitable bridges do not exist. Medieval cities used an archetype within dense fortified urban centers. In fact, they use to span the seine centuries ago but were rebuilt in attempts to open up Paris. Few still exist today; Venice would be the most obvious example. So there really aren't many precedent examples to study. The idea of a living bridge has recently been rethought as a solution to urban density, and my design professor decided it would be a good challenge, which is why I picked this particular studio. The design of such a bridge is very complex as it as it requires many considerations. I think the project has a lot of potential, but it will definitely be quite difficult.
In design studio this semester I am working with an architect from Ateliers Jean Nouvel, Jean Nouvel being the architect of the new Guthrie in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is quite an intense studio and has really been demanding of my time. This semester, we are to design a living bridge to span the width of the River Seine in the Eastern limits of Paris. The bridge is to provide a link for pedestrian traffic as well as inhabitable space for a youth hostel. It is quite a difficult project for a number of reasons. In terms of contemporary architecture, inhabitable bridges do not exist. Medieval cities used an archetype within dense fortified urban centers. In fact, they use to span the seine centuries ago but were rebuilt in attempts to open up Paris. Few still exist today; Venice would be the most obvious example. So there really aren't many precedent examples to study. The idea of a living bridge has recently been rethought as a solution to urban density, and my design professor decided it would be a good challenge, which is why I picked this particular studio. The design of such a bridge is very complex as it as it requires many considerations. I think the project has a lot of potential, but it will definitely be quite difficult.