Somehow the other day I was reminded of the epic American television show/book series "The Magic School Bus." Any REAL 90's kid from the States should know what I'm talking about. To catch those up to speed who have no idea what I'm talking about, the show/books focused on a super awesome teacher named Ms. Frizzle who would take her class on field trips in this anthropomorphic school bus to impossible locations. I highly doubt the kids were ever in the classroom, but it's not like I wanted to be in school either as a kid, so I was very jealous. Seriously, if you haven't seen an episode, you should...and if you have, you should watch it again (my personal favorite is when they explore the human body - brings back so many elementary school memories)!
Well, I had my own Magic School Bus experience boarding the bus Thursday for our first class field trip for my Overseas Architectural Studies class. Luckily for us we weren't riding in a dumpy yellow school bus or else I wouldn't have slept as much as I did! Our first stop was Empúries, the site of some fascinating Greek and Roman ruins along the Mediterranean coast of Spain. Being able to see these sites in person after spending so many years observing them from behind a textbook was very surreal for me. There was not much left of the Greek town to see; like many ruins, all that was left to see were the remnants of what were once walls. Your mind was left to imagine what these spaces would have once looked like. On the other hand, the Roman ruins offered more to see, not to mention the former city was much larger. This was the area I spent the most time in, as our sketching assignment asked us to reconstruct one of the ruins using our powers of observation. I'll admit, I somewhat struggled with this. When we do these sketching assignments, I kind of feel like Harry Potter during his first ever spell-casting class when all the young wizards are practicing the "Wingardium Leviosa" spell and epically failing at performing the spell properly (for all of you who've seen the movie, hopefully you will appreciate this reference). This whole concept of "graphically analyzing" architecture through sketches is still new to me - you really have to train your brain to re-interpret what your eyes are seeing! But with anything, I'm sure with more practice, this will become easier to do.
Well, I had my own Magic School Bus experience boarding the bus Thursday for our first class field trip for my Overseas Architectural Studies class. Luckily for us we weren't riding in a dumpy yellow school bus or else I wouldn't have slept as much as I did! Our first stop was Empúries, the site of some fascinating Greek and Roman ruins along the Mediterranean coast of Spain. Being able to see these sites in person after spending so many years observing them from behind a textbook was very surreal for me. There was not much left of the Greek town to see; like many ruins, all that was left to see were the remnants of what were once walls. Your mind was left to imagine what these spaces would have once looked like. On the other hand, the Roman ruins offered more to see, not to mention the former city was much larger. This was the area I spent the most time in, as our sketching assignment asked us to reconstruct one of the ruins using our powers of observation. I'll admit, I somewhat struggled with this. When we do these sketching assignments, I kind of feel like Harry Potter during his first ever spell-casting class when all the young wizards are practicing the "Wingardium Leviosa" spell and epically failing at performing the spell properly (for all of you who've seen the movie, hopefully you will appreciate this reference). This whole concept of "graphically analyzing" architecture through sketches is still new to me - you really have to train your brain to re-interpret what your eyes are seeing! But with anything, I'm sure with more practice, this will become easier to do.
After Empúries, we boarded the Magic Tour Bus to Carcassonne, France. The town is an amazingly well-preserved fortified medieval city. We arrived just as the sun was beginning its decent on the horizon...words and pictures can't even begin to describe how beautiful it was. Walking through the streets of the city makes you feel like you're walking through the pages of a storybook. I loved every minute of our stay here. Thankfully we spent most of our time in Carcassonne during our 1.5 day trip, eventually spending the night at the local youth hostel in town. Our sketch assignment here was a little more up my alley - making a graphic record, or journal, of our visit. The picturesque winding streets, the towers of the Chateau, and the ordered geometry of the basilica were just some of the subjects I decided to capture in my sketchbook.
Friday morning we took a tour of the Chateau, which is in excellent condition, along with the surrounding city walls, thanks to the restoration efforts of the French architect, Viollet-le-Duc, in the 19th Century. I've come across his name before in my historic preservation classes back at Illinois, so it was interesting to see his work up close (as well as hear his "voice" on the audio tour we got...). Walking along the ramparts offered stunning views of the surrounding towns and countryside bellow. Even more stunning was seeing the Pyrenees in the distance, peaking out behind a layer of low lying clouds. It was hard not stop and take a moment to absorb the beauty that was around me - that's probably why the audio tour took so long for me to finish! After our tour of the Chateau, we made our way to the Basilique Saint-Nazaire-et-Saint-Celse de Carcassonne. We weren't able to spend much time inside the Basilica since we popped in right before it was going to close for the afternoon, but we were able to admire the differences between the Romanesque and Gothic portions of the church amidst the sound of the choir in the background. I was sad for our time in Carcassonne to come to an end after grabbing a quick bite for lunch (and my first kebab too! which was muy bueno). I must say, the French countryside has captured my heart, and I know I'll return soon.
Friday morning we took a tour of the Chateau, which is in excellent condition, along with the surrounding city walls, thanks to the restoration efforts of the French architect, Viollet-le-Duc, in the 19th Century. I've come across his name before in my historic preservation classes back at Illinois, so it was interesting to see his work up close (as well as hear his "voice" on the audio tour we got...). Walking along the ramparts offered stunning views of the surrounding towns and countryside bellow. Even more stunning was seeing the Pyrenees in the distance, peaking out behind a layer of low lying clouds. It was hard not stop and take a moment to absorb the beauty that was around me - that's probably why the audio tour took so long for me to finish! After our tour of the Chateau, we made our way to the Basilique Saint-Nazaire-et-Saint-Celse de Carcassonne. We weren't able to spend much time inside the Basilica since we popped in right before it was going to close for the afternoon, but we were able to admire the differences between the Romanesque and Gothic portions of the church amidst the sound of the choir in the background. I was sad for our time in Carcassonne to come to an end after grabbing a quick bite for lunch (and my first kebab too! which was muy bueno). I must say, the French countryside has captured my heart, and I know I'll return soon.
The final stop on our short-lived trip was la Biblioteca Enric Miralles in Palafolls, Spain. We just HAD to squeeze in one contemporary building, much to my dismay. It is an interesting building upon first glance - the overall footprint is quite small compared to most library spaces and entrenched about 1 meter into the ground. The most interesting feature of the building is the roof, which was designed to resemble the surrounding mountains. After about two minutes of attempting to sketch the building, I got extremely frustrated. It didn't really help that I was attempting to draw the building in perspective when really I should have just simplified the structure into its most defining elements - oh well! You live and you learn as they say. I've never been a fan of curves. The interior spaces were quite impressive, but being the last stop of an already long day, all I wanted to do was pass out and go home - my brain was done analyzing buildings for the day.
Overall, I had a wonderful time on our first class trip. The best part about the trip was that I felt like I really got a chance to develop my sketching skills. I'm starting to get a better understanding of what to look for when I'm drawing a building - what is the most important information I want to convey, what is the feeling I want to come across in my drawing, and which view will tell the most about the structure? A travel sketchbook, for an architect, is not just about putting in pretty images of the places you visited; it's a record, a journal, to help convey a deeper level of information about a space than what the average observer would see.
--Jennifer
--Jennifer