A few weekends ago I took a spontaneous trip to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. What I love about spontaneity is the air of not knowing. You never know what your day will have in store - anything is possible! So I saw a great show by Anderson .Paak on a Friday night and drove straight up to Philly right after. After wandering around the city Saturday morning, visiting the Liberty Bell and finding Ben Franklin quotes and statues at every corner, my travel buddy and I found our way to the Center for Architecture. There was an interesting display in the gallery of notable architecture sites to visit around the city. One in particular caught my eye - the Eastern State Penitentiary (ESP). After reading the short blurb about the building, I knew I had to go. We changed up our relatively inexistent travel itinerary and hailed an Uber across town (by way of the Barnes Foundation and a Philly Cheesesteak stand first). At this point you're probably asking why I voluntarily went to prison. It's ok - the Uber driver asked us the same thing. For those of you unfamiliar with the place, the building is a former prison. The structure opened in 1829 as the world's first penitentiary with a revolutionary new system of rehabilitating prisoners through penitence versus punishment. ESP closed its doors in the 70's and fell into neglect. Plans for its redevelopment were introduced in the 80's, but preservationists ultimately won out, using a the typology of a museum to educate visitors on America's prison system. Unlike many historic structures that have been spared from the demolishing ball, ESP wears its age on its sleeves. The paint is cracked and peeling off, rubble is present in many of the open cells, and even tree roots can be seen coming in through some of the walls. Yet this is where the true beauty of the building lies. ESP doesn't try to be perfect; it's decaying. Yet you see the effects of time with your own eyes. For me, there's something romantic about these places. Not saying date night should be at the old state prison, but for me it's hard not to fall in love with these crumbling buildings. The question is, what can I do as an architect to make them significant? More importantly, how can this be the basis of a thesis project? If only I had a Delorean with a flux capacitor to drive off into the future at 88 mph...
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I'm back from the dead! After what looks like two months of hibernation, I'm ready to return to blogging. To save time typing for me and reading for you, I will give a short recap of all the shenanigans I have been up to since my last post:
Now it's back to "work." I'm currently back in the studio working in a short two week design charrette before heading off to Budapest for a week-long workshop (and, if all goes according to plan, a quick stop to Italy). The upcoming semester will be full of excitement: traveling, studio, job searching, grad school admission decisions, and *gasp* graduation looming at the end of a not-so-gloomy tunnel. Only four and a half months left in Spain and I've got to make the most of it!
So I'm finally back from my mini "vacation." Well...I've been back for a week, but making this post has fallen off my radar. Anywho, in lieu of making a long blog post about all the tourist-y things I did in Prague and Wrocław, I figured I would just put up some of the photos I took instead. I think the images will speak for themselves. Now it's time to go back to reality, and sadly my reality check is telling me it's November - WHAT!? The stores are already putting up "Bon Nadal" signs for the Holiday season. I guess that's one thing that isn't quite different from the States. Maybe Santa can help me get all my studio work/grad school applications done? It's worth a shot, right? 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. 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. 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 The day I've been anticipating for almost four years is finally here! To be honest, it still hasn't quite hit me just yet. I know this will be one of if not THE best year of my life; that the experiences I'll have will stay with me forever; and that the people I meet will change the way I see the world around me. Aside from this, however, there are a lot of things I don't know - I don't know who I will meet, what kind of experiences I'll have, how homesick I'll be, what my classes will be like - but that sense of "the unknown" is what makes it an adventure! Yet it seems like everyone else I talk to seems to know more about the next nine months that I do: "You'll have a great time," they say, or, "You'll learn so much!" It's the weirdest feeling; like everyone is looking into some kind of crystal ball and here I am at the other end of the table, trying to get a look. I've never felt anything quite like what I've been through today, or the past week or two really. I don't know if I'll kiss the ground first after getting off this godforsaken plane or be in complete shock and awe of my new surroundings! Either way, I'll be at my new home away from home!
Over the next nine months, I'll take you through my many adventures, both at school and on my travels. I'll attempt to give multiple perspectives - that of a student, a tourist, and an architect - so as to make my insights both informative, eye-opening, and entertaining. Hopefully I can give those of you reading a glimpse into my shenanigans at least twice a month, if not more, time permitting. In the meantime, stay classy America and I'll keep counting down the minutes until I arrive in Barcelona! -- Jennifer |
About me...Hi, my name is Jennifer and I am a young Jedi apprentice of architecture, navigating the vast unknown of architecture school and the professional world on my journey to becoming a Master Architect. Archives
June 2016
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