Oh Sooole Miiiooo…

It’s been awhile, here we go.

The entirety of last week we spent in Italy. We spent 4 days in Rome, 2 in Naples, and 2 in Florence.

In Rome we saw tons of ancient architecture, from the Colosseum, to the Pantheon (not Parthenon), to the Market, Column, and Forum, of Trajan. We also saw the Vatican including St. Peters, The Musei Vaticani, and The Sistine Chapel. We also saw tons of Bernini and Michelangelo, (and other ninja turtles) sculpture and fountains.

In Naples we took the train to Pompeii and spent a day there exploring the 200 acres of ruins, and the next day visited the Isle of Capri. We also visited a sweet Spanish castle where we took some awesome pics (to come).

In Florence we spent the whole first day on our RENTED SCOOTERS flying around the Tuscan hills. We visited a cool town called Greve, and ate lunch, and of course took pictures. On the way back town we ended up having to get on the highway and then dart in and out of traffic (AWESOME) in downtown Florence. I finally felt like a real European. Luckily I spent several years in high school training as a professional getaway driver. How else do you think I pay for all of my shoes? My driving skills prevailed and we made it back to hostel safe and sound.  The next day we spent seeing Florence, most importantly Santa Maria Della Fiore and the surrounding area. Sweet Action.

When I organize all my pictuers, I will post some. You’ll have to come back.

I’m a Daaaaaay Tripper. Sunday Driver, Yeah.

It’s been a long time, friends. Hope you didn’t miss me too much. In the last week I have taken a day trip to Köln, and two to Aachen, along with assorted class time and other such nonsense.

Köln involved a visit to the Ludwig pop-art exhibit, a city tour, a visit to the Lindt chocolate museum, and a guided tour of Köln Cathedral. The chocolate museum was amazing, due to my love of chocolate, and the fact that they were giving it away. Awesome. There was a ‘history of chocolate’ section, as well as a small manufacturing area that we got to play in. Sweet action. Apparently Sav’s likes chocolate too:

The coolest part of the trip, however, was our tour of the cathedral. It took 800 years to complete, and was the only thing left standing after WW2. We were shown around the interior, and saw the standard parts of an enormous Gothic cathedral, but then we were led up a sketchy elevator to the roof where they let us climb around ABOVE the vaults, on the catwalks, and in the towers. Vivian Paul would be so proud (haha):

	Paul, Vivian
	Professor
	Location A104 Phone (979) 847-9283 Email vlp@archone.tamu.edu Website: archone.tamu.edu/architecture/faculty/paul/mainframe.html
	B.A., (Art History), University of Oregon, 1964 M.A., (Art History), University of California-Berkeley, 1966 Ph.D., (Architectural History), University of California-Berkeley, 1975
	Dr. Paul’s area of specialization is architectural history, emphasizing medieval architecture, history of construction technology, and computer applications to the study of historic architecture.

 

As we walked around the outside and I was looking DOWN on flying buttresses and clerestory windows, I was amazed by the scale at which these people were able to build.

 

And then my dreams were smashed. As we entered the space between the vaults and the roof, I realized IT WAS SUPPORTED BY IRON. WHAT? Those post-Gothic liars.

After I got past my shock and anger, I saw some really awesome architectural elements that I won’t bore you with, being that most of you don’t give a rip about architecture (a post for another day). Instead I will distract you with shiny objects and pretty pictures.

 

Moving on, I have also made two trips to Aachen. One was a class trip where we visited the Palatine Chapel, and our studio prof’s university to watch some final presentations. In German. Whatever. The Palatine Chapel is of special interest to me, being that I am doing an extensive presentation on it for my online course. I thought it would be a good idea to load myself up with coursework during my semester away. In short, it is the octagonal center of Aachen cathedral that was built as a private chapel for Charlemagne. It has cool polychrome stonework, some dried up bones they claim are Charlemagne’s, and some cloth that’s supposed to be Mary’s cloak, and Jesus’s loincloth. Holy underwear, sweet action. Cue the photo:

On a completely unaffiliated note, this past Sunday, Jacob, Gavin, and I took a second trip to Aachen to visit Carolus Thermen. Aachen is known for its spring water, and its Roman baths, but we are not so easily convinced! As advanced students of architecture, we know better than to take people at their word! One must go, and see first hand! So we did. A massage, and two hours in baths and saunas later, we decided that, on this particular occasion, they weren’t lying. Touche, Carolus Thermen, touche. This whole ‘study abroad’ thing is killer. Visiting all these countries, eating all this food, and investigating spas… I hope I make it back (lying).

 

This is all, you can stop reading now.

 

There are Two Things I Can’t Stand in This World: People Who are Intolerant of Other People’s Culture, and the Dutch.

Just kidding…

Last week (February 12-15) was spent in a strange, underwater nation known as “The Netherlands.” We spent one day in Rotterdam, and three in Amsterdam. It was a grand time filled with classless days, freezing cold outdoor tours, and a language that no one in their right mind still considers useful. This is beneficial to us, because everyone speaks English.

*sidenote*

We were told before we came “Oh, everyone in Europe speaks English!” This is lies. Except for in The Netherlands.

I digress… We spent some good time in Rotterdam, which is considered the architectural center of The Netherlands, is the birthplace of Rem Koolhaas, founder of OMA (Office for Metropolitan Architecture), and is home to the Dutch Architecture Institute. We saw a sweet cable stay bridge, and some cool modern stuff from OMA, Renzo Piano, and some Dutch people whose names I cannot pronounce. We also visited West 8, an urban design firm that just won the competition to redesign Governor’s Island in New York.

Rotterdam:

We then moved on to Amsterdam. It was full of bicycles, and older(IE boring) architecture, but we had a good time taking a boat tour, visiting the Van Gogh and Anne Frank museums, shopping and eating. Most of you know I have a soft spot for accessories (that sounds really gay) including shoes, ties, and watches. To pacify myself I bought a awesome new Swatch, as well as the standard jersey to add to my collection.

My Swatch (and my arm):

We also visited the amazing new Amsterdam public library. It is an awesome modern building that was full of computers, books, media, a restaurant, and most importantly… PEOPLE. It is a sad condition in the States that our libraries are old, ugly and empty. Is this an area where we have dropped the public works ball? Yes, but unfortunately, until people get out of their suburban rut, we will not see significant improvement. *end rant before it gets out of control* Long story short, it was beautiful, modern, and functional; all of my favorite things. See facebook for pictures.

All said and done, The Netherlands was cool. Not the coolest, but cool. The end.

‘I reject your reality and substitute my own.’ – Adam Savage

Two weeks ago we presented our first studio project. I’m not much for ‘abstract design,’ but apparently the Germans are. We had a big tank of water, and our assignment was to create a ‘system’ that had a function both on the surface of the water and below the surface. The projects ranged from little underwater vehicles that swam around, to crazy clouds of ink, to exploding cabbage juice. Whatever. I chose to take a semi-scientific approach and work with the relationship between light and various media (in this case air, water, and our prism-like tank).

Begin crash course in color theory:

Light is really just electromagnetic waves that our eyes can perceive. Different wavelengths are seen as different colors ranging from red (around 380 nanometers) to violet (around 750 nanometers). You should have learned this in high school, ROY G BIV, etc. However, your deranged, middle aged physics teacher probably lied to you and told you “Indigo” was the “I” in ROY G BIV. Indigo is not a color, nor is it part of the spectrum, it was made up because English teachers demand there be a vowel in all words found in the English language, and that fool Isaac Newton wanted 7 colors instead of 6. Hooray, public education. That rant having passed, the standard colors are Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Violet.

There are two basic color creating principles. RGB (additive color), and CMYK (subtractive color). RGB is “Red, Green, and Blue” which are the primary colors of LIGHT (not yellow, don’t argue with me). The theory is that black is the void of color, and you can add these (R, G, and B) in different quantities to create any hue until finally all three are completely saturated and it becomes white. CMYK is “Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black” (yes I know ‘black’ doesn’t begin with ‘k’ I didn’t come up with it.) This method is used for ink, which is why your HP deskjet has three funny color cartridges, plus black. It is the opposite, stating that white is the absence of color, and C, M, and Y can be added until you finally reach black.

Here’s a Visual. I love Visuals:

I also did some talking about prisms and other fun physics things, but this is getting boring. Basically what I did was build these crazy floating flashlight buoys with colored film, and shot light all over the tank.

Ooooo…. Ahhhh….

That’s really it. This has nothing to do with architecture, but I love physics… and color. The end.

‘…they’ve never gone this long without a kill before.’

The man:

Watch him use all 10 fingers to play; the sign of true genius.

Jeez, I miss music.