Hometown: Wilmette, IL
Author: Maya Krolikowski Hometown: Wilmette, IL The end of the semester came fast with the wrapping up of final projects and graduate school applications for many of us. Below are some photos of our final reviews, all courtesy of Grant Ley. Enjoy!
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Authors: Delia Chang & Andreea Micu Hometowns: Taipei, Taiwan & Chicago, IL Thanksgiving. A time for food, and family. To re-start this tradition in Spain, we spent time with our friends and colleagues by hosting a grand styled thanksgiving inside the school of ETSAV. Through some soul searching, we just made traditional American thanksgiving foods. Considering our time and expertise, many made mashed potatoes, including Andreea and I. To be free on thanksgiving, we had a deadline the day before of a big section model (1:40 scale, equivalent to a 1/4" model) that allowed us to explore the technology available to us from the school. Soon we learned that CNC router and 3D printer mostly caters to professionals and even as students, we would pay professional price. The laser cutter in the school charges 1 euro per minute, yet the woodshop is free to use. This challenged us to work with our hands and explore other options than relying on technology. Finishing up the deadlines, we looked forward to the delicious turkey that Magali, the program administrator, catered. Some students helped her cook, some made side dishes in their dorm room, and others helped set up the space. There were many faculty invited to the dinner. I hugged them all, wishing them a Happy Thanksgiving. While it lacked the same homey feel, we celebrated with our friends and ate a lot of delicious food. We realized we have come a long way and had grown very close together. We had strengthened our bonds to each other through the challenges we faced together. Navigating a new city with a different culture had allowed us to rely on each other for advice and comfort. Author: Nevis Isaj Hometown: Lombard, IL Even though we have a deadline on Wednesday this weekend hasn’t been filled with as much work as I would expect it. I went to watch a movie in Barcelona; then strolled around the Christmas decorated streets for a couple of hours. The best way to study architecture is to see and visit the buildings and so I did. We have to turn in a 1:40 detailed section model for studio on Wednesday, which I plan to start building on Sunday. For this task, luckily, I bought all the materials at a store in Sant Cugat as I found out that the woodshop at the school sells select materials only. You can still buy materials there, such as cardboard, butter board, wooden dowels of various sizes and other types of paper. It is a great woodshop nonetheless. They have all the sawing equipment, a CNC router, 3D printers, laser cutters, and an incredible instantaneous glue, which is a bit expensive (20 euros). As you can see the 3D printed objects are quite interesting. One of them is Notre Dame du Haut by Le Corbusier. Hopefully we get a chance to visit this building during our trip to France next semester.
Writer: Sara Timberlake Hometown: Chicago, Il It’s hard to believe, but it’s actually starting to get cold here in Barcelona (cold as in, low 60's)! It’s not nearly as cold as it is in Urbana-Champaign, but the nights have gotten pretty chilly lately. Even as the weather changes, we’re still here working on our studio projects and our other classes. We also went on quite a few field trips to Barcelona this week! For our history class, we went to Santa Maria del Pi, situated in the heart of the Gothic Quarter: a prime example of Catalan Gothic Architecture. The next site we visited was the Cathedral of Barcelona. It was designed as a Catalan Gothic cathedral, but it went under some renovations in 19th-20th century to show some more decorated, French-esque Gothic architecture. Something I wasn’t expecting to see there were these white geese in the cloister adjacent to the Cathedral! For our sketching trip with Alex, we visited Can Framis. It was originally an industrial factory, but it has been repurposed to be an art museum in the heart of the 22@ district. These are just some snapshots of where we’ve been this past week. We had a few of us go to Bilbao, Spain for a weekend trip and some other people travel to other parts of Europe as well. To me, it’s exciting to talk about buildings that we’ve seen in our history tutorials, and then to go and visit the building is a totally different ballgame.
Check out the photo gallery for additional photos! Writer: Adriana Giron Hometown: Downers Grove, Il I can’t believe we’ve been here half a semester already! Midterm Reviews happened this week and we were all busy busy busy. Nevertheless, studio is a huge part of our lives, even in Spain, and fortunately our work paid off and we had a great review. Although reviewing 33 consecutive projects in one day was quite a challenge, we seemed to manage. Thankfully, after reviews, we have an independent travel weekend where we have four days to travel with an assignment to fulfill on site. Everyone is currently exploring Europe and hopefully relaxing after our hectic week of producing studio work. Overall, this week has been stressful, but fruitful in the end. Writer: Jen Chorosevic Hometown: Naperville, IL This past Thursday was our first class field trip for our Overseas Architectural Studies class. For some of us, it was our first time traveling outside of Barcelona since arriving a month ago - yes, it's been one month already! - so it was a nice change of pace to get out and explore somewhere new. Let me tell you, road-tripping through Spain is SO much more enjoyable than driving down to Champaign-Urbana. Watching the Spanish/French countryside pass our window, with rolling hills and colorful villages pop in and out of view, was breathtaking. 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. 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 Comtal 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 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. 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. 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.
We'll upload some of our sketches soon - just have to put the finishing touches on them...So be on the lookout! Until then, bona nit! Writer: Maya Krolikowski Hometown: Wilmette, IL These last 2 weeks have been filled with many different experiences, from classes, to sightseeing to socializing with Spanish students. Beginning with sightseeing, on October 25th we went into the 22@Barcelona- the newly development technology district of Barcelona. While here, we observed a few specific structures for our steel construction course: the Disseny Hub Museum (Design Museum) which was newly built and is still in the process of opening. The second was the Media TIC building, by Barcelona's Cloud9 architects and of course passing by the Torre Agbar, which has a very impressive night feature of over 4,500 LED lights. All of these buildings provided to be very interesting structural precedents! We also had the chance to do some quick analytical sketches and share them with our classmates. We have also been taking part in a course that focuses on architectural sketching, which is something that is a new concept to many of us. For our first assignment, we visited in the Celler Cooperatiu in downtown Sant Cugat. This wine celler was constructed in 1921 out of brick and has steel elements to help with the span. Our job was to walk around the structure and develop an analytical sketch that is thoughtfully composed on a single page. This meant deciding what drawings would communicate best what we were trying to analyze in terms of the architectural elements, structural system, construction, or whatever we chose to focus in on. This was definitely a lot harder than I initially thought, and it took me two tries to get it right, and even then it wasn't perfect. I know a lot of us are looking forward to improving our ability in analyzing buildings and creating architectural drawings efficiently and effectively. This is a tool that will unassailably help us throughout our careers as architects! On October 1st we visited Barcelona's city hall, Ajuntament de Barcelona. Before visiting we had a lecture about the history of the medieval city and how it has evolved to today. This government building alone has also changed throughout time- it was built in a traditional Catalan Gothic style, but the facade was renovated in the 19th century in a Neo-Classical style, giving the building a mix of the two styles. At the end of our visit, we were given the assignment to sketch the Ajuntament and compare it to the Palau de Generalitat (the government building of Catalonia) directly on the other side of the Placa de Jaume. Last but not least, a very fun experience/event with the Spanish students occurred on October 2nd; a welcome party for all of the first year students, which is an annual ETSAV tradition. Even though we are seniors, we still count as first years and were invited to the party and other festivities. Professors and faculty were invited to our Residence Unihabit as we snacked on some tapas and did a few icebreakers. Afterwards a Barcelona drum group put on a show for us which was entertaining to watch and participate in! Overall, the night was a perfect chance to mingle with more Spanish students and other international students studying in ETSAV. Looking back on the last month, I have been extremely happy with the friendships that I have started to form with various students, learning more about their backgrounds and their own views on culture.
This Thursday and Friday, October 9th and 10th, we are going on our first IASAP-BV field trip to visit 3 cities in Spain/France. Look for our next post within a few days after our return. Bon voyage! Writer: Ben Feicht Hometown: Austin, TX This last week was our first week of classes! Since it is the fall semester of our senior year, we are in capstone studio doing a project that incorporates all the disciplines of architecture that we have studied so far into one semester long project. The students in Champaign are designing a hotel for their capstone studio, but our assignment is much less defined. There is a neighborhood in Barcelona called Sants, which is known to be a "working class" community. A very defining part of this neighborhood is a building called Can Vies. This building is owned by TMB- the transportation company in Barcelona. It was abandoned in the 90's and in 1997 squatters took over and called it home. These squatters not only lived in this abandoned structure, but improved the surrounding community by hosting events, concerts, and classes for everyone. This created a welcoming community hub that helped define this neighborhood and make it unique. A mile long concrete wall was recently built for a train going straight through the neighborhood, diving the community in two. This past May the city started to evict some of the squatters and tear down the Can Vies building used as a community center, causing riots and protests all over the city. This resulted in a very heated social-political issue which our class is studying through researching how other countries/parts of the world have viewed this issue as well as completing on-site interviews with locals, getting an inside view. Our job is to propose a project that will turn this bad situation into an opportunity to unite the community through architecture. Our history class is much more philosophical and theoretical than the ones we have taken in Champaign. Our lectures have led to philosophical discussions about art and beauty in architecture. This semester we are discussing the era after the French Revolution up until WWII and next semester will be from WWII to modernity. Not only are we learning about the architecture of this era, but the philosophical thinking throughout each time period and how it shaped the art and architecture movements and vise versa. We have also gone on sketching trips this week for our history and structures classes. I like the challenge of proving a point about a building through sketching, for example arguing that a particular building is more organic than inorganic. It also gives us more time to explore the city and take us to places we wouldn’t have otherwise gone to. Check out photos from our sketching trips below! For structures class we visited Cubiertas Paseo Icaria, a sculpture designed by architects Enric Miralles and Carme Pinos. This was completed in the 90's for the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, in the Villa Olimpica (Olympic village). Here we sketched the structure and got the chance to analyze/sketch steel connections.
For our history class we visited Santa Maria del Mar, a Catalan gothic style church in the Ribera district that was built in the 1300's at the height of Catalonia's maritime and mercantile preeminence. We also visited and sketched the Santa Caterina Market. This old structure was built in 1845 as a market for the surrounding community, constructed on the former site of the Convent of Santa Caterina. In 2005, architects Enric Miralles and Benedetta Tagliabue renewed this market with a wooden and steel structure with a curving colored roof composed of ceramic pieces representing fruits and vegetables, breaking the look of a traditional market. Thanks for reading! Stay tuned for next week's post. Written by Maya Krolikowski Hometown: Wilmette, IL Our first week here has flown by! Although we didn't have classes, it was a hectic week filled with activities nonetheless! After flying in to the El Prat Barcelona airport, our program director Alex L. picked all of us up and we headed to our new home for the next 9 months: Unihabit! We got the keys to our rooms and had some time to settle in. *For more photos please refer to the Photo Gallery After settling in, we were greeted by the Director of ETSAV as well as some other faculty of the school. After receiving their warm welcome and a few announcements, we had the opportunity to go to downtown Sant Cugat. Just to explain our location, please refer to the maps below. Although we are traveling and studying much of the city centre of Barcelona, we do not reside there. We live about a 20-25 minute train ride away in one of the first suburbs outside of Barcelona called Sant Cugat del Valles. This upscale suburb is home to many families, so it's very quiet and peaceful here. Additionally, our school (ETSAV) and our dorm is a 5-10 minute walk from the city center. We started off our trip with becoming a little more acquainted with Sant Cugat del Valles. The Monestary of Sant Cugat is a treasure! It was founded in the 9th century and was one of the main monastic centres in Catalonia during medieval times. The town of Sant Cugat originated as a small rural medieval village and still contains many historical beauties on its winding streets. Anyone could definitely spend a few days looking through all of the historical homes, farmhouses, aqueducts, and churches! After much anticipation, and a coffee break, we hit the city of Barcelona! Together, we exited the train at the heart of Barcelona: Placa de Catalunya. From this location, you can walk down Las Ramblas, or a number of main streets. We began our day walking down the Portal de l'Angel - a big pedestrian street with lots of shopping, to reach Placa Nova. Here, you will find the Cathedral de Barcelona, truly a breathtaking view. We made our way through Barri Gotic, the oldest neighborhood in the city, and continued town to the refreshing sea side. At the end of our tour we ended up walking up Las Ramblas to where we started our day, Placa Catalunya. After a day of walking, our feet were exhausted and we were ready to head back home, but it was great day nonetheless! After resting up Sunday, we had an orientation week at the UPC Monday-Wednesday (followed by a holiday weekend Thursday-Sunday due to Catalonia day on September 11th). During our week of orientation we were introduced and welcomed to the university through an official orientation with other exchange students through the Erasmus program. Here, we were handed a packet of information seen below. This included maps of Barcelona, welcome guides, an English-Catalan dictionary. We also took part in a workshop that introduced us to Catalan language and culture, which we found very helpful! Once the holiday weekend hit, students had various plans. Some traveled to Morocco, others to Ibiza, and the rest of the group stayed in Barcelona and did some sightseeing. Regardless of our plans, we had time to enjoy ourselves before classes started Monday.
Stay tuned for our next post about our first week of classes! Hasta Luego! |
AuthorA blog written by the students of the UIUC-ETSAV study abroad program. This blog will cover the group's experiences in our academic courses, as well as our travels all over Europe. Archives
November 2015
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