Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Pere Lachaise Cemetery
Monday, November 16, 2009
Ronchamp
As soon as we drove up the steep hill in what seemed like the middle of nowhere and parked the car, the view from the parking lot was gorgeous. You could look down on the rest of the city below with trees as far as the eye could see. It was such a peaceful location, it reminded me a lot of Michigan. As you walk by foot up the rest of the hill, the building came into view. It seemed like this building only existed for that day. It was perfect sitting within the trees, leaves changing colors and grass green. The building is not like Corubusier's other building, it has a much more natural form. It is made of white concrete with the texture of a thick stucco. The shape of the roof if very unusual, with it swooping towards the air, it almost appeared as a horn.
From the exterior, you can see little cut out windows situated with no order what so ever. It breaks up the white facade and gives it something unusual. The form of the building is very strange from the exterior, it is very object like and seems to have no order, but once you enter the building, it makes so much sense.
As soon I entered the chapel, everything changed. It was probably about fifteen degrees cooler inside the building than out, you get a chill as soon as you enter and can see your breath again the dark interior. The only light being drawn into the building were from the little cutouts you could see from the outside. Each window is placed in the wall at a certain angle, some set into the wall almost five feet. The light that it produced was serene, it sent light off into different angles produces a very different interpretation of the room than if there were lights hanging from the ceiling.
Villa Dall'Ava
The house stood out like a sore thumb. Placed between all of the french bourgeoisie homes of the early 1900s stood a building made of corrugated steel, orange construction fence , and angled columns holding up a cantiliever, all placed behind the concrete degrated fence. It looked like nothing more than a construction site situated on this pleasant quiet street. But it was exactly what I was expecting- to the "T". Koolhaas's design of this building is a complete joke. The angled columns are a way to tilt his hat off to Corbusier's Villa Savoye. He takes Corbusier's pilote idea and exaggerates it to the extent where it appears the Villa Savoye has been thrown in a tornado and spit out on the other side. On the roof is a swimming pool with a view all the way to the Eiffel Tower. He wraps an orange construction fence around the pool in an ellipse to symbolize the roof of the Villa Savoye, and to stick his tongue out at France's most dedicated symbol, as if this building his more important.
My friend, being the crazy one she is, decided to sneak underneath the exterior fence with my camera and capture as many pictures as she could. Luckily- no one was home, but if there was anyone, they would have for sure seen her through ribbon windows covering the home. We were able to see the kitchen cabinets, made of regular grade plywood- again another joke Koolhaas throws in there. The house is separated at the top by two cantelievered boxes, one is the master bedroom, the other the child's room, each with their own private stair in the center of the home so you cannot directly walk from one bedroom to the next. I love how the bedrooms are wrapped in corrugated steel- one silver, one copper. It seems as though Koolhaas wanted to take the material completely opposite to those covering the neighboring houses, and this was the best solution. It is just so unusual that you would find a house made of corrugate steel, yet alone a bedroom. But it works. I think the entire building works. It is exactly what I had always pictures, but it finally came to life. This is one of those buildings that will always be with me, in one of those weird, creepy ways, but it will always be a part of me and a part of my designs.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Venice
We passed over the bridge and continued on the other side of the island. The majority of the city, in all reality, is shopping. There were stores at the bottom of every building, and tourist stores at that. Not once the whole time I was in Venice did I see a grocery store. I think that this made it feel more like a tourist attraction than anything else in the city. Everyone that lives on the island has to work for one part of tourism, whether it be a shop owner, waiter, or captain of a boat.
We made it to the Basillica de San Marco before it closed for the night. The church was constantly added to over the course of hundreds of years and was like no other church I had been in. Most of the time churches are designed to show power, but this one took power to a whole new level. Every inch of the ceiling was covered in half inch by half inch pieces of mosaic, and mostly gold at that. Even the floor was made with mosaic marble. It is believed that most of the materials used to build the basillica were stolen from Constantinople. Even the famous four copper horses on top of the building were stolen. At the top of the basillica we were able to look out over the entire Piazza de San Marco. It was filled with all the tourists escaping from the narrow streets. There was a museum at the top as well which had a double bass belonging to the church for hundreds of years, also probably stolen. But it was brought to the church for their talented bassist, one I know very well, Dragonetti. He wrote some of the most famous bass concertos in the world, several of which I have played. I stood in awe in front of the bass, and even snuck a forbidden picture, but how could I resist!
Along the other side of the basillica was the Bridge of Sigh. It was a bridge not built for the everyday pedestrian, but for prisoners. It was there last gasp of air before they went from court to jail. Unfortunately it was under construction, and even more unfortunate, it was covered with ads. The large photo of a fake sky and model added a little something different to the bridge, but nonetheless, at least I could see it.
As the sun went down, it cooled off significantly and we walked the streets once again and grabbed an authentic Italian meal for dinner. Afterwards, we decided to take a look at the city at night. It truly changes as the sun goes down and lights come on. The reflections in the water change and it becomes a new city. Perhaps even more beautiful, maybe not, but then again it seems like this city could never look ugly.
In the morning, we walked to the train station to drop off our bags and decided to take a water taxi along the main canal back to San Marco. The city was beautiful from the water. I had seen several pictures of Venice and heard lots before I arrived, but it's a completely different feeling to actually see the water come right up to someones front door in person. It's almost unbelievable.
It started raining half way through the boat ride and by the time we got off, it was coming down pretty hard. We had hit the city during tourist off season, but we hit Agua Alta right on time. Supposedly it's a once in a lifetime opportunity to see the high tide in Venice, but it happens once a year just for a couple days. As we walked around the city in the afternoon, the water began to flood the streets. The majority of the Piazza de San Marco, along with the basillica was completely under water by early afternoon. There were some streets that were completely inaccessible without thigh high galoshes. In some areas, they put up platforms to walk over the water on. It was definitely a sight to see the line of people with their umbrellas walking on the wooden platforms throughout the plaza. It was even more amazing to see the marble mosaic floors of the church covered with over five inches of water.
But the water flooded streets gave an entirely new perspective to the city. New reflections were created and it became more unique and gorgeous. Although I got soaking wet, it was worth it to see the city under water, although something that may be much more common in the future.