Archinect - Syracuse University - Florence Program

Zurich is cool.

2004-10-23T10:56:07-04:00

We're on fall break, and I'm here in Zurich. Zurich is cool. Not even Swissair trying to charge me for a Coke on the plane, losing my bag and then trying to tell me I could only cash in the voucher they gave me when I got bumped one time for 2/3 of its value (I won that argument) can make Zurich not cool for me.

A small sample of how cool Zurich is: I forgot to bring any Pentel pencils with me to Florence and have been regretting it ever since. Pentels don't seem to exist in Italy, and pencils that are almost, but not quite, as good cost 20 Euro and up, so I've been suffering with lesser German models. I go in a random art supplyish store here, and not only do they have them in 0.5, 0.7 and 0.9, they have the elusive 0.3 and the 0.5 comes in four different colors. So I got one in burgundy, and a very nice lead holder, both for less than they would have cost in the States.

Okay, I've been an architecture student for too long, I freely admit it. But Zurich is cool for many oth...

Pics from Vicenza and Venice

2004-10-18T07:24:30-04:00

I took 541 pics this weekend, thanks to my new 512 mb flash card. Here are a few:

Villa Rotunda, Palladio.

Acqua alta at the Querina Stampalia, Scarpa.

Some tourists trying to get around the Piazza San Marco.

Chiesa San Marco foyer. The flood waters made it up the stairs.

San Giorgio Maggiore, Palladio.

My friend Desi, who's been bugging me because I hadn't put any pictures of her up here.

Pics from the Biennale coming later.

Better late than never; back from Venice

2004-10-18T07:01:51-04:00

Sorry I haven't posted anything in a while, it's been a bit crazy here but it's settled down some now. We've been to Mantua, Verona, the Aldo Rossi cemetery at Modena, Vicenza and, most recently, Venice.

Venice is just about the coolest place I've ever been, a close second to Fenway Park. A brief overview: hundreds of densely packed islands, completely built up, with two city grids: canals between the islands and narrow roads with bridges, so you can get just about anywhere walking or on a boat. No motorized wheeled vehicles anywhere - even delivery services and trash collection is by boat, since you can't even drive a Vespa. It's a paranoid-critical fantasy trip that was once the capital of the Western world. It's also expensive and hard to get around in.

The first morning we were there, there was an acqua alta situation. A large rain storm and a high tide combined to flood the city. Piazza San Marco was under a half meter of water, there was water in the stores, the churc...

More pics - Como, Milan and Torino

2004-09-22T10:49:47-04:00

This weekend's trip was 3 days to Como, Milan and Torino. A few of the things we saw:

The lake at Como. They tell me this was where the filmed some scenes in Star Wars 2.

War memorial by Sant'Elia, executed by Terragni. Both were from Como. (Other famous Comians include both Plinys and Volta, the guy who invented the first battery.)

Inside the elementary school Terragni designed.

Staircase in the Casa Del Fascio. Cause you've all seen the facade but the interior is more interesting (and less fascist).

Church in Milan. I've been to so many churches recently they all become a blur.

View from the top of the Duomo in Milan. Very cool place, highly recommended. Not to be confused with the Duomo in Florence - actually, most Italian cities have a church called the Duomo, it means "house" as in "house of God", not dome as in Brunellesci's dome.

The Galleria in Milan. Early example of an iron-and-glass roof, a few years after the Crystal Palace.

Model on display in the Galle...

Pics at last

2004-09-15T10:47:29-04:00

Some pics from our first couple of weeks here. All were taken by me unless otherwise noted.

At the monastery at Galluzzo (where Corb received enlightenment):

The Uffizi at night (photo by Mel Meyer):

At the Villa Gamberaia, architect unknown:

A couple of SketchUp graphics I did after I got back from Villa Gamberaia:

Week 1 (warning: rambling post)

2004-09-07T09:26:09-04:00

So I've been in Florence a week, and so far it beats the heck out of being in Syracuse. Haven't got any pics to a computer that's on the net yet, but I will soon. It's a bit of a pain - would it really be that hard to do wireless in the university buildings so I could do this on my own laptop? Oh well. This post will be long and rambling, and probably only interesting to people who know me, liked "You Shall Know Our Velocity", are particularly interested in the day-to-day experience of the program or are just very curious, so if you're not one of those people, skip this post.

First few days were orientation - how to get around the city, how to do all the registration and immigration stuff, getting us placed in apartments and houses, etc. They put us up in hotels for the first couple of days, gave us free food and then set us loose on the city, which wasn't actually as bad an idea as it sounds like, and allowed us to meet each other and learn that most of the bars north of the ...

Ciao tutti!

2004-09-06T06:45:20-04:00

Buona sera. Apologies for not posting sooner, but they've only got our net access up today, and I've been very busy what with all the eating pizza, shopping for designer knockoffs and going to the beach. More info and pics to follow, after buying books and going to studio (some things never change, even in Italy).

Ciao.
Andy