Archinect - University of Florida (Aaron Plewke)

22. Day 9 - MACBA and Raval

2007-02-05T19:44:02-05:00

MACBA in context

We sat in this spot for a while, enjoying the great weather, watching the locals do their thing. After a bit the guy on the right sat down and rolled a joint. A few minutes after he lit up, the older tourist wandered over. He must have caught a whiff, because he became quite curious. Smokey didn't stay too long after that...

on the map

21. Day 9 - Diagonal Mar and Fòrum

2007-02-04T16:39:07-05:00

Diagonal Mar Parc by EMBT

Fòrum Building by HdeM

exhibit inside Fòrum Building

other projects on the grounds of the 2004 Universal Forum of Cultures

on the map
flickr set for 11SEP2006

20. Day 8 - Villa Olímpica

2007-01-21T20:40:57-05:00

housing

Corbetes by Enric Miralles/Carme Pinós

more housing

Day 8 of our 15 day trip ended with a walk through the residential area of Villa Olímpica, originally built to house international atheletes for the '92 Olympics.

text and illustrations:
Riano, Quilian. 2003. Barcelona - A Student Journal.
Architrave #10:26-27.

Cerdà
MBM Arquitectes (Bohigas)
Villa Olímpica on the map
flickr set for 09SEP2006

...
in the 2nd image, with the residential tower, Professors Perez and McCarter lead the way. my travel companion Meredith Klein follows.

Perez (author and educator, project architect for R.Meier on MACBA in Raval) is responsible for the Barcelona trip. This is the 2nd time he's offered it of (that I know of). +q was in attendance the first time as an undergraduate student in 2003. Meredith and I attended this time as undergrad/grad in-between-ers.

Perez, aka P-diddy, was my professor for Design Studio 6 (regional urbanism) and Meredith's for Design Studio 1 (fundamenta...

19. Day 8 - Hospital del Mar and Port Olimpic

2007-01-18T19:17:45-05:00

Hospital del Mar

Gehry's fish folly

along the waterfront at the Olympic Port...

on the map

18. Day 8 - Gas Natural etc.

2007-01-16T21:14:35-05:00

EMBT - Gas Natural Headquarters
on the map

nearby courtyard housing
on the map

Gràcies!

17. Day 7 - Montjuïc, el Jardí Botànic

2007-01-06T15:48:58-05:00

el Jardí Botànic de Barcelona, by Carlos Ferrater

flickr set for 08SEP2006

16. Day 7 - Mies, Calder, Miró and Sert

2006-12-17T15:31:46-05:00

There was a German wedding taking place when we arrived at the Pavillion, so we continued up Montjuic to the Miró Foundation...

This fountain was created by Calder as a tribute to the mercury miners of Almaden [a city in Spain known for its' mercury mines]. The liquid flowing through it is mercury, not water.

Calder, Miró, Sert and friends.

interior gallery on the upper level.

rooftop sculpture court.

...

crack.

15. Day 7 - Agbar etc.

2006-12-13T21:28:16-05:00

walking from the metro to the tower...

we had our morning cafe at this sectional exterior mall thing across the street, then returned to the tower.

entrance to the hotel next door to the Torre Agbar...very nice lobby.

3 examples of housing near Agbar.

also in the neighborhood.

14. Day 6 - Raval, CCCB etc.

2006-12-12T22:37:18-05:00

13. Day 5 - affordable housing, Barcelona

2006-11-21T22:37:47-05:00

affordable housing near El Nou Mercat de Santa Caterina

Emerging Architects Conference - part 3/3

2006-11-05T18:49:15-05:00

previously:
part 1/3
part 2/3

...not willing to let go of the laid-back weekend...after 2 full days of conference and associated activities, day 3 would be our relaxed exit from St. Petersburg, FL.

Sunday morning view from the hotel room...

...11 am checkout, then a quick trip by the pier and inverted pyramid (on the horizon to the right in the image above)...

...u-turn at the pier-amid, then a short drive along the waterfront...

...open space on the water, condos across the street. Not all Florida cities get this part right...

The only activity left on the conference agenda for Sunday:
"Tour by Design" of Historic Northeast St. Petersburg & Swimming Party at North Shore Pool, hosted by Emerging Tampa Bay Architects

translation: no swimming architects.
burgers and hot dogs at the community pool.
architphil on the grill.
pool complex recently renovated by Wannemacher Russel Architects.
tour of pool complex by Jason of WRA.

the client for this project was the City of S...

Emerging Architects Conference - part 2/3

2006-10-26T22:59:39-04:00

previously: part 1/3

Unlike Friday's lunch, Saturday morning's continental breakfast did the trick. A couple bowls of fruit, a muffin, and no less than 4 cups of coffee were quickly consumed alongside some pleasant conversation with a new acquaintance (Josh, a fellow UF alumnus). Josh finished his M.Arch some years ago, and still lives and practices in Gainesville, FL - a city of about 120,000 people...

The day's agenda began with two closely related sessions on the LEED Certification process:

1
The first 1 hour presentation focused on the general nature of the LEED rating system, how it has progressed since its' inception, and what we should expect from the program in the future. Evidently LEED 3.0, due out next year, will include refinements that take regional differences into consideration. Not only will variations in climate be addressed by the updated version, but a system that takes "Dynamic Governence" into account will also be place.

As this graph from the slidesh...

Emerging Architects Conference - part 1/3

2006-10-24T20:20:27-04:00

This past weekend I attended the 2nd[?] annual Emerging Professionals Conference in St. Petersburg, FL. The event, hosted by AIA Florida at the Hilton Bayfront Hotel, lasted from Thursday night through Sunday afternoon.

Friday morning kicked off with a couple sessions dedicated to 'green' design. First, we had the pleasure of listening to a PGT rep give a run-down of the ever-expanding market for green products. This guy was pretty entertaining...at the end of his presentation he was off on some tangent about palm trees not being native to Florida, how he replaced those in his yard with large oaks (which cut down on his home's solar gain), and then he minimizes his powerpoint presentation, revealing his desktop background - a shiny new Corvette. Bio-diesel, right?

After the first 2 sessions we ate lunch, which was the only disappointing thing about the conference. After the salad the caterer asked us if we wanted desert. My buddy Kyle quickly realized what was happening a...

05.1. Day 2 - Carl Andre / Accessibility

2006-10-22T20:56:05-04:00

picture taken at the Tate Modern, 03Sep2006

I was reading this book earlier tonight (see page 30, scanned above).
...as soon as I read the quote regarding accessible form, I recalled taking the above picture - a child drawing Andre's Steel Zinc Plain.

12. Day 5 - El nou Mercat de Santa Caterina, 2nd visit

2006-10-18T09:57:38-04:00

on our first visit to the market we arrived too late to get inside...so, a couple days later we returned, this time in the morning. the colorful roof pattern is echoed everywhere - in the goods being sold, in people's clothing, on the signage. At first glance the bold roof can be shocking, but the longer you sit there and watch the activity beneath it, the more you realize that it is a thoughtful complement to the city, the site and the specific program. around back, between the market and the attached housing (to the right, outside of the image frame). The residential portion of the project (also by EMBT) is for senior citizens. Although the housing is adjacent to the public spaces of the market, it also has its own smaller, private courtyard. headed inside...
below the roof, within the walls. While the bold roof energizes the building's exterior, it gives the inside an entirely different character. The arching overhead plane is secondary to the experience of the space ins...

11. Record: overlap

2006-10-17T20:33:46-04:00

one Barcelona metro ticket
one Renfe train ticket to Sitges (day return)
one paper bag from La Central bookstore, located @ the MACBA

10. Day 4 - Sitges

2006-10-16T20:34:50-04:00

on the train from Barcelona to Sitges

As the wikipedia entry suggests, Sitges is a popular desitination for both family vacations (in July and August) and gay tourism (always). Since we were there in early September (on the cusp of the 2 seasons) we were able to witness these distinct user-groups simultaneously.

walking along the boardwalk...soccer, a vespa and Kansas.

sleepy cat

cozy Mediterranean town, Catalonia

on the train back to Barcelona...

Without Intention

2006-10-13T08:51:30-04:00

sometimes archinect.com pages full of images can load slowly. this image is a fortunate[?] side-effect. Without Intention, or Unintentional

09. Day 3 - El nou Mercat de Santa Caterina, + Raval

2006-10-11T21:19:52-04:00

images 1 and 2 - El nou Mercat de Santa Caterina by EMBT located in the Barri Gotic.
we arrived too late to get inside. next time... so, we just sat outside for a while checking everything out. after 20 minutes or so we left and got a couple chicken empanadas.

image 3 - an Aprila, a Vespa and the ancient Roman wall.

image 4 - Raval, Carrer de les Carretes. Our apartment was on this street.

image 5 - Rambla del Raval ...not the hyper-touristed Las Ramblas, but a neighborhood rambla nearby. We loved it here - very relaxed area. small groups congregate on the benches and lawns that line the rambla. a dozen or so restaurants and bars in sight, a few others just out of sight, 10 minute stroll to Las Ramblas, a bit longer to the Barri Gotic.

08. Record: Day 2 & 3

2006-10-10T16:21:34-04:00

one airline ticket, STN-GRO, Ryanair
one arrival/departure card, Girona Airport customs
one bus ticket, one way from Girona Airport to Barcelona bus terminal
one metro card, 10 trips, Barcelona metro
one grocery receipt, Condis Supermercats, Raval

previously [Barcelona]:
Day 3 - city beach, Barcelona
Day 2 - evening arrival in Girona

07. Day 3 - city beach, Barcelona

2006-10-09T19:44:15-04:00

exit metro at Barceloneta, walk along the marina toward the beach

arriving at the city beach.

Barceloneta's thin blocks hit the beach at an unexpected angle. The skewed intersection creates pockets of open space along the boardwalk. This portion of the beach, nearest Barceloneta, is what I understand as the 'city beach.' The way the dense neighborhood engages the boardwalk greatly affects the place's character.

Shortly after passing the skewed grid, the ground plane splits into 2 levels, putting the sand 12 or so feet from the street.

My encounter with Barcelona's waterfront begins here, at the city beach. After Barceloneta is the well-scaled Hospital dal Mar, Gehry's fish folly, and the Olympic port (w/ residential village to the north). Much further to the east is ForÃºm.

06. Day 2 - evening arrival in Girona

2006-10-08T12:38:52-04:00

a brief walk outside, from the plane to baggage claim. Girona, Spain

05. Day 2 - Tate Modern, London

2006-10-03T20:05:34-04:00

cafe from below.

from St. Paul's to the Tate

cafe from within

04. Bullshit

2006-09-28T20:56:17-04:00

...on the Stansted Express from the London Underground's Liverpool Street Station to the airport, 04SEP2006...

So, we capped off our unplanned 30 hours in London with a visit to the Tate Modern. After spending a couple of hours in the galleries and checking out the view from the cafe, we went down to the basement bookstore to pick up a few small gifts. While standing at the checkout counter I noticed a little black book with a red title block:

I immediately recalled liberty bell mentioning it a week or two earlier, so I picked it up and read the first couple of paragraphs:

One of the most salient features of our culture is that there is so much bullshit. Everyone knows this. Each of us contributes his share. But we tend to take the situation for granted. Most people are rather confident of their ability to recognize bullshit and to avoid being taken in by it. So the phenomenon has not aroused much deliberate concern, nor attracted much sustained inquiry.

In consequence, w...

03. Day 1: a late afternoon in London's Soho

2006-09-26T13:01:38-04:00

Buckets

2006-09-25T20:37:12-04:00

02. Record: Day 1

2006-09-25T09:11:14-04:00

one airline ticket, JFK-LHR, stand-by on American Airlines
one metro ticket, day pass, zones 1-6, London Underground
one pub receipt, Â£11.80 for 4 pints, Blackbird @ Earl's Court
one internet login ticket, 15 minutes, Hyde Park View Hostel

previously:
In Retrospect
Day 1: Hyde Park, London [Plan B]

01. Day 1 - Hyde Park, London [Plan B]

2006-09-24T15:25:24-04:00

On the periphery of Hyde Park, an informal sidewalk gallery has been created by a row of local artists. To the left are the artists, seated in their cars, semi-consciously awaiting a potential patron.

This tree lined path is a formal axis for the park, calling at various monumental works of art along its' way...

refreshing frozen treats. I got a Ribena Ice.

A charity race had ended shortly before we arrived to the park, and by this time - around 11:30am - there were more people socializing than exercising. After lingering for a while near the formal gardens and the frozen treat stand, we walked along the river toward the Serpentine Pavillion...

On this particular day, the pavillion's bubble was washed out by the bright sun. From a distance the white fabric was barely distinguishable from the sky around it.

Below the baloon. Great space. Obvious. People walk in and immediately know how to use it. It's a comfortable room.

We kicked it in the pavillion for a little ...

00. In Retrospect

2006-09-23T19:07:49-04:00

At 11:45am on Saturday, 03 September 2006, Meredith Klein and I, Aaron Plewke, departed from Jacksonville, Florida for a fifteen day trip that would come to include:
eight airports,
four* airlines,
four countries,
nine cities,
seven museums,
and one police station.

Over the next few weeks I will be sharing our experiences and observations with you, dear reader. Please stay tuned. I would like nothing more than to trigger some useful dialogue.

*The list would be JetBlue, American Airlines, Transavia and RyanAir, but due to “high demand this summer season,” Transavia was sub-contracting some of their flights to a “well-established” airline based in Minneapolis/St. Paul. Sun Country Airlines carried out our flight from London Stansted to Amsterdam Schipol.

extracurricular activities

2006-05-12T12:44:31-04:00

(this represents the work of a weekend. My girlfriend and I worked together on it, and entered it into a local design competition, which was displayed at the Emerging Architect's yearly gallery show. The competition brief asked entrants to address the Southbank of the St. John's River in Jacksonville....we plan on further developing the scheme and the individual pieces of architecture within it for our portfolios. comments / questions please...)

Activating the Southbank

A design proposal by Meredith Klein and Aaron Plewke

This design concept operates at 3 scales:

1 - Downtown
First, we propose connecting the Southbank with the Northbank. To this end, we are
creating a “Bridgewalk” that will connect the Riverwalk near the Landing to the
Riverwalk near the Maritime Museum and Friendship Park.

2 - Park
Second, we propose re-configuring Friendship Park to create a more comfortable public
space with increased opportunities. To this end, we are implementing expanses of g...