Travel Day / Bilbao Day 1

Tuesday was a travel day from Barcelona to Bilbao. 9 hours on a train! I couldn't believe it when I got my ticket, but I guess it could have been worse...so before I checked out of my room, I took a little run through BCN so at least I had some activity besides setting...

I took a taxi from the station to my accommodations, and after 5 euros, we finally arrived. Of course the driver had to stop and pull out his map 4 or 5 times--the hotel is literally across the river from the station! I guess I don't blame him, he has to make a living, too.

In terms of accommodations for this leg of my trip, I decided to go the 'hostal' route as basic expenses here in Europe are much more expensive than in South America. I had assumed that 'hostal' and 'youth hostal' were basically interchangeable here in Spain...not the case. Apparently, my accommodations in BCN were under the category of 'youth hostal', which means shared baths, discarded hairs on the counters and floors, uncomfortable beds, noise, etc. However, I am pleasantly surprised that when I check into my room here in Bilbao, I am staying in a 'hostal', hence I have a nice, clean private bath (sans discarded hairs and such), a closet, a TV with four Spanish stations that I have not turned on since, and a comfortable bed. All in all, this is a very nice room, in a great building, and in a great location for the same price as my youth hostal experience...I can appreciate the difference between Barcelona and Bilbao, but in less you want to relive some college dorm experience, if you are budget traveling, put your money on the 'hostal' options...

After a walk along the river to as close as I can get to the Guggenheim without spoiling the surprise of seeing it firsthand in the light of day, I turn back, find a bar for a glass of sangria, and head off to sleep.

The Guggenheim:

It is a 20 minute walk from my room to the museum. Along the way, Santiago Calatrava's foot bridge crosses the Bilbao River. Like most of his work, it has thin, spindly structure for the tensile elements and thick concrete for the compressive structure--all painted white. Here, the bridge decking is glass--some transparent and some translucent with what I assume to be lighting integrated into the assembly.

Upon arriving to the museum from the old quarter of the city, you pass the stone clad tower and an elongated, titanium clad horizontal bar that snakes and weaves itself under an existing vehicular bridge to the main atrium of the museum. As you move towards this atrium, the path along the river lifts up gently to expose a new moat that laps up to the museum base on one side and the river on the other. At the atrium, the museum expresses this fact with multiple folds and billows surrounding a vertical wall of glass that offers views into the interior. Objects clad in stone, white draping walls, and ribbons of pedestrian circulation define this zone. Following the pedestrian path, you pass the entire length of the museum and return to the grade level began on the previous side; a stone stair perpendicular to the river leads you up along this side of the museum's block-like massing to an entry plaza. Here, Jeff Koons' "Puppy" greets guests before you descend another stone stair to the formal entry--this time, the stair takes you into the heart of the building--the atrium.

Although drastically different in materials, siting, and size, I would argue that the atrium space of Gehry's Guggenheim functions like and recalls attributes of FLW's NYC Guggenheim museum's atrium. In NYC, the atrium works as an organizational device: entry functions, vertical circulation, and gallery spaces all are located adjacent to the central void of the building. Instead of a continuous spiral that is both circulation and gallery, Gehry uses typical conveyance systems--stairs and glass enclosed elevators--to move people vertically through the building. However like FLW, every major gallery space opens onto the main atrium connected by a series of paths and at times bridges around and through the central void. In each project, people are always brought to a central zone before they move laterally to other galleries. Both, too, are top lit with skylights allowing natural daylight to filter into the building's void. Although I have never read nor heard that the references I mentioned were intentional on Gehry's part to establish a relationship with FLW, the similarities are a pleasant reference especially since both are part of the Guggenheim legacy.



The exterior cladding materials define programmatic uses: titanium clads galleries that are atypical in their layout--i.e. walls, ceilings, and floors do not always meet perpendicular to each other; stone clads 'traditional' uses such as restaurant, bookstore, typical galleries; and the blue defines the offices and support spaces for the museum. Hence, the titanium clad gallery that snakes underneath the vehicular bridge is an atypical gallery and actually houses the Richard Serra permanent collection exhibit:



Check out other photos here:

http://picasaweb.google.es/christopher.kitterman/BILBAO24Sept2008?authkey=nFn0Fur8T3A#

Modernism in the Gothic Quarter...

http://picasaweb.google.com/christopher.kitterman/BARCELONA_days34#


RICHARD MEYER / BARRIO GOTHICO

Richard Meyer’s Museu d’ Art Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA) museum is a HUGE building in Barcelona’s Barrio Gothico or historic district. Here in this district, it is not uncommon to find passageways between buildings of no more than four to five feet as is common in other European cities’ districts of similar age. So, when I came upon Meyer’s building on a map, I was surprised to see it was located here…if you looked at a Nolli (sp?) figure / ground plan of old European cities, you normally expect to see the object buildings—that is buildings that are free standing, very uncommon—as churches or maybe even train stations, but here in Barcelona, you find Richard Meyer’s museum, too along with the churches.



(Nolli Plan example above; the dark shapes are buildings, so you can easily make out streets and such)

For reference purposes only, it can be described as a Pompidou Museum diagram: at some point in time, there was an erasure or removal of buildings. An object building is inserted into the new site, but biased towards one side, as it never sits exactly in the middle to create an entry plaza. The Pompidou’s plaza is angled down towards the entrance; at the MACBA the plaza is flat. Adjacent to the plaza is the vertical circulation for the building. The Pompidou has its signature ribbon of escalators hung off the façade; the MACBA has a series of ramps just inside of the window wall. Behind the circulation are huge, flat gallery spaces. The Pompidou has basically uninterrupted (or can be depending on the exhibition) gallery spaces, while the MACBA has different proportions for different uses. As far as I could observe, most of the walls seem to be permanent and the changing exhibitions adopt accordingly.

However, one of the best qualities of the Pompidou is the fact that the building is higher than all of the surrounding buildings, so when you make it to the top floor and have lunch or dinner at Georges (if you haven’t you must must must), you have an amazing view of the city. Here, Meyer sticks his café with outdoor seating on the second level overlooking the plaza below. I am not sure if the Pompidou references are intentional or not as there is no mention of it in any literature I have read (I feel they are completely relevant, though), I was hoping for the roof top extravaganza, but was slightly disappointed to be perched just 15’ above grade…



Check it out and let me know if you feel the Pompidou vibe, too.

Next, I finally took a walk down the entire length of Las Ramblas. It is basically the heart of the Barrio Gothico and is an amazing public space in Barcelona. The street connects the Placa de Catalunya and Eixample district to the north with the Monument a Colom to the south. It works as a huge promenade defined by a wide public street with a continuous double alley of trees in the middle flanked by a single lane of vehicular traffic on each side with a normal sidewalk between the vehicle lane and the building edge. Here for the most part, the buildings maintain a constant datum down the length of the run. The center trees are fully mature and the foliage reaches to the upper portions of the buildings and maintain a constant canopy down the center promenade. As a result, there are multiple speeds of movement occurring along Las Ramblas. The sidewalks on either side work the same as in any city—at times extensions of the building into the public realm and the sense of movement here is quick and to the point. The central promenade diffuses the speed and becomes a slow, leisurely walking ground. Outdoor cafes, small shops, and street performers help to accomplish this feeling under the continuous protective canopy provided by the trees. The width of the Las Ramblas is just enough that you are aware there are other layers of movement, but the main emphasis is the central promenade. It is people watching at its best.

Igualada Cemetery

http://picasaweb.google.com/christopher.kitterman/IgualadaCemetery#


Today I took an hour and a half train ride from Barcelona to a small town called Igualada to visit one of my favorite landscape-architecture projects: Carme Pinos and Enric Miralles’ Igualada Cemetery. I had heard that the cemetery is only open two days during the week—Sunday and Monday—and since it was supposed to (and did) rain all day on Monday, I opted for the Sunday visit.

I must begin by saying that architects are the only profession I know of that are willing to travel to the ends of the earth to see a specific project. I have hiked through hills, people's private property, climbed fences, and boarded trains not exactly knowing when to get off just to see a project. This day's trip, although not requiring to climb fences or trespass, is another adventure in the making.

Having only a general knowledge of the cemetery’s location upon arriving in Igualada, I thought I would take a taxi to the site and plan on walking back. No taxis. I found a phone number and figured out how to place a call, but no answer. I asked for assistance with the taxi issue and the response was ‘it is Sunday,’ which I am forced to assume that the response really means no one needs a taxi on Sunday and by the look on the guy’s face, this fact should be obvious. (If you find yourself in Igualada on a Sunday, know where you are going.) I find a map in the station and quickly trace a copy of the route for my walk for reference. I have no idea how far away the site is from the station or how long this might take. The morning in Barcelona had been overcast and cool, but the weather was much different in Igualada with strong sunshine and warm temperatures. Dressed with the protection of jeans and a black shirt, I head out in the direction of my scribbled map without water, as nothing was open to purchase a bottle of water either—another Sunday issue I suppose.

After fifty minutes or so, I arrive at the site. Located outside of the main city in a very industrialized area, the cemetery was built in an abandoned quarry; hence, a dramatic site carved out of the ground over time. As a result, the quarry has exposed the horizontal strata of the surrounding landscape—a reference to time again—not always seen. The first sign of the cemetery is a rusted steel rebar fence and gate (fortunately open). As a fence, the horizontal and vertical rebar members create a regular grid, but above a certain point, the horizontals stop and the verticals extend some three feet above. Without the horizontal connections, each vertical piece bends and deflects referencing the characteristics of the surrounding fauna. Plants and human constructs share the same characteristics.

The first sign of ‘architecture,’ that is something that could be recognizable as a ‘building’ is in fact the only weather sealed enclosure at the site; a small morgue with the appropriate facilities is located off the main drive. Having only one façade, the facility is a concrete structure is embedded into quarry face where the hillside overlaps onto the roof. Hearses and other autos need for services are parked adjacent to and underneath the roof of the complex. Pinos and Miralles uses sculptural cut outs in the roof allowing harsh rays of sunlight to enter into the relatively dark space for vehicles creating a dialog of dark / light and solid / void. These cut outs reinforce the idea that the roof is actually a ground plane by giving the ceiling a thickness not normally used in traditional buildings; at times, concrete trellis like planes angle down from the openings, again, emphasizing the thickness of the roof.

Outside of and adjacent to this facility is the formal entrance to the cemetery itself. A huge angular cor-ten gate of steel tubes announces this entry. From here, one descends down into a passage way carved into the ground exposing walls of shifting concrete blocks—references to the surrounding quarry’s newly exposed cliff faces. These blocks, however, are the burial niches for the deceased. The passageway’s floor is a mixture of concrete, gravel, and randomly placed wooden railway ties that when paired with the shifting faces of the concrete burial niches give the project a sense that water has eroded and exposed each of these faces leaving the random wood pieces and the sculptural characteristics of the walls as evidence left behind.


Pinos and Miralles’ choice of materials becomes very important in discussing the relevance of time’s passage in this project. Steel rebar and cor-ten panels are, I feel, important materials used as both are left intentionally untreated and exposed to the elements to weather appropriately. Hence, the act of rusting becomes a reference to the passage of time—the material is allowed to age naturally. Concrete being the other predominant material used throughout the project is used not only for its obvious structural capacities, but it is these structural capacities of spanning space and retaining earth that are celebrated with concrete’s ability to provide a sense of massiveness.

Ok..enough archi-speak. This is one of my all-time favorite projects. If you ever get the chance to see it, I highly recommend it, and if you ever get a chance to look at the drawings the architects made for this and their other projects, they are pretty spectacular, too. Simple black and white drawings, but it is how they draw and describe the shapes and forms of their projects that have a beautiful complexity to them that allow you to get lost in the drawings.

BARCELONA_17 SEPT 2008

After some much needed sleep, I ventured out to Parc Montjuic. This is the area where the Barcelona Olympics were held, I believe, and is also home to some very nice parks and museums.

First, was a visit to see Mies' Barcelona Pavillion. I had visited the Farnsworth House in early June before leaving on the fellowship and was excited to see the project in person. Today's visit was no different. Although not a house per se, the pavilion was Germany's entry into the World's exposition. The project is an interplay of planes--some solid and some transparent that create two inhabitable 'spaces' situated adjacent to two reflecting pools. Travertine and a green marble are the solid planes where the first material is both the flooring material of the entire project and the vertical walls for the smaller of two enclosures. The green marble is the other enclosure material for the larger enclosure. Articulated as a series of planes setting both parallel and perpendicular on a raised plinth, the pavilion is a play of solid and void. The larger of the two interior rooms (surrounded by green marble) has also a red marble plane to define a zone for seating that overlooks a reflecting pool.

More later...until then, here is a link to the new photos of today and yesterday's sites:

http://picasaweb.google.com/christopher.kitterman/BarcelonaGaudi#

BARCELONA_16 SEPT 2008

Greetings from Barcelona! Long time no post....

Wow! This is an absolutely beautiful city!

Arrived at BCN and transferred with no problem (but did witness a Spaniard literally push an American women while bording the flight in NYC...more on that later). Checked in and found that I am staying relatively close to the Parc Guell.

So, that is where I started today-Gaudi Day-and let me say-Gaudi is spectacular! I am completely blown away! We do not give his work justice in school I am sad to say...

Also visited and toured Casa Batllo and Casa Mila...have tons of photos, but will update those and the rest of S. America soon...tomorrow a.m. It has been an exceptionally long day and I am tired...

If you don't know his work...google Gaudi Barcelona and enjoy!