December 2010
4 posts
Chapter 4
Day four.
As soon as we were two hours from Aix en Provence, we stopped for gas. It was an especially early start, and I drew the short straw for the morning drive. Naturally I was tired as hell… so tired I forgot my wallet was in my jeans from the previous day, and convinced my professor it was gone. It was turning out to be the trip from hell, thanks to me, but just when he got the emergency...
Chapter 3: La Thoronet et Aix en Provence
In the morning we got on the road towards La Thoronet, when the powers that be at google maps pulled a fast one and led us astray. After a little projectile carsickness plagued the professor’s car that morning (don’t worry I dodged it), it was not too great a start. Lucky for us, we had a spare GPS laying around in our dash and set the course no problem.
When we arrived at the Abbey of Thoronet,...
The Last 10-Day: Chapter One
I’ve been putting off the blog for a while now to take care of work in the studio and a bit of travelling. It’s time to fill in the gaps and recall ten of the most chaotic days of my life. Here’s day 1.
Shit got weird at the onset… We departed for Riva with a little over a quarter tank, and it was a good idea to fill up for the long drive through France to Barcelona. The first service station we...
November 2010
4 posts
Bregenz-Hérémence-Chur-Paspels-Scharans
Alright it’s about time I catch up here before I head off for Barcelona. The same weekend we went to Vals, we were close enough to Bregenz, Heremence, Chur, Paspels, and Scharans to get to some specific buildings we wanted to see as a group. Our professor was pumped to have a day off, so he let us figure out directions, meals, and timing. For us it was a fun change of pace.
We stopped in Bregenz...
Verona and Vicenza
When we got to Verona, we found out our hotel room sat directly above a McDonald’s. Not so convenient when it costs way more in euros than in dollars back home to buy a meal that still makes you feel miserable. Can’t complain though; we didn’t come for the fast food.
Verona is home to Juliet (Shakespeare), a boatload of high-fashion shopping corridors, a Roman amphitheatre, and Carlo Scarpa’s...
October 2010
17 posts
Celine Dion loop
We had one last mini-tour of Italy before saying goodbye for a while. It was two days in Venice, and one each in Verona and Vicenza.
How exciting is it to arrive in a place via taxi-boat? After we parked in a garage on the outskirts of Venice, we got on board and in no time we were cruising down the Grand Canal, watching the colorful building facades, tall campaniles and waterside churches pass...
WatchI can’t wait for Christmas. It’s only Halloween, but I can’t stop thinking about holiday cheer since my visit to the Naef factory in Zofingen. The guy we talked to there said business is slow now, but come late November they’re working like Santa’s elves to crank out and deliver the coolest toys in the world. For the working man, the toys make pretty sweet desk ornaments that keep you creative...
Chapelle Notre-Dame-du-Haut
Just when it came time to consistently layer up for the fall cold, we knew our days to see Corbusier’s chapel at Ronchamp were numbered. It’s on a steep hill overlooking the town in eastern France, and the place would be covered in snow very soon. I’m glad we went when we did because the sun was out to help ward off chills while we were taking pictures.
There have been a few moments in my life...
Swiss Roadtrippin
The second day and a half of the weekend we decided to spend photo hunting for some well known modern architects in Bern, Lucerne, and Sumvigt. There were only five of us, so it was easy to pick up and go, spending as much or as little time at one place as we wanted. We had some real issues with traffic and detours in Bern, so it took us a little longer to find the places we meant to see. Once we...
Lost in a fog
When we had a chance to unwind after the Italy tour, we caught up with the folks at home, uploaded some pictures, then got real pumped for our second free travel weekend. We decided to spend it driving through the Swiss Alps to Interlaken, Bern, Lucerne, and Sumvigt. Kyle, John, Ben, and Angie had reservations to bungy jump off the Goldeneye dam on Sunday, so I volunteered to be the camera guy to...
Modena
This stop was our last, and we were finishing our 10 day journey with a visit to the San Cataldo Cemetery, by Aldo Rossi.
This is not an ordinary cemetery, and certainly not something anyone other than architects would bother to look at, other than friends or family members of those laid to rest. It’s barely half-finished, if that, and looks like an abandoned long warehouse stacked to the...
Urbino
On the next leg of our trip home we stopped in Urbino. We heard the brass section of a band echoing from a central piazza up the hill, so we followed the sound and figured out the lay of the land. The town is host to a university, where we first found ourselves snooping around. At the buildings we saw early on, we’d walk in, get a few weird looks, realize we’re in an administrative office or class...
Gubbio
We reached as far south as we were going to go in Rome, so it was time to get on the road to Riva. It was a long trip so we split it up over a couple days, and our first stop was Gubbio. None of us knew anything about the place, but recommendations from students and professors past were enough for us to book it. We parked the cars at the bottom of the wide mountainside town, and climbed to the...
Roma
We finally made it! It’s been my dream to see the Colosseum, the Pantheon, and all that’s left of the Ancient Roman capital since elementary school. It was my favorite part of world history to learn about, and now that I could step out from a hotel into the heart of it, I got to relive all the imaginative glory of my childhood. There was nothing disappointing about the buildings I came...
Orvieto
Late afternoon rolled around and we found our hotel in Orvieto. Since there was only a few hours of daylight left, we did what we could to see the sights before dinner. We got a map and started climbing the hill to a big church up top… This is typical now.
In the middle of a wide piazza stands the Orvieto Cathedral. I’ve learned since our trip that this place had some serious ties...
Arancia Rosso
From Florence we travelled about an hour and a half south to Cortona. It was a little weird because our introduction to the place was a visit to it’s medieval graveyard.
It’s strange, walking around in a place full of dead people you have no relation to. Trying to focus on anything other than the graves over people buried there is difficult, and a little uncomfortable. It was a...
Firenze
Thanks to Florence I’m now a proud owner of some pretty european Pumas. I could only say no to an alternative to my dirty/smelly Nikes for so long, especially after camping in the rain… Here they be
We arrived around dinner time after the drive from San Gimignano, to the tune of Dean Martin’s “That’s Amore”. Although we weren’t in Napoli, it still felt...
#9 Italian Night Club
Well shoot, now I’m behind. After the madness that was Oktoberfest, we had a three day period to finish up four drawings, take two italian tests, write an essay, and revise some sketches. Then we made a slick mixtape (aptly named “spaghetti balls”), packed our bags and hit the road to Italy. This wasn’t our typical day-trip, however… It was a ten day, ten city journey...
Watchyou too, Dad!
September 2010
13 posts
Weg mit der Scheiße!
“Weg mit der Scheiße” is the first colloquial German toast we learned at Oktoberfest, along with “Prost ihre säcke, prost du sack”. You can imagine our excitement to learn some foreign cheers to bring to Blacksburg and impress everybody back home, and our dismay at the translation of the latter. The first is just “Away with the shit” followed by a clink and a...
WatchBefore…
WatchDuring…
WatchAfter…
Mike Lights - For The Win
I worked with this guy...
Monte Tamaro
After lunch yesterday we took a surprise trip to Monte Tamaro to see another Botta Church - the Cappella di Santa Maria degli Angeli. This one is a bit different than the one we saw in Mogno. It’s built on top of a mountain next to a strange amusement park that you can hike or take a gondola to, but can’t drive. It’s less contained as a whole, and very compelling from the...
Good and bruised
We took a two hour drive up the mountains today to see Mario Botta’s Church of San Giovanni Battista. It was pretty inspiring to see a modern church (finished in 1996) in a site that was leveled by an avalanche in 1986. Apparently some engineers figured out how to guide future avalanche’s down into another valley so they don’t have to worry too much now. Botta is slowly...
We Are Trees - Sunrise Sunset
Sweet band from...
Wiener Schnitzel
As promised, here’s the epilogue to my 10 days away from Riva…
Tuesday morning, we wake up in Stuttgart like pissed off zombies after staying up past 5am to watch the idiot Hokies lose to Kellen Moore. I was angry, but not as angry as I’d be if I was back in Blacksburg, or as angry as I’d be if we ended up losing the next game to...
Holy smokes!
I’m back from a ten day road trip north to France and Austria! It was my studio’s first major tour outside Switzerland, and after the first three and a half weeks of sightseeing close to our home in Riva-acquainting ourselves with the Italian language, the lakeside mountain vistas, and the pastel rainbow of houses and shudders-we got served… Served a hot steamy plate of Auxerre...
WatchYolanda be Cool & DCUP - We No Speak Americano. Chillin’ at the top of the european charts with this absurd song… Enjoy!
August 2010
15 posts
Castelgrande
We went to Bellinzona, a city nestled in a large mountain valley-per usual in Switzerland-about 45 minutes from where we reside. This proved to be quite a significant event in my life, because I got to explore the towers and grounds of a castle. If you were a normal child, you loved learning about, reading about, and being about a castle. The dream of huge fortress where you’re the king,...
Bike, Hike, Wine, Spins, and Hockey
Over the weekend I was all over the place. On Friday morning, I drove the class van a few miles down the road to Mendrisio, so we could load up on supplies for models, drawings, and other stuff. I was the guinea pig for the group of six eligible manual drivers, and thus I was thrust into a world of tense uncertainty. It was like learning how to drive all over again, except with the italian house...
Unbelievable
Here’s a selection of photos from my early journeys in Svizzera.
Walking past the oldest operating baptistery in Switzerland, about 20 yards from our studio at Villa Maderni.
View from a 20 minute hike, a little more than a quarter up Mt. Saint Giorgio, overlooking Riva.
AHHH TITS! or as the Italian speaking Swiss call them… “TEETS”.
Lugano vista near the train...
shannenrae asked: Colin! If you had unlimited funds, what would you design? And where would it be built?
Buon giorno Switzerland!
I made it! Leaving London after almost a 6 hour wait was a relief, and the flight to Zurich was real quick. Walking from the plane to the terminal I learned Switzerland’s motto: “Get natural”. Splayed in the corner of a picture of a mountain in the alps, the logo lets you know you’re missing out if you don’t. The Zurich airport has the same train system as Dulles,...
British Airways and Heathrow all day.
After an entire day of packing, running errands, and double checking papers, I told America I’d had enough and got the F out. I yoke, but really I just left last night and I’m sitting in foggy london town at Heathrow airport. So here’s what’s up.
I said goodbyes with the family at the front of Dulles, loaded up with my camera bag (nerd), obnoxiously heavy backpack (big...
