Ever since the Grand Tour, architecture students have explored buildings in situ through formal and informal learning opportunities outside of the traditional campus setting. Whether semester long international travel programs or short design studio field trips, faculty recognize these experiences as vital curricular moments that add meaning to a student’s education, especially when sketching is part of the act of observing. Beyond the pleasure and exoticism of travel, whether to nearby or distant places, learning first hand from buildings remains rewarding and memorable. It is a moment when many senses come into play, and most importantly, brings forth intense visuals that offer students a way to confront their academic understanding of a building with their on-site experience of it.
Category Archives: Travel
Porto: a lesson in stairs (Alvaro Siza)
Porto: a lesson in stairs (Alvaro Siza). For whatever reason, stairs have always fascinated me. Beyond their communicative power and symbolism (Image 1 below), their beauty, craftsmanship and spatial qualities mark a building in a variety of ways. It seems part of human destiny to defy gravity and erect tall structures—in fact humans have worked toward the idea of a sky scraper since the pyramids of the ancient world, and, more recently the 13th century towers in the Tuscan town of San Gimignano. Vertical circulation systems, primarily through stairs and ramps, have been integral to this cultural vision of building vertically.
An easy spanakopita
Almost every year, blogs, upscale magazines, and food critics define trends that restaurants and home chefs enjoy in their daily cuisine. I am always interested in how they come up with their assumptions, especially since spotlights on international food seem to be focused on discovering unknown ingredients – difficult as travel to far corners of the world has made us blasé.
Hong Kong: a lesson in stairs (Billie Tsien and Tod Williams)
Hong Kong: a lesson in stairs (Billie Tsien and Tod Williams). There are many urban environments that I have come to cherish throughout my years traveling the world. I am an urban boy, and while I love Berlin, Paris, New Delhi, New York, Tokyo, and Vienna, and even at a more modest scale Lausanne where I studied architecture, Hong Kong remains top on my list of favorite cities. There is no place that has provoked me more than the Fragrant Harbor—Hong Kong’s nickname—which is in direct opposition to the more gentile landscapes of places I have lived including the Bluegrass region of Kentucky, the Central Coast of California, and the New River Valley of Virginia.
Asian soup with seared salmon in twenty minutes
Comfort food brings back memories of matriarchs cooking for their kids. Dishes were simple. For me, when my parents rekindled as a couple with a dinner at their favorite restaurant I looked forward to spaghetti with butter sprinkled with freshly ground black pepper and Parmesan. When I felt sick and was in need of additional maternal love there was classic chicken soup. And, of course, perfect for anytime, an old-fashioned homemade American apple pie. I know, nostalgia and sentimental feelings of childhood are often associated with comfort foods: and why not, as we are all humans and in need of COMFORT.
Casa Rezzonico by Livio Vacchini
Doing and Knowing. Usually the task at hand is trivial. While working, the banality of the task is quickly overcome and turns into a necessity of a spiritual nature: the need to build a thought. Making a project means indulging in the pleasure of constructing a thought.
Livio Vacchini
Capolavori, 2006[1]
Carlo Scarpa and detailing
Some time ago, a friend of mine mentioned an article in the New York Times Sunday Magazine on the work of Italian architect Carlo Scarpa (1906-1978). Her suggestion came at an auspicious moment as I was completing a second blog on the Venetian architect. Reading the article, the first paragraphs filled me with fond memories of visiting the featured apartment (Venice, 1962-63) that Scarpa had designed for his attorney Luigi Scatturin.
Vittorio Gasteiz: a lesson in stairs (Francisco Mangado)
Vittorio Gasteiz: a lesson in stairs (Francisco Mangano). If you have ever wandered off the beaten path in a small French village or an Asian megalopolis, then you have likely stumbled on a tucked away medieval church, a picturesque and vibrant neighborhood market at night, a small literary café, a quaint winding cobbled street, or perhaps buildings that stand out by their unique presence. The moment is rewarding and often lends a sense of privilege to be the “only” person who knows of this newly found secret place.
Culinary memories from Switzerland: THE canapé
Culinary memories from Switzerland: THE canapé. Sandwiches are a ubiquitous food staple around the world. From their official inception with John Montagu, the 4th Earl of Sandwich (1718–1792)—who had requested that his valet prepare a “piece of meat tucked between two pieces of bread” —to contemporary fast food franchises specializing in oversized, fully loaded footlong versions, each country’s identity includes some sort of bread butterflied and filled with delectable indigenous ingredients (melted cheese, cold and grilled meats, vegetables, yogurt, spicy mayonnaise, and even peanut butter and jelly). Perhaps one day, in this cornucopia of world sandwiches, one might be included as a food item on UNESCO’s List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
Breakfast bread pudding ham cups
Breakfast bread pudding ham cups. Breakfast will always be special and, as I’ve said before, the variety of items that constitute the day’s first meal remains endless. However, while I most often return to my favorite selections, I do find myself wanting to try new ways to cook, present, and interpret breakfast staples. Recently, I came across an innovative way to use three basic ingredients: bread, eggs, and ham.