The past week went by faster than imagined. To begin we only had 3 days of classes. From there we, as a class, traveled along the northern part of Spain, enjoyed plenty of wine. And to end, it was my 21st birthday.
At the beginning of the week for field trip class we spent both days at the MACBA/CCCB complex. It is a more modern complex just slapped down in the outskirts of the old city. The complex is near our studio but does not leave a burdening impression upon the surrounding areas. We were studying how the 3 new buildings in the complex are put together in a very anayltical way that creates a series of placas with continuous lines and ideas running through the placas and the buildings. Getting off to a rough start I tried again the second day to map out in plan the old vs. new in that block. In doing this, on my own and with others help, I was able to realize how specific walls line up with other walls to create different spaces and thru spaces. Each wall or architectural element was placed for specfic reasons, a lot of the elements helping to create some type of edge to a space. Whether it be along the street creating the side walk, the lineing up of placa spaces (terminations), or even just the simple walkways around and through buildings that help to create an edge for the pedestrian to walk around, through, or follow along. I am not necessarily sure if the series of spaces are my favorite- I like each part separtly but sometimes i still feel a lack of welcomness to the spaces.
And from there we continue north. Catching an early plane ride into Calatrava's extension to the Bilbao airport and also examining his bridge and Frank Gehry's Guggenheim Museum equaled out to be a busy Thursday. Bilbao itself, I really enjoyed. I felt that although 'there is not much to see' the dynamics of how the river cuts directly through the city creates a new way of looking at a city-for me at least. Although the river is not necessarily used as it used to be, it creates yet another edge for pedestrians to walk along, buildings to be contained in, and the intriguing cut from one side to the other.
The second day of the trip was spent traveling around La Rioja sipping wine and glancing at the most interesting and well hidden architecture. To begin, I 1)enjoyed traveling through the country side to be able to experience something different than the center of a city and 2) Enjoyed spending time in architectural marvels that were not in a city- but rather in the quite areas of rolling mountains and sprawling fields. Each place that we stopped had its own dynamic and for that I liked each as its own. The one that I best feel approached its surroundings the best was Calatravas winery. Although quite modern with nothing to dull the experience it is just his building and the fields and the moutains behind it. The roof line creates an rolling experience that when close up meets directly with the blue of the sky. When stepping back it blends in with the rolling of the far mountains. I do feel that there could have been a better way to 'end' the building for I feel that he cut a beautiful idea short by just cutting off the ends. But in the end that was one beautiful day all around.
Back to Barcelona:
And so here I am sitting to you writting just 60minutes passed my birthday, awaiting my next defining edge.
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