UC Berkeley Architecture Spain Summer Studio: August 2011

Saturday, August 27, 2011

my European journey (via graffiti)

Traveling through Europe this summer opened my eyes to graffiti as a form of expression and creativity. Just as architecture affects how people live, street art has the ability to change the way people interact with the built environment and each other. It is a form of communication displayed on buildings and structures that can compliment, deface, or even become architecture.

Within the four countries I explored, there were street art trends of varied scales (e.g. continent-wide, country-wide, city-wide…street-wide). The pieces displayed a message of political, memorial, economic, patriotic and/or artistic value. Even though I saw relationships and could categorize the graffiti I saw, each piece was its own individual work of art that meant something different from all the rest.

Here is my European journey (via graffiti):

Mushroom on facade of Biblioteca Jaume Fuster, Barcelona, Spain. Video game homage in a cul-de-sac where children play soccer.

Taken on the train ride from Barcelona to Alicante.

Illuminati eye and pyramid. Taken from Parque Reina Sofia, Guardamar del Segura, Spain.

An entryway to former petroleum refinery, La Britanica, Alicante, Spain. The class was able to explore the underground tunnels and galleries although access is closed to the public.

Skate park under the National Theatre, London, England. Taken on my three day weekend in London while exploring South Bank.

Scarves hang over graffiti on shop walls, Granada, Spain. The piece is dated 2009--has not been removed in the two years of its existence.

Marilyn Monroe stencil taken on the walk up to the Alhambra, Granada, Spain.

Alfred Hitchcock on closed shop door (taken during siesta), Granada, Spain. This serves as street art and is the shop sign during non-business hours.

Bed bug stickers arranged along the doorway of an apartment, Granada, Spain. Taken on the long and very hot walk from the hostel to Parque de las Ciencias.

A crumbling wall is the canvas to this assortment of graffiti, Valencia, Spain.

This piece covers an entire facade of a home, Valencia, Spain.

This blue bird is one of many layers of graffiti and tags on this apartment facade, Valencia, Spain.

This piece appeared to be coming out of the wall, Valencia, Spain. Taken on the walk to the bus station.

Both a Tram and a work of Art, Basel, Switzerland. Taken before the ride to the Rhine for Swiss Day fireworks.

Two blocks from the hostel I stayed at was an abandoned warehouse where artists squat and create. The squat is called Kunsthaus Tacheles, Berlin, Germany.

More Kunsthaus Tacheles, Berlin, Germany. The place was rat infested and reeked of urine but was rich with art and creativity.

Just outside of an organic grocery store was this gigantic sticker, Berlin, Germany. On the walk to Alexanderplatz to get an amazing view of the city.

A tag on a massive wall of the AEG Turbinenfabrik, Berlin, Germany. I found it ironic that someone branded this historic symbol of corporate identity.

A portion of the Berlin Wall is displayed at the entrance of the Checkpoint Charlie Museum, Berlin, Germany.

Berlin was my last stop before returning to America. The graffiti I saw along my journey gave me a better understanding of every city I visited. I truly had the time of my life this summer. I met some incredible people, ate delicious food, explored amazing architecture and, of course, saw some awesome graffiti.

Leticia Molina

Sunday, August 21, 2011

€10 "gypsy pants" and €3.5 shoes

If I had known 2 years ago that I would soon travel around Europe with more than 20 other architecture students: visiting ancient castles and palaces one day and mosques and cathedrals the next; admiring Zaha Hadid buildings one moment and hitting up the Colosseum or the Pantheon right after; eating gelato in the middle of piazzas, the smell of crepes underneath the Eiffel Tower...I'd probably have tried harder to fight off food coma in that dark lecture room of ARCH 170.

All throughout the summer I was a little angry at myself for not being able to recall more facts from bspace lecture slides, kostof's textbook, and even Professor Shanken's voice.
But what I realized was that classes can't teach you the experience of being there, how it feels to walk in the middle of narrow streets that weren't paved for cars while looking up at building facades detailed with ornaments; the aerial photograph of the Mezquita in a lecture slide can't convey the mosque's massiveness when viewed from human perspective on the street; neither the descriptive texts nor the pictures of the Sagrada Familia in a book can justify the sense of overwhelming awe experienced when looking up at the basilica in person...

What I liked most about having studio in Guardamar was the chance to really being there, understanding the history of the city while becoming familiar with the streets, the beach, the castle, the dunes, and even the native people. In the previous studios I've taken, although professors usually assign sites that were within the bay area, most of us never had time to revisit the sites more than once or twice, and relied mostly on Google map aerial views to guide our diagrammatic understandings. Thus, by the end of spending two months in Guardamar, I felt more attached and knowledgeable about my project site and its surrounding context than I have for most of my previous studio projects.

One night after studio, some of us went shopping at the local street market at the dunes near our project site. I'm not really sure how we somehow all decided to get these pants that were baggy, thin and loose. We called them the "gypsy pants". Their colored stripes made them look like pajamas upon first glance, but they are tightened near the ankle. I have never seen these in the States, but they seem to be quite popular in Spain. Perhaps to better integrate ourselves into Spain for the summer, we just thought we gotta get us some Spanish pants! Jinah was the first one to get her pair that night, and the rest of us got our pairs at the Mercadillo on Wednesdays before studio.
All of us were also eyeing these Spanish shoes from the shoe store right across from the Pension. So we all got them too. Afterall, these shoes came in all kinds of colors, looked like they could be Toms, and were also dirt cheap (at about $5).

Since we all matched, what could be better than a photoshoot at the Guardamar castle during the week of final review?

I remember on our way up to the castle, the natives stared at us like we were nuts. I remember laughing so hard while taking these pictures that the few groups of visitors must have thought we were nuts too.

But seriously, what are these pants? I felt like Aladdin the whole time I was wearing them.

view of the city of Guardamar and the beach in the background

A few days ago, a friend asked me, in a very serious tone, why would anyone ever pay money to buy those pants and those shoes. I didn't really answer her, but I have a feeling that if she was there, she would have done the very same thing with us. Sometimes pictures can't justify the experience of being there. Meanwhile, those pants, those shoes, and a few little souvenirs, became the only concrete touchable reminders that I was there, as a part of Guardamar Del Segura, in the summer of 2011.

I'm never going to forget this.

-Lu Han-

Friday, August 19, 2011

From Slide Show to Real-life Experience

This summer, beside doing projects in the studio, I also got some chances to visit important architectural landmarks that i have studied in the architecture history class (ARCH 170 A/B) and also in the studio.

It was a truly different experience to see architecture in real life from only seeing it through slide show or picture in class. So, here are some sites that i visited the last summer:

1. Alhambra, Granada, Spain (ARCHi 170A)