When Old Meets New

Of all the spectacular places we visited in Spain this summer, the one that really took me by surprise was Ronda.  Knowing absolutely nothing about this small town, I was completely blown away by what it had to offer.  It is the picturesque example of old meeting new.  In fact, you can see the exact moment where they meet:

The view is what really sets Ronda apart though.  The sunset is one that leaves you speechless and getting into other peoples selfies.  The vast landscape seems to go on forever and you are left trying to study each individual part, making discoveries along the way.   No picture will do the view from Ronda justice but anyways:

Nik Kretzschmar

quiero ver el mundo; quiero ser el mundo

a poem, composed of thoughts on the road

Travel is tiring. 

Too many cities, too many long flights, long rides 

waking up from jet lag naps with dry eyes, 

too much falling asleep and waking up in the wrong place, wrong time zone 

too many sunrises and sunsets blurring into one long day 

with too many skylines and too many voices speaking too many languages I don't understand.

Too much drinking, dehydration, irritation,

unpacking and repacking and personal baggage,

deciphering unfamiliar accents, counting unfamiliar money, navigating unfamiliar streets;

 it's hard to write and think and create when you're in a place with unfamiliar rhythms.

But travel is necessary.

It's the same old itch, the need for more—

more living, more places, more experiences, more feelingsmusicpeople—

more.

I want the world to swallow me up so I don't have to be apart from it, 

an observer, a traveler, an experience-r—

I want to be in it and not apart from it, 

I want to be the world with its colors sounds smells lights, 

I want it to swallow me whole and gobble me up 

until there is no more skin and bones between me and the sky earth walls trees trains sheets city streets.

alyssa simone ildefonso manguramas

Peek-a-choo, peek-a-BOO!

Spain is all about the littles...
                   Little textures,
                   Little laughs,
                   Little cañas,
                   Little sketches,
                   Little tea glasses,
                   Little moments,
                   Little group,
                   Little tupperwares.

But most of all... Little games... (Little ladies *sneeze!! ISA* are so great at teaching this!)
       Peek-a arriba
       Peek-a abajo
       Peek-a choo (rock vs paper!!!)
                 (Peek-a BOO!)

The little textures in the sand dunes or the dry windy tabarca,
The little laughs with new friends,
The little beers that seem to be cheaper than WATER!
The little sketches done numerously throughout the pages,
The little tea glasses (NOT tea cups!) that burned your fingers and tongue,
The little recognized moments in both architecture and culture,
The little group of friends created over just a few weeks,
And of course the tupperwares, which were hardly little!

A much loved bunch of littles!!!

-Krystial Cebe 

Struggles to struggles

Definitely this summer spain studio experience was full of fun and excitement. 

At the same time... it also gave me series of "struggle gates" that I had go through and dealt with

.

.

.

.

Lifestyle (especially siesta)

Language Barrier

Laziness

Relationships

Diagrams

Iteration Process

Presentations

Computer crash

Program crash

...

such and such

But at the same time, when I look back, it was actually a series of "learning gates" after all

Learning how to interact with people

Acknowledging the importance of the process

Learning about studio (save...save...autosave..save)

Learning "how to treat your computer well next time"

...

and mostly 

Learning about myself, my abilities, my strengths, my weaknesses such and such.

One Korean artist once said, "pain creates a room for take-off"

Enduring the pain, growing.. learning... accomplishment at the end

Anyway,

Thank you and thank you

-Joan Kang-

Dear Alex From Alejandrito

Okay, okay, I'll admit it. Spain was a huge learning curve for me. Facts are facts.
I grew up as a die hard East Coast kid. Only recently did I start learning about the Bay Area.
I never left the Americas before. I barely speak any other language than English.
Then KA-CHI (2015 Studio should know of this sound), I leave for Spain.

The first couple weeks were difficult.
Constant moving around. Unpack to pack again.
Spanish? Que?
Siesta. Backwards sleeping pattern.
Kissing greetings. Yo, I don't know you like that.
When is our activity? 15 minutes later.

Mid-day drinks? Sure.

Drink tonight? But didn't we just have a couple cañas?

Street gunshot fireworks. Just no.

Former students and fellow 2015 classmates are probably confused as to how I even had trouble with these things. But, again, these different questions and concerns sum up my confusion during my first weeks in Spain. Furthermore, homesickness was too real for me. I have not been back in the DC, MD, VA area in 8 months... I missed it all too much. Familiar cities, familiar faces, family, friends, food... But that was just some extra heat that I got myself into... Oops.

#Anyways. But of course, as time went on, things started falling into place.

My Spanish got somewhat better. Vale? Vale.

Siestas became highly necessary. 

Kissing greetings were like greeting old friends.

Cañas. Multiple cañas were part of any diet. 

Lateness became expected.

I never got used to street fireworks exploding inches away from my feet. But it got somewhat better. 

More cañas.

Backwards sleep schedule? Nah. Just wait for Moros y Cristianos. 

What really sealed the deal for me was one of the best conversations I ever had with Isa. She asked, "Do you know what your new name is?.. Alejandrito!" 

Personally, I've never been called anything else other than Alex or my Korean name. But Alejandrito stuck with me. It just felt right. Now I feel like if I'm ever in Spain again, I can't be called anything else other than Alejandrito. It just wouldn't be appropriate.

In retrospect, Spain taught me a lot about the world, and a lot about myself. Studio taught me invaluable lessons that helped me justify why I love the field, and I couldn't ask for anything more. My journeys around Spain are stories of a lifetime, and I feel like if I ever go back, I would feel right at home. 

Thank you, Alejandro, for not only being such a great professor, but also for being that friend to have my back when I needed you. Thank you, Isa, for not only giving me that awesome name, but also for helping me realize how much I love Spain...

So Dear Alex,

You worried too much. 

Spain is simply awesome.

Have a caña. 

Love, Alejandrito.

pathos and architecture

2010

2010

2013

Known by the locals as "el muerto," "el gusano," "el monstro," if ever pathos and architecture have merged, it is here between the shore of a mystic pink salt lake and the edge of a modest neighborhood of white stuccoed homes. On this threshold, Toyo Ito was commissioned some years ago to build a spa, and in the process (over-run by the Spanish financial crisis and local internal politics beyond Toyo's control), the local powers-that-be pulled the plug on the project leaving the semi-naked structure of this potential gem to rot under the blistering sun...or is the other way around? Is it a gem precisely because it sits unfinished in a beautiful state of decay never intended? Every year since 2010 we visit this mummy, this spiraling crustacean, this whale's carcass levitated on a concrete pedistal, and every year it is more beautiful in its entropic un-life. May we see you again in 2016, you tar paper croissant...you beautiful parametric-turd-you....love you loads.

2014

2015

2015

2015

Just a thought: Cal should just buy us this toy and make it the official summer studio in Spain headquarters! Anyone know any donors?

A.S.J.

Being in a pressure cooker

Being in this study abroad program is like being in a pressure cooker. 

The studio part does not require much explanation. Creating diagrams in 15 minutes then explaining them, forcing ourselves to think outside of the box, lingering outside of our comfort zone, we were asked to develop maturity in our works in short amount of time, sometimes relying nothing but our instinct. 

But as one of the final critique juror described, 

the most valuable experience of this program is the dynamic or the relationship we gained under this compressed time. From strangers to friends, we were forced to be with each other everyday every hour in this program, seeing the same faces as soon as we opened our eyes till the moment we went to sleep. I have to admit I was sick of being part of the crowd at early times in the program. It made me realize the value of solitude or self reflection time. Yet being such introverted and "special" human being, I still feel accepted. The program makes us show our worst and best in just two months through just daily habits. We compressed the phase of what I would describe as "pretentiously polite." Greetings in the morning went quickly from a "Hi!" with a smile, to a simple eye contact and a nod. We saw each others' messy hair straight out of bed, underwear hanging in the balcony, awkward sleeping posture and snoring sounds.  We learned to accept it all.

So perhaps being in a pressure cooker was not that bad after all. 
It made us more real.

we are so pretty        i guess  (Picture stolen from FB)

- Renee Yuen