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Blog #19 — Jan. 22, 2025

Farewell Europe!

Urban Icons 

In order for structures to rise to the occasion of icon status, they must have at least few specific traits. Firstly, they must be symbolic of their culture, period in time, or some other context. It must transcend its use into culture and provide cultural connections between ideas, people, or places. Often with this, there is early on resistance to a structure, but over time people get attacked. Secondly, the structure must do something that structurally hasn’t been done before, a feat of engineering that pushes architecture forward. Thirdly, it must be disruptive. Whether artistically or with engineering, it somehow must change people’s view or expand their perspective. Finally, it must have a brilliant silhouette, being highly recognizable without its details. An icon is something people know and can recognize. Without recognizability, a structure can be great, but cannot reach that icon status. 

Of all the structures we’ve seen, the top two that come to mind for icon status are the Colosseum and the Eiffel Tower. More than any other structure on the trip, these are the two most recognizable structures we saw. Everyone can name the Eiffel Tower and the Colosseum. Everyone recognizes what they are on a keychain or a simple merchandise picture that loses the details. People know both their silhouettes and view them with admiration and delight. 

Outside of this recognizable aspect, the Eiffel Tower has achieved many of these other elements. As the tallest tower in Paris, built before electricity , it was a feat of engineering. It distributes all its weight so well that the force is holds is no more than a person sitting on a chair. It was also disruptive. Built for the 1889 world fair, it was structure made of steel that had nothing remotely similar. Once it was built, Paris was never the same, and people had opinions. Society discussed and criticized it for years until society romanticized it and fell in love with it. Now it is symbolic of Paris’ elegant and romantic cultural reputation, something citizens take pride in and the world admires. 

The Colosseum's enormous size with its advanced use of concrete and vaulted arches made it an engineering feat for its time. Without any technology in Rome to build it, this structure’s immense scale and strong structural integrity are highly impressive. It was also incredibly disruptive for Roman society through the entertainment it provide. While the entertainment was used for political propaganda in order to distract and win over citizens, the gladiator matches brought entertainment to Rome that was unlike anything they had seen and filled their days with excitement. This structure’s impact disrupted people’s expectations for entertainment and changed their view of Rome for the better.  While we now can reflect on how harmful the effects of the Colosseum and the gladiator matches were, society, at the time, viewed the Colosseum with pleasure. Finally, the Colosseum is now a cultural symbol for Rome, representing its mighty Roman history and transcending through thousands of years with admiration and pride of the mighty technological advancements of Ancient Rome.

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Blog #18 — Jan. 21, 2025

Modern vs. Postmodern

Based on our discussions in Spain and France, summarize the cultural causes for these breaks and the key differences in architectural intentions and elements. 

Modernist architecture is characterized by clean lines, simple forms, and new materials. Believing that form and function outweigh everything, it rejects ornamentation and any detail considered frivolous. Intellectually, modernism started before World War 1, but architecturally it started around the time of the war. In general, modernism rejected the bourgeoisie’s priority of adornment and frivolity. 

Postmodernism is a reaction to modernism,  believing in eclectic and colorful design. It’s a rejection of the idea that architecture is only about function and should all look the same—rejecting the rejection of ornamentation. The style saw itself as a chance to reconnect architecture with the public. While postmodernism reconnected with the bourgeoisie’s appreciation of the finer things, it saw itself as beyond the rulebook of architecture needing to follow certain design principles—a societal movement along with an architectural movement, making the public question what architecture was (especially through its birth in the 1960s-1990s). 

Post-modernism came to be from multiple social, political, and cultural contexts. I’m a time where modernist, cookies cutter architecture prevailed, postmodernism believed that good architecture taps into the era it was developed in and should reflect the ethos of its contexts. In the early 1900s, we also saw many technological advancements that led to mass destruction and death in wars. This brought upon the modernist idea that progress is not always a good thing, eating we need to break from engrained traditions and create a new world. As this concern continued through the Great Depression, Spanish Civil War, and World War 2, modernism sought to recreate modern city. In order to refund for all these people coming to cities, society became obsessed with urban planning, but in doing so made everything look the same. It was the era of skyscrapers, office complexes, open floor plans, and concrete, which led to dull, cookie-cutter looking cities. With modernism being associated with the mass production of cities—all which did not end up working out very well—post-modernism rejected these lifeless structures and cities, wanting something more for architecture and the world.

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Blog #17 — Jan. 20, 2025 

Au Revoir & Adios, Mediterranean! 

Reflecting on Spain and the South of France 

My favorite structure in the Mediterranean was Gaudi’s Casa Batyo. While we saw many amazing structures in both Spain and France (a special shout-out to all of Goudi’s creations), Casa Batyo is the one that stands out most. Innovative and beautiful architecture for simple, everyday structures often strikes me more than grand cathedrals or weekly-use structures. I love taking in the beauty of a structure while imagining an everyday use with a life there. I also am someone who gravitates towards color and drama in design. With Gaudi’s Casa Batyo—which I‘ve also gotten to see the inside of, I’m struck by the way its bright colors and ornate details brings it to life, both on the outside and inside. Every single part of it is vibrant and dramatic and seems to be telling a story of its own. I also love its imagery of the exterior being a dragon and how this tells stories of the structure as a whole. As I’m writing this, I realize this comes down to my love for fantasy books and movies. I love magical worlds and tales full of wonder and the impossible. Casa Batyo makes me feel like I’m in one of those worlds. 

I truly do not have a favorite city, but if I had to choose a favorite based off where I could see myself living, I’d say Nice. As you already know I’m a fan of drama, I’m sure you could guess my appreciation of Baroch architecture. I love how Baroch architecture transports me to a different world with its dramatic ornateness. I also love how I always find new details when I look at it. I loved the many Baroch structures in Nice as well as the great amount of color within the city. Additionally, I love being near a coastline and feeling water’s physiological calming effects on me. It always makes life feel simpler and more beautiful, and gives me a stronger sense gratitude for life. Finally, I loved Nice’s slowness, which I felt at the outdoor market as well as on the streets. I was struck by the way my one was rushing and how people would slowly stroll with their flowers or groceries to wherever their destination was. In some other universe in Nice, I could see myself going to the market to pick up flowers and groceries and mindfully taking a stroll with loved ones. Nice’s dramatic architectural design, beautiful coastline, and general feeling of slowness creates an environment I wish to live in.

Through our time in the Mediterranean, I learned the importance of accessibility in urban design—being able to reach your needs within a quick enough walk. Being able to reach where you need to go without excessive travel time creates happier lives as people’s days are not overrun by travel and errands. As I think about the type of built environment I want to live in, this (alongside geography with water) comes top of mind. I want to live my life with time for simple pleasures and mindfulness, so thoughtful urban design that prioritizes people is important for that.

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Blog #16 — Jan. 19, 2025

Prompt skipped! — sick day in Madrid.

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Blog #15 — Jan. 18, 2025

Madrid & Barcelona: Rival Cities

Prompt skipped!

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Blog #14 — Jan. 17, 2025

"Rock Star day! Design a cover for your debut rock/pop/hip hop album using Barcelona as the backdrop & with all band members in the picture. Your solo artist stage name or band name, plus the album title, should be embedded in the image."

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Blog #13 — Jan. 16, 2024

Contextualizing Gaudi

Antoni Gaudi’s architecture is unmatched in originality and only lies in Barcelona. In order to understand how something as unique as Antoni Gaudi’s work occurred where it did (Catalonia) and when it did (in late 1800s-early 1900s), we must understand the context he lived in.

Gaudi’s architecture came during a period of Art Novue, a particular architectural style inspired by modern influences and nature. Additionally inspired by Gothic, Neo-classical, and Neo-Gothic architecture, this style was a follow-up to those, characterized by verticality, asymmetry, and ornate details to show opulence of the era as well as Christian motifs. Gaudi’s architecture reflects these design ideals to an extreme, highlighting the relationship between this architectural era and his own personal beliefs. 

Inspired by his deep faith in Catholicism, his architecture is full of bright colors, organic shapes, ornate details, and imagery from the natural world (like fruit, bones, trees, and ladybugs) all celebrating God. He believed architecture needs to reflect nature because nature reflects God and is God’s gift. Taking this belief to the extreme, his architecture stood out with its abstract originality and vibrancy. In the Sagrada Familia, the cathedral he designed that is still being built to this day, there is an abundance of colorful lights celebrating God’s gift of natural light. He also uses intentional storytelling with both sides of the cathedral representing different sides of Jesus’ life—with the blue-windowed side representing his birth and the red-windowed side representing his passion and death. With this structure and his many others, there are also very few straight lines. This is because you rarely see straight lines in the natural world, so it wouldn’t be accurate to God’s vision of the world. With all of this, his religious influence led him to create new structural strategies, coming up with the Catenary arch. Because Roman and Gothic arches aren’t natural support systems, as you’d have to add buttresses and extra counterforces to support weight, Gaudi felt they did not reflect God’s intended world. To counter this, his invented Catenary arch—a perfect parabolic shape—distributes force straight into the ground. It’s the perfect support shape because it’s a naturally occurring shape in the world and doesn’t need extra counterforces, like buttresses. Spun around, catenary arches look like cones, a shape seen frequently through the Sagrada Familia. Through Gaudi’s deep Catholicism and its relationship with Art Novue, he transformed his faith into ingenious architectural wonders. 

Along with those internal-facing influences on Gaudi’s work, there were multiple societal influences. During Gaudi’s time, Catalonia’s politically economy was extremely influential on his work. Catalonia had long been a trade center as well as a  mixing zone between Spain and France. Because of this, there were a great deal of people and ideas coming in and out. This led to its the success of multiple major industries—including textiles, where a lot more people were making a lot more money than ever before. This influx of wealth in the city led to a political capitalist class, a group of wealthy individuals who weren’t ties down to the traditions of royalist and looked towards the future. As they were the first rich class not tied to royalty, they wanted fancy architecture that showed off their individuality. Because of this, architects had the opportunity to do something unique with every job. They weren’t being paid to make the same thing over and over again. They were being paid to create something unique every time. This is how Gaudi’s architecture came to be. Wealthy individuals paid him to create individualistic architecture, so he had unlimited funds to create his wildest architectural dreams.  

The blank checks Gaudi received were also because of Catalonia’s environmental changes. There was a major push towards urban planning as the old town’s walls were pushed out to create a new town. This new town was being built from scratch, leaving lots of opportunities for growth, innovation, and freedom with design. 

One final influence to note is modernisme’s tie to Gaudi’s work. This was the Catalonian renaissance, a moment of extreme pride in their own national identity. As Catalonia was full of growth, innovation, and successful trade, Catalonians were excited to celebrate  their national identity. This civic pride lead to the support of poets, literature, ceramics, artists (of glasswork, woodwork, etc.), and, of course, architects—another force supporting and funding Gaudi’s architectural aspirations.

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Blog #12 — Jan. 15, 2025

Surrealist Architecture & the Dali Museum

Surrealist architecture. While at the Dali Theater-Museum, consider how Dali’s surrealist approach to art is used in the design of the building.  Take pictures and describe two separate instances of where interior spaces were designed to enable or augment the art.

The Dali-Theater museum takes surrealism to the next level. As Dali was involved with the creation of the museum, he wanted the museum to reflect his art and add to its experience. The museum itself is is in disorder with no clear organization. Through this, Dali uses the museum as another channel for mass communication. Just as his art is a channel into the unconscious mind, the museum is too. Through its use of surrealistic art in 3-dimensional form, it immerses you in a hypnotic state. In a sense, the museum’s art is like a play where the museum itself is the stage. 

Surrealism is the artistic and literary movement exploring the dreamlike state of the unconscious mind. Through illogical scenes, strange creatures, ambiguity, and more it builds this dreamlike world. Importantly, it is rooted in a cultural identity with architectural influence. Some common elements in Dali’s surrealist museum are a vivid color palette, large eggs that represent birth and creativity, red walls that indicate a surrealistic nature, bread simulating a feel of goosebumps, and windows in an irregular shape—all which let natural light change our perception of art. Another main element of the museum is its glass geodesic dome, which looks like the eye of a fly, that symbolizes the universe and its infinite possibilities. 

As Dali’s surrealist approach to art is represented in the building, each room uses it in different ways to enable the art it’s showing off. One room that does this is the museum’s main foyer. With the glass geodesic dome above and a giant room-height (and almost room-wide) glass window, the foyer uses natural light to illuminate the pieces within as well as provide windows to art without. The glass window on the wall frames the museum’s outdoor room filled with eccentric statues and sculptures. While giving us another view of the outdoor room’s art, it also acts as if it’s a physical frame to another one of Dali’s paintings—the outdoor room in total. On the opposite end of the glass wall there is a giant painting/mural framed by a red curtain. This red curtain sends the message that the mural is actually a play and that, as we look at it, we are in the audience of a theater. Additionally, as the sun moves across the sky, it highlights different parts of the mural with sunlight, physically representing the constant motion of a play and the dynamic nature of art. Along with these two major parts of the foyer, the room also uses many textures, colors, and patterns to create visual interest that adds to the art. With this, instead of placing each art piece on the same horizontal plane of the walls, it uses verticality for the placement, installing another tactic for elasticity in the viewing experience. These many elements augment Dali’s art through mental interactivity that makes the viewing experience non-static.

Another room that enables Dali’s art through its architecture and interior design was what I’ll call the “Lady Room.” Similar to the foyer, the “Lady Room” sets a stage for Dali’s art, but this time with a physical stage designated by different flooring and rails that gate people off. When you walk into this room, you see many individual elements that all look abnormal and interesting. You see some sort of of giant lips sculpture, which looks like a couch. You see some sort of giant nose sculpture that looks like a table, or pedestal, for the statue on top of it. There are also, of course, many paintings on the walls around the room. Once you walk around and look at the room’s individual art pieces, you notice stairs with circus-like ornamentation in the back of the room. The stairs don’t go anywhere, but you walk up them anyway to get their intended view of the room. On top these stairs, you notice a giant curtain of hair framing the stage, once again setting the scene as a performance with an actual curtain. You also find a large magnifying glass pointing towards the stage. Looking through it you see that all the abstract elements create a face, you just didn’t notice the big picture before! Through the room’s different visual perspectives where it forces you to look at the details as well as the big picture, the room takes you on a surrealistic journey full of ambiguity (poetry’s word for double meaning). This journey reminds you how easily the world changes through a different lens. It emphasizes the importance of looking at life with different perspectives and utilizes this thought add to the experience of Dali’s art.

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Blog #11 — Jan. 14, 2025

Nimes: The Integration of Old & New

Nimes is a city with both ancient and modern architecture that integrates the two together well through intentional and respectful contrast along with urban design. With great historical structures in Nimes, one may question how to build for new needs within an old city. Do you continue building old-looking structures that match the energy of the ancient ones? Or, do you build modern structures that juxtapose the old? Nice’s solution has leaned towards the latter.

The Museé de la Romanite and the Carré d’Art Museum are two modern buildings in Nimes that integrate well with the old. Across from the Maison Carreé, the Carré d’Art Museum creates vast contrast in the square they both sit in. With a mostly glass facade that faces the side of the Maison Carreé, the Carré d’Art Museum respectively pays homage to the Roman temple, filling its facade with a reflection of the structure and guiding our eyes towards it. The way this modern museum faces the ancient structure designates that the Maison Carreé takes more importance, almost as if bowing to it. Additionally, the art museum’s architecture is very flat and simple and doesn’t elevate itself higher than the Roman temple, therefore not distracting from the structure or adding anything too complex in its environment/background. If this art museum was constructed to fit with the ancient temple’s look, it would cheapen the greatness the temple’s architecture and cause them both to blend in. By creating distinct juxtaposition that respects the Roman structure and guides our focus to it, Nimes successfully integrated the old and the new together.

The Museé de la Romanite, designed by Elizabeth Portsapoc, is similar in how it blends Nimes’ old and new. Set across from the Arena of Nimes, the city’s own Roman colosseum, it takes a modern and simple tone that blends with its neighbors without pretending to be something it’s not. In order to not disrupt from its neighbors, it takes the same height as them, seamlessly integrating into the city, and has a wavy facade that blends all the curved facades around it. The facade is also reflective of the ancient arena, paying homage through the reflection that holds the colosseum above itself. Additionally, it follows the pattern of its neighbors by having a heightened base, giving it a feel of the same proportions. Finally, its neutral gray and black colors are humble in its environment and don’t pull attention.

One final highlight of Nimes integration of the old and the new is its Avenue Fuecheres, the boulevard between the train station and the Roman amphitheater. This public space is a well-designed public space that strategically responds to the older buildings in its vicinity. The boulevard starts off narrower by the train station and ends with a wider plaza that has a grand fountain in it. This leads our eyes to the fountain focal point and then causes us to take in the surrounding ancient structures of that area. This forced perspective takes you from the new and respectfully draws you to the old. Because of its fountain runoff areas that line both ends of the boulevard, it also creates a sense of movement that pushes us towards the fountain and old structures. In total, this public spaces was well-designed for multi public use as well as seamlessly blending Nimes’ old and new.

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Blog #10 — Jan. 13, 2025

Sketching Great Structures

So far, I’ve really enjoyed the moments we’ve taken to sketch. Sketching forces you to look more intimately at the proportions and detailing of the structures in front of us. I like the mindfulness of spending time with the structure and quietly absorbing it. I once read an essay about how people should spend at least an hour with one piece of art when they go into museums. Doing this gives you a mindful experience with the piece where you build a relationship with it. Only when you spend that much time with it do you absorb all the details and elements. We don’t realize how much we miss when we look at art, so this counteracts our human brevity. Spending the time sketching structures feels like something close to this concept. The more time I spend looking at a structure the more amazed I am by it. Sketching gives me a chance to absorb all the details I would normally miss. It helps me notice all the immense intention architects have put behind them and gives me a greater sense of awe about them.

Sketching itself is fun but difficult. I learned how to draw in 2-point perspective in my 5th grade art class, so I think that’s helped me a bit with the quality of my sketches. Outside of that though, I definitely am in over my head. It is very difficult to accurately depict the proportions as well as many of the details. I find myself zooming into certain details, and wanting to get everyone component of them, which then causes me to lose site of the whole thing and to struggle to maintain the proportions accurately. I also am never complete with my sketches by the time we have to move on. This is always a bit frustrating, but I can also look at as instructive feedback. For the next sketch, I will trying to start with the big picture of everything before I start to add details or go deeply into one element.

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Blog #9 — Jan. 12, 2025

“Boundary City: Cultural exchange often happens in transitional spaces like Nice, and this exchange can have profound influences on the built environment.“

Prompt skipped, but here’s a bit of info I learned!!

Cultural melding lead to great impacts on Nice’s built environment. Nice was an Italian city until 1860. Because of this and other historical and political factors, its architectural landscape is a result of its many cultural relationships. Italy, Russia, Britain, and more all had influences on the beautiful city’s architectural design. One example of this is the St. Nicholas Orthodox Cathedral. Standing in the middle of Nice, this is a Russian church that sits on land owned by Russia! Following the Crimean war in 1856, Russia needed a place to keep its war vessels in the Mediterranean Sea. Because of this, they sent their princess(?) to see Nice for the reason of “health issues.” There, she bonded with the prince(?) there and was able to convince him to give them a spot for their ships as well as land for their church.

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Blog #8 — Jan. 11, 2025

Ciao, Italia!

Favorite Italian Structure + Country Reflection

My favorite structure in Italy was the Florence Duomo, or the Santa Maria del Fiore Cathedral. Located in Duomo Square, it started construction at the end of the 1200s and was designed by Arnolfo di Cambio, the same architect (and sculptor) who designed my assigned structure (the Palazzo Vecchio). Seeing the difference between Arnolfo di Cambio’s work in the Palazzo Vecchio and the Duomo was very amazing. With such different architectural styles and aesthetic looks, they are both testaments to his incredible artistic senses and architectural abilities. The main similarities between the two structures are their ambitious scale as well as their possession of some Gothic elements.

The Florence Duomo was my favorite structure for a few reasons. One reason is because I love the look that resulted from Florentines trying to hide Gothic design. I appreciate Gothic architecture, but also usually find myself disappointed by its lack of color and cheeriness. To hide Gothic architecture, which Florentines (and Italians in general) disliked and thought barbaric, they introduced Roman styles into the facade through bolder colors and patterns. Through the use of the red Siena marble, white Carrara marble, and green Prato marble to disguise the Gothic elements, I find the Duomo to have a cheerier and more exciting tone. It feels more lively and dynamic than if it just had the sandy color we see in most Gothic architecture.

Another reason I love the Duomo was because its facade was not the most interesting part of its exterior. While its facade was beautiful and massively impressive, every side and angle of the Duomo was also beautiful and impressive. Even more so, I loved seeing the Duomo from the side where we could actually see exterior of its dome. This felt a bit more personable than the front facade and, I felt, spoke more to the structure’s personality.

Last but not least, I loved the view from the top of the Duomo’s dome. While the 500 step ascent was quite a feat, it was all worth it standing on top. The view from there was quite possibly the best skyline view I’ve ever seen. It was so beautiful seeing the Florence landscape’s classic architecture, which felt full of history and beauty. Additionally, the hefty climb to the top made it feel like an accomplishment to be standing there and made the view that much more gratifying.

In general, Italy reminded me the power of slowness and living a mindful life. In the United States, we live in such a go-go-go culture and often fail to stop rushing. We are always thinking about the next thing we have to do or the next place we have to be. Walking the streets of Rome and Florence, we passed by countless cafes where individuals would sit alone, sip a cappuccino, and stare out at the streets. This was a powerful reminder of the way we can take control of our own life the slowness—the slowness of being present in your body, mental state, and environment. As I head back to the U.S., this is something I want to take with me, whether it’s not going on my phone when I eat, taking more moments to go outside, or even cutting out some of my many overcommitments.

**extra research from this link: https://www.florence-museum.com/duomo-florence-cathedral-santa-maria-del-fiore.php#:~:text=The%20Florence%20Duomo%2C%20also%20known,aisles%20plus%20a%20rear%20apse.

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Blog #7 - Jan. 10, 2025

Sustainable Architecture & Urban Design

Sustainable architecture and urban design is of the utmost importance. Sustainability is the ability to meets the needs of people today with longevous tactics that will allow (and not harm) people’s needs to be met in the future. The three main focuses of sustainability are the 3 P’s: people (human needs and quality of life), the planet (food systems, pollination, etc.), and prosperity (economic viability now and in the future). When designing for sustainability, the 5 main considerations are water consumption, energy usage, materials, site, and indoor environmental quality. Creating sustainable architecture and urban design is all about the balancing act of these focuses. These considerations may often conflict with each other, creating many challenges. When sustainable urban environments are developed, tax incentives are often the most effective way to bring people and companies in to fill up these districts.

Because sustainability is about planning for own needs today without jeopardizing those of the future, sustainable architecture and urban design also involves social justice. Often the most sustainable solutions are the mostly costly to obtain. Because the wealthiest are the only ones who can afford the most sustainable solutions, sustainable design involves systemic inequality on an economic level. For example, Puorto Nuevo’s Bosco Verticale is an incredibly building with many sustainable elements. Notably, the building incorporates renewable energy from solar panels and a filtration system that recycles everyday excess water. It also elevates full trees into the air on its many balconies, incorporating natural ecosystems into the building and creating habitats for the many fauna around. While the Puorto Nuevo Bosco Verticale is an incredible mergence of architecture and sustainability, only the most wealthy and elite can afford to live there. This creates macro level issues for society as creates more social inequality for economic inequality. Along with the challenge of incorporating the many important considerations into sustainable solutions, it’s also a challenge to blend these macro and micro levels.

One particularly interesting concept in sustainable urban design is tactile urbanism. Tactile urbanism is the use of fast, cheap, participatory interventions in a city. Often used to experiment with creating more public squares, designers block road intersections off from cars and then add these fast, cheap, participatory interventions to these newly converted squares. For example, sometimes urban designers will bring artists in to create art in the square, set up temporary cafes, or bring in play structures for kids. The thought process is that if the participatory interventions work in creating a communal space that the community utilizes, keep it. If it doesn’t work, then just turn it back into an intersections. Often, people have the mindset that we cannot more our cities or community more sustainable for human well-being because they’ve already been built and around for years. Tactile urbanism is a great example of the innovative options we have for helping our already built cities update to more strategic urban planning.

Ways to Conserve the 5 Main Sustainability Considerations

Water consumption

- Catching rain run-off and reusing it

- Elon does it with the lakes and use it to irrigate the land

- Choosing low flow water

- Toilets, showers, facets

- Choosing landscapes that don’t require irrigation

- Turf takes a lot of water

- Toilets with different level of flushing

- Sink sensors

Energy Use

- automatic lights (motion sensor)

- Building, bathrooms, etc

- Energy efficient appliances

- More windows for natural light

- Insulation to reduce demand on mechanical systems (reduce amount of power required)

- Using solar panels, wind turbines, geothermal systems, etc. for electricity

- Strategic about operating buildings

- ex. south side of building on different zone with different heating

- Not using heating or air before an event, then turning it on right before

- Ex. Schar Center

- Alternative technologies to reduce energy

Materials

- Recycled content - renewable materials

- Energy usage to get the materials

- Alternative materials for material look

- Ex. Marble powder with asphalt

Site

- Preserving green space

- Materials used outside of building

- Landscaping… turf or no turf … wild grass

- Locating a building near other necessities or close to mass transit

- Building multi-use neighborhoods

- Being able to do something all on foot

Indoor Environmental Quality

- all about you

- You and your well-being

- more natural light and space for humans

- Giving people control over their space

- Temp, open a window, lighting, etc.

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Blog #6 — Jan. 9, 2025

“Drop your pens and pick up your lens: While in the Milan city centre, take a collection of ‘National Geographic’ quality images. Post your very best single photo that represents Milan.“

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Blog #5 — Jan. 8, 2025

Facades in Florence

Prompt skipped! :)))

Palazzo Vecchio shoutout! I really enjoyed seeing it in person and having a chance to share what I learned in my resident expert project with the class. No photo does the palazzo’s grand scale justice, so I was amazed finally seeing it in person!

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Blog #4 — Jan. 7, 2025

Cultural Differences Between Rome & Florence

Florence and Rome both have many similarities—like being focused more on preserving the past rather than pushing towards the future, but they also have cultural differences. Rome is known more for its ancient history and grand imperial architecture, while Florence is known more for its relationship with the renaissance. Particularly, Florence is known as the “birthplace of the renaissance,” where the culture it preserves and prides itself in is much more focused on its past as an artistic and innovative hub.

From observation, I’d say Florence feels a little more well-kept than Rome. While both are crowded, Florence feels a tad cleaner and more unified. Its architecture blends with each other and has a natural flow with its more historic buildings. Rome feels to have a greater contrast between different parts of its architecture. Because the history they focus on ranges a much wider extent, there feels to be more variation in its architecture, with some of it more crumbling. Additionally, Florence seems to have a bit of a slower culture than Rome. While there is an overall slow culture in Italy, people move a bit slower in Florence’s Tuscan setting, while Rome feels more hectic with more people having places to get to. This can also be seen through food service. According to travel sites online, Florence’s food service moves a bit slower. Florence also has more wine windows, where people knock on the window to get a glass of wine. This adds its implication of slower moving and savoring the moment.

A final difference I’ll highlight is the two cities’ relationships with Gothic architecture. There is a small bit of Gothic architecture in Florence, while there is almost no Gothic architecture in Rome. In the past, Italians were very displeased with gothic architecture because they believed it to be foreign architecture and associated its origins with “barbarians” who had damaged Rome. Because of this, it is very difficult to find Gothic architecture in Rome. Florence, on the other hand, has a bit more Gothic architecture. While you can see Gothic elements in the Florence Duomo and Santa Maria Novella as well as the Palazzo Vecchio and others, they are often integrated with other architectural styles. For example, in Santa Maria Novella, I noticed a bold black/dark green and white striped pattern that was very present in the interior of the basilica. These bold stripes and contrast patterns stood out to me because I had not previously seen them in any cathedrals or churches we had been to. I learned from our tour guide that architects added these elements in because Florentines were very displeased with Santa Maria Novella’s Gothic style. The bold patterns apparently were more classic elements, so they were added to distract from and mask the basilica’s Gothic elements. We can also see these same bold contrast patterns on Santa Maria’s facade as well as the Duomo’s facade. This leads me to the conclusion that they were added for the same reasoning. In general, Florence has more Gothic architecture than Rome, although Florentines were still very displeased with it. Because Florence was known more for its artistic and innovative leaders during the Renaissance, I hypothesize that Florence architects created more Gothic architecture to artistically experiment and push towards the future.

[ap-great-structures-trip]

Blog #3 - Jan. 6, 2025

The Pantheon: 8th Wonder of the World?

The Pantheon is an incredible feat of engineering that deserves to be considered the 8th wonder of the world. As the largest freestanding dome in the world, the structure is an astonishing architectural achievement. The dome is 43.3 meters in diameter, which is exactly the height of the structure from floor to oculus. This creates a perfect sphere that reflects the Romans’ profound understanding of geometry and the mathematics of beauty. Supported by a circular base, the dome is made out of wood and concrete, which (with its an extreme size) would normally be far too heavy to hold its own without extra support. This dome utilizes Roman concrete though, which enables it to be lighter than normal. Roman concrete is extremely famous for being strong yet extra light through its use of additives. Particularly, the use of volcano ash as an additive, an ingenious move, made the architectural feat possible. The dome uses the additive in different concentrations throughout it. As you get further to the top/center, more volcano ash is used, allowing the top to have less density. This distributes the weight so that the top can be lighter and not need extra support. The dome’s perfect number of 4 rows of 28 coffers also helps distribute and reduce its weight.

Along with its size, materiality, and use of coffers, the dome’s large oculus is an amazing accomplishment. The oculus measures 9m wide and is the only source of light in the Pantheon. By creating an opening at the top of the building, this also helped reduce the dome’s weight. With an opening at the top of the building, though, comes many possibilities for weathering and destruction through natural events. Somehow, the Pantheon’s architect’s and engineers knew to account for this. Through nodules in the concrete, the oculus takes in extra water and congeals it over time, preventing structure’s integrity from being harmed. Additionally, the Pantheon’s flooring has a drainage system that takes in water that comes through the oculus. Overall, as an ingenious architectural feat that is beautiful and strong as well as self-healing, the Pantheon’s accomplishment of ingenius architecture and engineering makes it the 8th wonder of the world.