Pabellon Mies Van der Rohe: Mies Van der Rohe Pavillion

Tuesday the 13th is equivalent to our Friday the 13th...

Gisela apparently got hit with some of that bad luck, from dropping her change, losing her shoes, and spilling pineapple juice all over the floor at International House during our break...the day got a bit better for her after Catalan class when we headed to Placa Espana to see the Mies Van der Rohe Pavillion.

Gisela and I going to the wrong part of the park...ooops!

Reflecting pool

Our guide, and friend of Professor Vidal's, who was in charge of re-creating and building the Pavillion from drawings and written criticisms, years after it was returned to Germany and destroyed. Really cool.

Trippy shot...reflective glass, transparent glass...

The statue

Stone wall with pieces from the original quarries in Germany.

Along the wall and columns on exterior looking in

the rear gardens

the reflecting pool again...so peaceful

Desenando: Designing

Fun times in the design process...

One of my favorite parts about the Cerda blocks and our apartment in particular is the fact that even without knowing your neighbors, there is a sort of neighborhood connection in the interior of the block, where everyone's personal lives come together; dogs barking, patios, balconies, and hang-drying clothes...these are the most enchanting parts and I wanted to find a way to capture that in some way. The sketches above show a form of bridge to attempt to recreate and put a twist on this "backyard neighborhood" that might be experienced from an underpass below.

These sketches are to explore the question of the treatment of the corner, either in the traditional Cerda, a traditional building corner, or a combination of the two.

This is the way I chose to model my initial proposal. It is an awful lot of mass, but I think it might be important to give the neighborhood a large amount of housing since it continues to be a major issue in Barcelona right now. The slanted roof can allow for the exterior facade and height to match those in surrounding blocks, while bringing the interior facade down to a more human scale. The bridged area serves as an indirect boundary-both separating the two halves of the block and allowing them to be connected through the walking path beneath.

Juanes esta en la cabeza: Juanes is stuck in my head

Spent some time at studio today. Nothing too exciting. We present our initial block proposal this week. Meh.

I'm trying to avoid doing a typical Cerda block, but it's difficult because there aren't any lines to draw from. We shall see. I considered doing an "inside-out-block" where the exterior corners met at 90 degrees and the interiors are champfered...I'm not sure how that would work out.

Took a walk through the Mercat de Sant Antoni. Snapped a shot, but you can't capture the life and color of the place in photos, you just have to be here.

FC Barcelona v. Real Madrid

So after a full day at studio, it seemed only appropriate that we take the rest of the night off to join in with the rest of Barcelona in cheering on our team against our biggest rival, Real Madrid! For this, we headed to Barceloneta, where Felipe knew a good place, but they were closed-BLASPHEMY! So instead we hit up old faithful, Nubaa, a great bar across from the docks.

Bill and Felipe...BCN thugs

Marquez and Victoria cheering on Marquez


Gisela's best friend, Alexander, from Puerto Rico

BARCA COMES BACK WITH A GOOOOOOOOAAAAAALLLL!

Me and Tom

Me and Vic at half-time

Alexander, Gisela, and Billy getting ready to go

Ahh yes, the super-attractive Argentinian bartender, Claudio

The chicas after the game...tied-hey whatever: VISCA BARCA!

It wasn't too late, so a few of us headed over to Port Vell and went to Mondo, a bar/restaurant/club. Good story.

Benja, Vic, Bill, Gisela

Me and Gisela

Victoria--BEST PIC EVER! (sorry Vic, I couldn't help myself!)

Benja--yet another classic pic! Striking poses in the middle of the club!

Gisela...looking like she's modelling for ad

POSERS! The kiddos, chillin on the couches.

Gisela and Alexander!

Afterwards we all got split up in the action and I headed home with Gran Via. Tomorrow-studio to get some more stuff done!

La cena en Gracia: Dinner in Gracia

Today I hit up studio for most of the day. I'm really frustrated with my design. Nothing seems to be coming together and I don't really have a goal or vision for it. I guess this happens sometimes.

Tom, Bob, Ben, and I went running today. I am WAY out of shape...not good. Where is Andrew Kracht when I need him?! We ran down to the port, then over to MarMagnum through crowds of people walking to or from the mall/aquarium/movies/etc. From there we came back towards Columbus then cut up Las Ramblas and over onto Parallel. Tom and I got stuck on one side of the street by Columbus and a kid named Ishmael asked if we run every day. I was out of breath and tired so my spanish was pathetic, but I gave him my cell number to get in contact with us to come running. "Who says you can't meet people running?" Tom said.

We checked out the place Tom's parents will be staying off Las Ramblas, got home, showered and headed to Gracia for dinner organized by Cece.

Gran via was late with Christi, and Cece never showed because she was sick. It was cool, though, cuz Aldana just sat and ordered some water and looked over the menu. We ordered Calcots...the root-like plant, which is basically only available at certain times of the year, and must be an ancient barbaric catalunyan tradition, as Cece described it would be.


You basically get a bib and a plate of grilled Calcots, which you peel the outside off of and dip them into sauce, then try to put this foot-long plant in your mouth without looking like a barbarian...which is basically impossible.


The calcots were ok, but I couldn't have eaten them as a meal or I probably would have been ill. We got meals to eat after our calcots, and spent a good deal of time just sitting, eating, talking, and laughing before heading out in search of the restaurant where Luis works.


From there, we lost Christi and headed back toward the apartments, checking in on City Hall, where a world-famous DJ was working tonight, but didn't see it being worth 30 Euro...nope, notsomuch.

Nada mucho: Nothing much

The boys went running today. I'd like to go with them, but I know that I'll hold them back and I don't want them to have to deal with that. Oh well.

I think I might have a couple of good ideas for my block, but I need to figure out how to implement them and model them...I'm not sure if they will work in combination with eachother. I guess we'll see.

I got to talk to Chels and Matt today. They picked up my spirits a bit. They always seem to know how to help.

The world feels pretty small.

Mis favoritos: my favorites

“People travel to wonder at the height of mountains, at the huge waves of the sea, at the long courses of rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motion of the stars; and they pass by themselves without wondering.”

-St. Augustine

"Keep your face to the sunshine and you will never see the shadow"

-Helen Keller

“As a single footstop will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind. To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again. To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kinds of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives." -Thoreau

" Your problem is to bridge the gap which exists between where you are now and the goal you intend to reach."
-Earl Nightingale

"The sand is the only one who understands it when you say, you wish you could just disappear for a while."

"If you're lucky enough to be at the beach, then you're lucky enough!"

-Anonymous