It's Only Thursday?!

I was expecting this summer to just fly by. But now, as my fifth day in Copenhagen comes to a close and the sun has finally set, it dawned on me: I feel like I've been here at least 2 weeks! Between studio, lectures, studio, seeing the city, and studio, it really feels like I have been in this mesmerizing city for longer. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining... Just stating my feelings, since that's what blogs are about, people's feelings. Because I have been a terrible blog host, allow me to apologize and relive my first (almost) week in Copenhagen for all you lovely people.

Travel Day (June 15-16):

So you all read about my adventures in packing, right? RIGHT?!?! Well they pale in comparison to my adventures in traveling! It began with checking in at the airport. I don't usually drive to the airport, so I gave my dad wrong directions on several occasions. While in line to check my luggage, I met my first travel buddy. Carly, who goes to St. Thomas, was on both of my flights, as was my friend Betsy from the U. So here's what happened before I even got on the plane:

• Almost left my boarding pass on a bench that my parents were sitting on. I went to look for it to get in line and panicked because I had already lost it. But then I found it. Crisis averted.
• My carry-on (which took 20 minutes to pack) got pulled after the security scanner. The TSA agent asked me if I had any sharp or serrated objects in there. "No, just my bazooka and pipe bomb." Okay... I didn't really say that but come on... Anyway, he proceeded to dig through my bag, removing half the contents before realizing there was nothing in there. So he handed me all of my stuff and told me I had to move past the table. Thanks, dude. I'll just repack my entire carry on in the middle of the airport mall.

Other than that, the flight to Toronto was easy like Sunday morning. No one sat next to me, and Betsy and Carly were jealous. Once in Toronto, the worst type of torture was forced upon us: no bathrooms until we passed customs. Once we got our passports checked and emptied our bladders, we were off in search of food. After procuring some very coveted Canadian dollars, we settles for food at a burger place. It's amazing how as soon as you leave your home country, simple questions like, "Would you like fries with that?" become so much harder to answer. Once we snarfed down our food, we got to our gate, boarded the plane, and were Copenhagen bound.

On the plane, I sat next to another DIS bound student. She was from Canada, but goes to school in NY. We had a good time joking about the differences between the US and Canada and talking about stereotypes. Once we were settled in, the flight became magic. The movies were free! You know what that means: MEAN GIRLS!! "Does she even go here?!" After that we had a dinner of adequate pasta and White Wine. That's right, starting vacation early! After several hours of non-existant sleep, the sun was up, landing gear was down, and we landed on Danish soil. On the horizon rose the church towers of Copenhagen!

Day 1 (Sunday June, 16)

Day one was our day to unpack, meet fellow DISers and have a bbq at the kollegiet. I live in Keops Kollegeit in Nørrebro, a northern neighborhood on Copenhagen. I have my own room with a bathroom and a kitchenette. The bathroom is tiny and the shower is just a head in the corner with a drain in the floor. There is a small curtain, but essentially, the bathroom is the shower. After getting some time to settle in, we finally headed into Copenhagen. Our SRA (Social & Residential Adviser) took us on the bus so we would know how to get to school the next morning. We got off the bus in the square by City Hall. A most beautiful first impression of Copenhagen. Our school is located in several buildings in downtown, but the main building is located on a street called Vestergade (pronounced like Vaysthoogal). After picking up our books (of which I had none) we were loose in Copenhagen, for all the Danes to see. First things first, we walked down Strøget (pronounced Strooyul) which is the main pedestrian shopping street of Copenhagen. What an amazingly charming city she is. One block of walking and I was in love. I fell for her hard, like a kindergartner falls for glue after just one taste. The rest of the details are not super important, because I didn't even know what I was doing. But here are the important ones:

• A Frenchman confused me for a Dane. He came up to me asking where a certain cafe was and seemed completely shocked when I told him in my American accent, "I am just as lost as you are, bud."
• In Copenhagen, H&M is like Starbucks, there's one on every corner. One block even had two, one on each side!
• Danes speak very good English, but make sure you say hello when they greet you, because hey sounds like hej and they will start speaking to you in Danish.

After all this, our SRA's hosted a bbq for the DIS students and we had our first attempt at a grocery store run. It is so difficult to buy groceries when you cannot read the labels! Bread should be bread, right? Wrong. Milk should be milk, right? Wrong! After about 45 minutes fumbling around this small store, I finally had enough food to last me a few days.

Day 2 (Monday June, 17)

First day of classes. It began with one of our SRA's leading us to the Tivoli Hotel on the train. There, we were welcomed by the leaders of DIS and had a very interesting lecture on the history of Copenhagen. After some serenading by the DIS strings, we were sent off into the streets of Copenhagen in teams for the Amazing Race. It was fun to navigate the streets of a foreign city to see the sights as well as to meet DIS professors to give us the history about each site. The only problem with this was that the map of the bus routes they gave us was outdated, so our 9A bus never came... After realizing what happened, we found our first site, Amalienborg. 

This is the royal palace and the one place I really wanted to go, because we studied it in my Urban Form and Theory Class. It is a striking public space surrounded by 4 palaces, one for the Queen, one for each of her sons and families, and one for special occasions. At one axis lies the massive and beautiful Marble Church and at the other end, across the bay, lies the new Opera House. Before the axis was blocked by the opera house, it used to represent all you needed to rule: God (marble church), power (statue of a kind in the center), and eternity. The professor seemed to think the opera house diminishes this effect, but we all agreed that if you don't like the opera, sitting through one can feel like eternity.

Next stop was Nyhavn (pronounced Newhavn). This is what everyone thinks of when you mention Copenhagen. The canal lined with pastel colored houses and a street lined with cafes. What a beautiful area this is. However, we couldn't find the DIS representative, so we moved on to the next site.

The Parliament Building (Chritianborg Palace) was the former home of the royal family. But after it burned down for the second time in a decade, the royals felt it was best to move into Amalienborg. Now this castle houses all three branches of the Danish government.

After all that fun, it was off to our first class: studio. I'm going to skip the details and say this: we were assigned a building, a group of 4, and given a week to construct a model and have a presentation rehearsed on the building. We will visit these buildings on our study tour, and when there, each group that constructed the model will be the tour guide. Fun concept, not fun timeline. I have already spent every night in studio. Yay summer in Copenhagen! After that, we had our first lecture. It is in a very old building belonging to the University of Copenhagen (abbreviations KU) and let me say I will never say the seats in Rapson 100 are uncomfortable again... After that, I don't really remember what happened. So I will skip ahead to the next day.

Wait, I went to a bike shop and rented a bike! (Paid for it) Bikes are EVERYWHERE and I want to bike like a Dane!

Day 3 (Tuesday June, 18)

So this is getting kind of long winded, so I'm just going to talk about some of the highlights of my day.

Began the day with 2 lectures from 8:30-11:15. Loved it (not).

Found a really cute sandwich shop for lunch, but they had to read the menu for us in English.

Climbed to the top of the Rundetårn (Round Tower), a church tower with a spiral ramp affording some of the best views of the city from above. We got to sketch the skyline and see Copenhagen like never before. The spires in the city towered toward the sun, glistening as if they had brushed it and still had some sun dust on them (It's getting pretty poetic in here)

Picked up my bike. So excited to ride it!

Studio, studio, studio

Went to bike home. Made it 3 blocks from school, hit a bump and oops!, my bike seat came loose and I almost faceplanted. Defeated, I walked my bike back to DIS and parked it out front.

Day 4 (Wendesday June, 19)

Studio in the morning, and a short drawing class in the afternoon.

For lunch, I walked with my friend Rosana to Kogens Have (King's Park) to eat lunch. It is a beautiful park in Copenhagen complete with its own castle. It was amazing to bask in the sunlight, take in the beautiful Danes, and enjoy a sandwich with a new friend.

Studio, studio, studio

Took my bike to the bike shop and they fixed it up like a pro. But by the time I left studio, it was raining (again) so I wimped out.

When I got home, I turned on my light in my kitchenette and suddenly my life became the movie Ants!. They were everywhere: on the counter, in the cupboards, in the sink, on my hot pads... Needless to say I was a little freaked out. It turns out I had to throw away all my food in the cupboards because the ants had made a meal of it. Luckily, I was armed. Under my sink I found the Danish Windex (called Amex) and went to town. Once their little bodies succombed to the chemicals, I cleaned like I've never cleaned before. I wiped and I sponged and I squeezed and squeezed and squeezed (no flab on this arm) until my kitchenette was spotless. Would they return? Only time will tell.

Next I bused back downtown to meet some friend to explore the Danish nightlife. We began at a bar called Bar (how original). Next, we went to a place my friend told me I had to go to, Dansebar. It was way to early, and the fact that our group doubled the size of the dance floor wasn't a promising sign. Next, we walked up the Strøget  looking for locals to ask for advice. We finally found some and they led us to a place called Billy Booze. Can I just say that Danish cider is 100 times better than it is in America? Somersbury is where it's at! After some foosball and dancing, I started talking to some Danes at the bar. They are super friendly and don't hate Americans! She was teaching me to say phrases when she suddenly freaked out. Apparently, the guy standing behind me at the bar was on the last season of the Danish Big Brother TV show. He is basically a celebrity in Denmark. After some hushed talking, I turned to him and told him "I love you" in Danish (Jeg elsker dig, pronounced Yai Ilshka Die). Then, told him it was nice to meet him in Danish. This one was much more complicated and basically consisted of her saying a couple syllables in my ear, and me repeating them to Dennis. Repeat this and you have a Danish phrase. He was very nice and said it was nice meeting me too. I felt like such a Danish fan! Finally, we ended at the same place we began and had a quick bit at BK (yes, the business on the corner of Strøget and Copenhagen's version of Times Square is Burger King.

It is amazing how beautiful the sunrise is when watching from a bus on a ride home from a great night. (Did I mention the sun rises at 3:30am here? And it doesn't set until after 11pm. Crazy!)

Day 5 (Thursday, June 20)

Today began with three lectures, but following that was a field trip to the Danish Open Air Museum. Every Scandinavian country has one and it is basically a museum of old buildings from that country. This museum contained over 80 buildings built in Denmark ranging back to the mid 1600s. It is a fascinating view into the lives of Danes over 400 years ago as well as the differences in building construction not only across time, but across the regions of the country. The most striking feature of these buildings was the low ceilings. The first houe we looked at I couldn't even stand up straight inside. The door fram only came up to my shoulders. People were so short back then! And don't worry, picture will come ;)

After that, my friend Andrew and I searched the streets around DIS for something to drink. It had been a hot 4 hours at the Open Air Museum. We stumbled upon a bakery my friend had told me about from her semester here. We couldn't even handle the deliciousness of the smell tickling our noses and begging us to reach for our wallets. So we said no. (DARE would be proud). We went back to a place we passed earlier called the Living Room. It was an adorable juice bar that sold all kinds of delicious stuff. We both got smoothies, and after, filled ourselves with the free mint water available. Mint water is SO REFRESHING!!! After that... you guessed it. Studio

This is it. The moment I FINALLY gain my independence and unleash my inner Dane. I unlocked my bike, set it on the street and guess what I did?! ...walked it back to the bike shop because it had a flat back tire... Even though the shop was closed, they have an air hose. Easy enough, right? Just air the tire up. WRONG. I couldn't figure out how to attach the hose, then once I did, I couldn't figure out how to make the air come out, and once I did, I couldn't get any of the air to go into the tire... Uberdefeated, I walked my bike back to DIS and parked it out front. Maybe I'm just not destined to be a Dane.

I managed to make it home by 10, and am now blogging about this amazing experience. So much has happened and I know I have forgotten some of it, but I will do my best to continue to update as frequently as possible. Knowing me, that will be once every other week or so... Let's hope not. And not, time for bed. Even though it is only 6:10pm in America. 1:10am is awefully late for me! Tak for reading (that means thanks for reading in Danish). 

Copenhagen Prep

I really hope I post more when I'm in Copenhagen, I really do. This trip is the whole reason I started this blog. At the rate, I am set to post once while in Denmark and once shortly after I return. But I am going to light a fire under my butt and my goal is a post a week. Pictures may or may not accompany them, because I am planning on taking thousands (I mean that literally) so they may take a month to sort through. Sorry, brain surge.

Musings for my prep for Copenhagen:

First, here's what I'm doing--for those who don't know. (I act like I have an army of followers) I am traveling to Copenhagen, Denmark for 7 weeks to study architorture. I will be taking a studio and a lecture based course and will spend 3 days touring greater Denmark as well as a week in Norway and Sweden (total, not each). My roommate is traveling with me, but we are not living together. In fact, we are on opposite sides of the city. But that means more time to explore the city. Okay, that's the background.

-I can never take one trip to the store. A mall/Blick-run is like a design project. It cannot be completed in one fell swoop, but takes many attempts, many iterations, each building on the last. H&M will always be there, money in your bank account will not. Thus, make smart purchases, start small and build your way up.

-Danes wear dark colors in a mostly neutral pallet. Most of the clothes I own and have bought for the trip are bright and colorful... At least I'm tall and blonde, like a Dane. Maybe they'll think I was involved in some sort of clothing factory accident where the sewing machines exploded and plastered me with colored threads.

-I have far too many Xacto knives. I could arm a small village.

-Choosing which arch supplies to bring along is like choosing which of my children is my favorite.

-Good pencils are expensive (yes you can spend $40 on pencils)

-I HATE folding/pairing socks, especially when the new socks I bought look very similar to ones I already own. So many pairs that aren't pairs!

-A strange mix of excitement, anticipation, and nervousness leaves me physically exhausted at the end of the day. That or I am just really out of shape and running 5K is too much for my feeble self.

-Will I need Q-tips? Will I need dress shoes? Will I need an extra stick of deodorant?

-Yes I spent 3 hours on my hands and knees scrubbing the bathroom floor and tub with bleach. Oh the things I do to return to a clean apartment. (I did stop once my reflection in the mirror began talking back to me)

-Is mayonnaise an instrument?

Okay, my coffee is beginning to wear off and my parents arrive tomorrow morning. That means bedtime and morning run. Prepare yourself for the awesomeness that is to come, or at least the musings of my mispronunciation of Danish words. Until then, keep on keepin on.

Refer to this video if you don't understand the last point.

Go North, Young Man

North Minneapolis has been one of those areas I've been warned to avoid since moving here. It is dangerous, you will get robbed, stay away. So you can imagine my anxiety when my professor for my service learning class announced our study area was West Broadway and Penn, right in the heart of North Minneapolis. I will admit, the first time we visited our community partner, Juxtaposition Arts, I was a bit uneasy. But throughout the semester, the more I visited those neighborhoods, the more I learned about them. They are no different than the rest of the city. The only major difference is a lack of investment by the city. While Minneapolis was pumping money into Uptown, Lake Calhoun, and West River Parkway, the communities in North Minneapolis were largely overlooked. This all changed when the tornado struck in May 201. Suddenly the metro's spotlight was shone on North Minneapolis and groups got what was their first look at that part of the city.

This assistance has come to the aid of groups that have been already investing and assisting citizens and businesses in the area. Juxtaposition Arts is an arts education location that not only hold classes for youth, but also paints murals, etc throughout the West Broadway corridor. The other group, the one with which I partnered for my project, is the West Broadway Business and Area Coalition (WBC). This group is aimed at assisting businesses in the area through various grant programs and the like. It was through them that I developed my project.

WBC has a facade improvement grant in partnership with the City of Minneapolis that allows businesses to reconstruct and upgrade their facade. This not only increases their business, it improves the aesthetic of the entire corridor. WBC had identified a business owner who was debating applying for a grant and whose facade could use an upgrade. I am going to contact the owner and the worker for WBC that I partnered with for permission to use the name and photos of the business. It is next door to WBC's offices.

Okay, this is getting long winded. Here's the quick breakdown of what I did. I did studies of the other Facade Improvement projects that the owner mentioned he liked. I also walked around other neighborhoods in Minneapolis for inspiration. Some ideas he brought included the reintroduction of glass tot he facade, but not too much due to security. Also, he wanted some form of art incorporated into the facade, maybe highlighting the history of printing technologies. Other than that, I was off to the races.

Model of the existing facade in SketchUp

For the first design concept, I really ran with the idea of the glass. I took the panel above the first level and turned it into stainless steel where I placed a sign made of gears from a printing press supporting letterpress blocks. I then opened up the first level with glass. Above the panel, I placed dramatic lighting, stainless steel tiles, and revamped windows.

Model of Design 1 in SketchUp

For the second design concept, I was a bit more reserved with the glass, surrounding it with bulky frames painted a light tan or cream color to brighten up the north-facing facade. I placed a black metal awning where the panel was and placed a cut-out metal sign. Finally, with improved lighting and colorful tile above, the second design concept was finished.

Model of Design 2 in SketchUp

The interview in which I presented the designs began in the most depressing way possible. He looked at the first design and said, "I don't like anything." I assumed he had looked at both designs, and my heat sunk. All that work and he hated all of it. Trying to regain what little confidence I had left, I was scrambling compile a list of what he wanted, the WBC worker pointed out there was a second design. He pulled that one out and, much to my relief, was exactly what he wanted. The more conservative use of glass and the awning were right what he wanted. He liked the sign from the first design, but that was it. He also suggested some sort of bars for the windows that were artistically done so that they didn't look like security bars. Also, the left door in the alcove he wanted to pull out to be flush with the rest of the facade. These are some unfortunate realities of designing in North Minneapolis, but didn't need to be negatives. After combining the features he liked, I presented my final design of my class and WBC. I dropped them off at the business because our schedules never matched up. I do know he has begun the bid process and hopefully, one day I will be able to drive down West Broadway and see some elements of my design on his facade!

I almost feel like a real architect!

Model of the final design in SketchUp

Procrastination Station

2 posts last month, that's a new record! Now that it's May and winter still has it's grip on the country, that means only one thing: procrastination season. That's why I'm writing this post now. I should be working on one of my projects, but I find that telling all 2 of you about my projects to be a much better use of my time. Hell I'm even procrastinating writing this post. It's taken me at least 15 minutes to get this far. The only thing architorture students are better at the BS'ing is procrastinating. Nothing inspires quite like a deadline in 12 hours. While I have a ways to go before reaching that level of creativity, I am at the point where all wee I have been crafting very unique meals to avoid working on my projects. Tuesday was fish tacos, made with those frozen fish sticks from my childhood that I hated then but I love now. Ooo... Facebook...

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...Okay I'm back. They were wrapped with mixed greens, Colby jack cheese, and Thousand Island dressing. Delish. Wednesday was cheeseburger wraps. For the reason I was out of hamburger buns and only had one burger left, I grilled it up then cut it into slices. Then, I wrapped it with the same mixed greens, Colby jack, and BBQ sauce. Again, very tasty. Tonight, I reached way back into my childhood. I ended up with a mix of mac & cheese, sliced hot dogs, and corn, all in a bowl of deliciousness that warmed my tummy and made me wish I was still 6 years old. At least then I wouldn't feel guilty doing nothing. Hold on, twitter calls...

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I forgot to mention that I made cookie bars last night! I was going to make cookies and I had all the dough mixed, but then I realized I was too lazy to actually make 4 dozen cookies and wait for them to bake. So I just plopped the dough in a cookie pan and let it all bake. Now, all I have to do is cut a bar out as I want one. I feel so Minnesotan. Now I need some hot dish and jello salad. Oh dear, that would be quite the Lutheran Church lady pot luck! Okay, enough about that. (I have mastered the accent by the way, just ask me to do it. I will)

The weight of the world, or at least a third of it, was lifted off of me on Tuesday. At precisely 11:00am, our Architecture and Ecology term project review began. My partner (my roommate) and I were first, thus were the first ones in the class to be DONE WITH OUR TERM PROJECT!!!!! The project was to pick a building and to analyze the sustainability of the building. What makes it green? How does it incorporate sustainability? Basically, how does it satisfy everything we have learned about this semester. We chose the Hiawatha Maintenance Facility in Minneapolis because not only is it local, but it is a really cool project. How many public work maintenance facilities do you know of that are LEED platinum certified? How many maintenance facilities do you know of? Probably none, unless you live next door to one. Anyway, I'll describe this in another post later. Maybe after finals week, hopefully before Denmark. OMG I leave in 45 days for Denmark I'm so excited I had orientation today and it just got me so excited to go abroad and see why the Danes are the happiest people in the world and they have amazing design and its not America which I have been in my whole life.....
Calm it down...

Another project I am currently procrastinating is my workshop: Space, Light, Material, and Mies. The premise of the workshop is simple. We were given a 3ds Max model of the Farnsworth House by Mies van der Rohe (look it up, do it). Using the renderer Vray, we are creating images of the house. We are studying light, how the environment affects the space, and changing materials. Basically, we are creating our own versions of the house. Once the tech side was cleared up (I'm still not entirely sure how to use the programs) it has become quite an interesting workshop.

My final project is perhaps my most engaging. I'm in a service learning Street Life Seminar. The premise of a service learning class is that we work with a community organization to provide a service to the city in which we live. This semester we have been working with Juxtaposition Arts (JXTA) in North Minneapolis. Our focus has been the West Broadway corridor to Penn Ave. We have been doing various activities and projects throughout the semester. For the final project we were given free reign. Propose any project in North Minneapolis that addresses the needs of one of the three community organizations with which we are partnering (West Broadway Business and Area Coalition [WBC] and the Penn Avenue Small Area Plan along with JXTA). I chose to work with the WBC and their facade improvement program. Through this program, they provide business owners along the corridor matching funds to improve their facades. Members of WBC identified a business owner who has been considering applying for a grant and I have been working with him to create a design for his building of which he would be proud. The final review is Monday, which is why I should be working on that, but instead I am writing to all you fine people. I will describe this in more detail later as well. This project has by far been the most exciting, as it is giving me the chance to go out into the community and to actually work with a real client. There is also a real chance that once we decide on a final design, it will be handed off to a real architect and the renovations can begin. But the ultimate goal is for him to decide to apply for the grant. Regardless of the final design that is implemented, if he applies for the grant, this project will have been a success.

Wow, that's a lot of text. And that's an hour of procrastinating. I just want to say thank you to each and every one of you, all 6 of you, for helping me put off the inevitable. But more importantly, you now know the inner workings of an architorture student's mind while procrastinating. Now to start those projects... tomorrow...

Beauty Where I Least Expect It

So this won't be a text heave post. But I recently went on a couple site visits for projects of which I am in the battle. One was in North Minneapolis, the notoriously minority area of the city that I have always been told to stay away from. The other was along a path I have traveled many times, but never stopped on. This is the beauty I found in one day because I stepped "out of bounds" and slowed my pace to a crawl.

Mural on the 4th Street Saloon. I-94 and West Broadway

Hiawatha LRT, Sabo Bridge, Hiawatha Ave, and the Minneapolis Skyline

Austin City Limits

I decided to use the most cliche title for this post because being creative is hard, and I'm tired right now. Get off my back.

But in all reality, the Austin city limits are a very important boundary. If I were to ask you to think of the word Texas, what's the first thing that comes to mind? Old westerns, cowboys, wide open land and skies, but also conservative values, Southern attitudes, not the most progressive state in the union. This is at least what I think of. Not the most friendly place for someone like me. 

So when it was announced that the Gophers were going to the NCAA tournament in Austin, TX, I was excited for the warmth and travel, not so excited for Texas. After our recent trip to Houston, I did not have high expectations for this trip. Austin proved me wrong in about 4 hours.

The first thing that I loved was the warmth. We left a Minneapolis shivering in the 9 degree air. When we landed, it was a balmy 70 degrees. But beyond the obvious, once we crossed the city limits into Austin, we stepped into a world completely unlike the rest of Texas.

Minneapolis from the plane.

Austin is one of the fastest growing cities in Texas, and they are on the forefront of urban planning. Sprawl is a bad word in Austin. We never left downtown, yet we saw Austin. Downtown, bounded on the south by Ladybird Lake (it's a river--definitely not Minnesota) and to the north by the capitol building and the University of Texas at Austin campus was beautiful. It was obvious that rather than throwing all their money into the suburbs, residents of Austin were enthusiastic about their city center.

Congress Ave, the main N-S street in downtown, ends at the capitol, flanked with shops, restaurants, and wide sidewalks for pedestrians. This street made me fall in love with Austin,, even though I had only been there for a couple hours. It had the luxury of being a very wide street. 4 lanes of traffic still left room for diagonal parking and wide sidewalks perfect for strolling. But the area wasn't dominated by parking. They selectively places curb cuts for parking, leaving wide swaths for trees, bike parking, tables in front of cafes, even public artwork. It was a dynamic environment with people walking, sitting, eating and talking, parking bikes, playing music, everything. It was not simple a corridor to get from car to store. It was a place to hang out, to see and be seen. I'm sure we were seen by everyone there, with our pasty skin seeing sunlight for the first time since October. While everyone else there was in jackets (it had dropped into the lower 60s), we were in shorts and tshirts. Such a wonderful warmth!

Congress Ave looking toward the capitol.

Interesting statue

Parklet!

Congress Ave from the capitol.

Congress Ave ended with the state capitol grounds. It was a large and beautifully  laid out park space, with the capitol perched on top of a hill. It was everything that my two state capitols aren't, it had the prominent location of St. Paul with the proximity to downtown of Topeka. It was a very popular space, a large public park in the center of the city. The building itself was gorgeous, and trying to name the style left me a bit dazed. Like most American architecture, it took bits and pieces from different styles: baroque facade, French renaissance wings, etc.

Texas State Capitol grounds

Texas State Capitol

Off of Congress Ave on 6th Street is my favorite part of Austin. It is one of the most dynamic and wonderful bar districts I have ever been to. They block the street off after a certain time and the entirety of 5 blocks becomes a pedestrian's paradise. All the bars are open to the street; windows, doors, letting the fresh warm air in. By my estimate, a quarter of all bars have rooftops and at least half had life music. What an amazing place to spend an evening out. All of this in the shadows of the skyscrapers that dot the Austin skyline. If you only have 4 hours in Austin, go to 6th Street.

I've been rambling on, so I will finish up a quick rundown of what we did/why I love Austin. Next door to our hotel was Austin Food Park, a piece of empty land transformed into a food truck paradise. Excellent breakfast tacos. The University of Texas campus was gorgeous. Since it is warmer, campus was in full bloom. The one word I thought of to describe it is luscious. Plantings, trees, shrubs, flowers everywhere! And their stadium is HUGE. (We got a tour of it and within the first 20 seconds, the tour guide bragged about it being the 4th largest in the country). We got reservations at the Salt Lick BBQ. Let's just say I've eaten that much meat in one sitting in my life. Delicious! Finally, the reason we were there. The NCAA tournament was one of the best memories I've ever had. It is definitely a once in a lifetime memory. You can see the pictures and just search Gophers NCAA in the Google machine if you want to see how they did.

Austin Food Park

DNR Texas Memorial Stadium

Salt Like BBQ

That's all for Austin. My conclusion: LOVE IT. If you ever get the chance to go there, GO. Experience a city unlike any other in Texas, a city that embraces progressive values, one that threatened to succeed from Texas should Texas succeed from the union. Austin is a city of it's own. It's a place where you can sit outside, yell a song for the band to play, and dance to the song they play (which is not even close to the one called). The people share their life stories with you, and welcome you into their hometown without even having met you. And you can definitely tell, feel even, when you cross the Austin city limits.

Mill City Museum: Glass on Steel on Stone

As mentioned in my last post, I just finished my facades workshop. The class was set up as 4 projects all building on the last. We were able to choose a building (which came as a pair in the first project) and I chose the Mill City Museum. If you are not familiar with this structure, let me give you some quick background on it.

Mill City Museum courtyard

Mill City Museum

The Washburn 'A' Mill was built in Minneapolis in the late 1870s as the largest flour mill in the world. It continued to operate  until General Mills closed the building in the 1960s. The building sat empty. In 1990, a massive fire consumed the building, gutting it. All that remained was the shell. The city and the Minnesota Historical Society were determined to save it, and in 2003, with major renovations completed by MS&R architects of Mpls, the museum opened as one of the architectural icons of the city. This structure is, arguably, the single catalyst for the riverfront redevelopment in Minneapolis. The museum is a beautiful structure as well as an incredibly interesting exhibition of the city's milling history. I would strongly recommend it to anyone visiting Minneapolis.

Onto my workshop. I basically putzed around for the first 3 projects. Project one (with a small group that didn't exactly like working together) I explored the many layers that make up the facade. Steel, glass, rusted metal, concrete, masonry wall ruins; all combine to create a very three-dimensional facade.

Project 1 Board

Project 1 facade representation, by my partner Erin

Project 2 was material exploration. Let's just say I spent a lot of time on a study that took me nowhere. I studied properties of glass, through plexi, that could make it more like stone. My reviewers basically said it made them uncomfortable and that I should have never done this. In retrospect, I realize I was simply forcing them together. What am I, an engineer? (I kid)

Plastic studies.

(Failed) combination

Look at that beautifully carved balsa foam

Project 3 I stepped back and looked at the facade as a whole. I noticed that the upper floors, which are office floors, have a relatively flat facade, while the lower floors, which house the museum, are punctures by balconies, structural elements, doors, windows, and the courtyard itself. I realized that the programmatic functions are expressed on the form of the facade as well as the relationships between the interior and exterior spaces through the facade. This was by far my favorite study as well as one of my better reviews.

Project 3 Board

Project 3 model

The final project was all on us. We were to take what we had studied all semester and design our own intervention to the facade. It could be an addition, a change, even a deletion. I spent the first few days completely lost. My three projects were completely dissonant and I had no idea what direction to go. But after some studying, looking at pictures, and analyzing structures with in the courtyard, it dawned on me. I needed to add a new layer, one in which the interior was pulled out to the exterior. I wanted to add a glass observation deck over the rusted structure within the courtyard. Then I got a little too excited when I realized this really did cover all 3 of my previous explorations. My reviewers told me what all reviewers will say, "What if you had taken this further?" "How could you have created an entire layer, rather than the small piece you put in?" And my thought is the same as it always is. "Give me 2 more weeks (we had one and half) and I would have gone further." This model was my first experience with the laser cutter, MDF, and painting models. I cared so much about this model (not this class) that I spent way too much time on it. But I am so proud of the results, not necessarily because it is the best model, it is a long way from that, but it is the first model I have made that makes me feel like a college student, a true architorture student. I am not longer afraid of the laser cutter. I am man, hear me cut. Look at the pictures! They aren't as boring as my talking, I promise!

Project 4 Board

My big boy model

I love the reflection in the plexi

Compare this to the picture at the top of this post