Jorn Utzon

Hey!
Went on a field trip today. ima post a few pics over the next few days probably. The pictures above are from a church by Jorn Utzon. I thought the outside was ugly, but the inside blew me away. Hope you enjoy!

Studio

We have a midterm review tomorrow for studio. Really, its just a glorified desk crit with different teachers. Not too stressful, just gotta get stuff done. I just finished my plans, sections and axons. I've given myself an hour and a half to bust a small model out. Then ima go home cuz i think i still have danish hw to do.

These are a few pictures of studio. I'll take more when the light is better but I thought it was really funny that from the back stair well you could see people workin in three studios. Mines the one on top. My studio is in the darkest corner of the tallest tower. Actually its usually the brightest room cuz its at the top and isnt shaded by the other buildings. In the other shot my computer is the one on the very right hand side of the screen. Thats where I am right now..dun dun.

Another Bornholm Picture

Okay, so I dont have much to say right now. The weather has been really cloudy all weekend, but it hasn't rained. I have a lot of projects and or tests this week so Ive spent most of the weekend doing work, or attempting to do work. I did get to go to a welcome party here at Gronjords on friday. that was a lot of fun. Met some cool Danish people.

Oh! and I biked to the grocery store. I can bike there, get food, and be back in about 40 min. There is probably a closer store but the route I take is really pretty and takes me past some of my favorite buildings and swings.

The picture is from my friend Marks blog. Its me napping on a rock in Bornholm. Serious props to Mark, he takes great photos and photoshops each one to perfection before posting them online. Don't know how he finds the time.

Finally!

There are a few projects by Dorte Mandrup that I have been DYING to visit since I got here, but somehow alway run out of time or was too tired. Today I decided to postpone some of work and go visit. Its only a short bike ride away. To here are a few images from library, and the sports center (prism).

Food...wonderful wonderful food

Its been brought to my attention that I haven't posted many food pictures, and I have had some great meals. Just today I had three amazing pastries from St. Peter's Bakery. (I swear this wasn't intentional. I feel so gluttonous haha). Anyways, here is a picture of the smoked macgrill? that I had this weekend.

Bornholm

This last weekend i went to the island of Bornholm. I caught a lot of sun. biked upwards of 70 km. had some awesome smoked fish. the best ice cream ive had in my entire life. the most uncomfortable bed ive had in almost my entire life. visited an old castle.swam in the baltic. no one got hurt. lots of great times. Got to go with a lot of really great friends. And now i even have pictures of people to prove it all!

here is a map with the routes we biked.


View Borholm Bike Trip in a larger map

BIG

Today I got to visit the offices of BIG! I got to take a tour of the office, take pictures and ask questions. I went with my friends Annie, Mark, and Ryan. They guy that gave us the tour turned out to be a friend of Annie's from Tulane. Funny how that stuff works out. The work environment feels really relaxed. You can work whenever you want, so only a fraction of the office was there since there aren't too many deadlines right now. We got to see some new projects that they are working on, and got some construction updates. Oh, and we saw Bjarke's thesis project too.

Their offices feel really organized. They have a wall with all of their model materials organized like the shelves at carpe, but the signs are all made out of legos. They have their own laser cutter and 3d printer. Some of their little rooms off to the side have shelves like a bakery, but with a ton of study models.

The shot of me is taken in Bjarke's office. He's in Istanbul right now apparently, in addition to teaching at Columbia.

Aalborg University

We visited the 'media-ology' department at Aalborg University. Quite possible my my favorite stop. I met one of the technicians the night before so i was really excited to go. They study and develop augmented reality programs. Augmented reality is the inserting of digital images, data, or models into real time views. The most exciting part was testing out the "Cave." Its millions of dollars worth of equipment. Its a 3m x 3m x3m cube with screens on all 6 sides. Projectors light these screens and when you are in the cube with special glasses and a controler everything looks like it is in 3d. they had one program which would allow you do draw. If you stepped forward you would walk through it, and if you look from below you could see how everything curved. They also had a digital model of a tower loaded, which you could explore. All in all, pretty amazing, and this was their older stuff. Im super excited for the future of computing again.

Koldinghus

This is a castle from the 13th century. It was used to defend southern Jutland when needed, and as a palace for the royal family to live. There is a modern additon that serves as a visitors center. Overall a stunning building in all facets. I love ruins and decaying structures. The view from the top of the tower over Kolding is equally great.

Trapholt Museum of Art

This museum was way better than anticipated. the building has a spine like hallway with linking galleries that spin off of it then return again. The quality of light was great. The exhibits were cool too. They have an entire wing with a permanent collection of modern chairs.

The View

I officially love my room. It has the greatest view I can imagine. This shot was taken a few hours ago as the sun sank behind the low skyline. The jean nouvel cube is lit because there is a concert tonight.

Im Back!!!

Okay, so its past 1 am here and im just too darn tierd to post a whole bunch of blog entries, but i thought i would let you know that im back, and that this weekend was amazing (as you can clearly tell from the picture!) much much more will be up in the near future. as in tomorrow haha

Road Trip!

Hey everyone,

Im ganna be visting Western Denmark with class the next few days. Im super excited, and i still need to pack. Ive got some cool pics to share with you from outings this week, and when i comeback ill have even more cool content to share.

So dont be sad if i dont post or reply for three days or so. I will return like Batman, in a good way. with lots of cool new stuff.

Hope your summers/school years/lives are goin well. I love hearing from you :) and thanks for following along.

David

Maritime Youth Boat House

I got to visit one of the first buildings I ever saw of PLOT's. Its a boat house for youth. So awesome. The site is rectangular but looks like wooden waves.

The weekend

This weekend has been really good. not to much reading to do, so Ive had time to explore the city a lot. I cant even guess the number of miles Ive walked since friday. Ive gotten to explore Vesterbro twice, as well as the Norrebro and the Amager strand. Lots of pictures.

Case Study Review

This friday we had our review in studio for the case study project (see the Cowboybyen post below for the site). This was a super easy project. The review went well, though the format was different. We had to present the project three separate times to different faculty.

I enjoyed my group. There were also two pre-arch students in the group, so this project was also about showin them the ropes.

Im really lookin forward to starting our individual projects in studio.

World Changin

This week is Design Week in Copenhagen and there have been a bunch of events in town. These cubes have been up over the streetlights in downtown, but they just took em down so i took a picture.

Raining Fire

The view from my window as the setting sun refracted off the rain hitting the glass. It looks like the sky is exploding. (Click the image for a better view)

Cowboybyen

Site visit for my studio case study. Its a group project. We visited a community built in '79. Was prefab-ed. Its about a 25 min drive out of the city, out in the suburbs. Our teacher drove us there, then dropped us off at the train station after. We got to go inside one of the units. They were really nice. Great apartment, with the beauty and aesthetic you would expect of Scandinavia. The outside of the complex is really similar to where I lived the last few years. Its like CRS for Danish families, complete with parking and playgrounds. Good Stuff. Picked an apple too.

Open Air Museum

Went to the open air museum on Sunday for class. It was a 20 ride out of the city. They have taken a bunch of really old buildings from throughout Denmark and have painstakingly reassembled them here. There were a lot of half timber farmhouses, as well as some brick. I learned a lot more about the origins of this building typology, and how it has affected modern Danish culture. Good old vernacular. Love it. I have dozens of photos from the visit. I may start using flickr again to post more. And if you have any questions about these buildings i can more than answer it. I will be studying them for the next few weeks.

Oh!!! I also had my first aeblskivers here with jam and powdered sugar. soooo good :)