Seasons Change

Today it finally felt like the seasons had changed. The whole time ive been here my teachers have been saying that it will get very dark and depressing, but instead we would have some overcast days, then a sunny day, then a lightly sprinkling day.

but today was all different. Daylights savings was on Sunday for us. Dont ask me why we get it a week or so earlier than you. But i spent the whole day locked up in studio, so i didnt really notice when it got dark.

Today i was in class, occasionally staring out the window. and then i realized...it was dark outside..and it was only 5 pm. To top it off its also a rainy day.

Now, i dont think this rain has been bad. it doesnt rain all the time. its more than a spinkle, but less than pelts. at least when i was out. so this is very tolerable. but i know the light will get worse. i think eventually it will be dark by 3 or so.

Luckily im heading south for a few weeks, come the weekend. i can chase the sun. i look forward to that. tho i have no final plans yet... so pray for that haha.

okay. i have to go back to working on my studio project. (im working in my room now)

Site Plan

wow. okay. yea. this is my site plan. i just made this drawing from scratch using revit and illustrator. So i went from still working out my concept for a site layout, to finished plan in...9 hours...wow. okay. this does not look like it should take that long. but it did. and i didnt have too many distractions. a healthy number of distractions. and yes, i drew every line. couldnt copy the surrounding site from anyone.

now i have to make a site section from scratch. i cant wait for tomorrow when i just have to touch up plans and sections, and make a few pretty diagrams...assuming i can finish that section tonight.

Scale full size is 1:500. Thats right son, its in metric.

A post with no real content.

So i just woke up from a nap. Im still really tired. Got work to do but its okay cuz i know i can get some done tonight, plus i dont have class tomorrow. I do have not one, but TWO danish tests on friday. okay, so one is a 'quiz' and one is a 'test' but its in the same period. so i should study. Plus studio project is due next week.

Dont know what else to say. i was ganna start commenting on cultural observations. But i think maybe instead ill start doing work again, then make dinner, then study, waste some time, then make a post about animal poo. (trust me, that will make much more sense later, but i want to taunt you with it ;)

picture is taken 200 paces from my building. okay maybe 400. i have no idea what a pace is, or at the least i havent counted my steps.

Tivoli, updates, and apologies

Hey!

i know its been along time since ive written. almost a week. im sorry. i really am. Things have just been so busy here. Ive had a lot of projects to work on. We have a big studio project due next week too. but i know thats no excuse.

Im still ganna post the rest of the study trip sometime, but i have more great stuff to share. I went on a beautiful walk (probably one of the last sunny days for some time). Ive gone out with the Danes from my floor. Made burritos. And...

This past weekend i got to go to Tivoli for the first time. For those not in the know, its one of the oldest theme parks in the world, and its right in the middle of city. its a special place for Danes. When the germans wanted to make Denmark mad during WWII they destroyed a few buildings in Tivoli (which the danes finished rebuilding less than 6 months later).

Its a cool place. filled with lights. it was decorated for holloween when i went, dispite the fact its not open on holloween haha.

The top pic is of the swings. I went on it. (you know i love swings!)
the second pic is from an awesome light show they had just before closing.

one of the best parts of tivoli was teh playground. went there as the park was closing and played till the park was probably closed. So much fun. Some one has a pic. ill post it later when i get hold of it ;)

Happy Birthday!!!!

Just wanna wish my sis a massive happy birthday!!! Now you've got ur pic on the coolest blog in the world :) Can't wait to see you again.

Picture from Bethany's version of Heaven. My version of a little bit of home missing. Planet earths version of Pismo Beach last December.

New Layout

Hey!

I should probably be working on my studio assignment, but I just spent the last hour or so editing the code for my site. I cant tell you how excited I am with the result! I was able to do everything that i wanted to change. I've tried dealing with background images and opacities on otehr websites that I've had and have never been able to get it to work the way that I want it to. Don't be surprised if the background changes frequently now.

If you notice anything weird about the page, or think its hard to read let me know and ill try to fix it. I may have to make the white backgrounds a little less transparent.

Thanks to my Dad for introducing me to basic html editing, and to my digital design class for reminding me that I can do this stuff.

The picture is me sitting in an awesome chair at the Red Dot Museum. Not the most comfortable chair ever, but still fun. It would have been better if it was hanging.


EDIT: I just discovered this page looks wrong in internet explorer. I use firefox. If anyone uses safari let me know how it looks. It should appear like this:

Day 3- Hard to Photograph

These two images are from the Zeche Zollverein, which is a really old and important coal mine that has been re-masterplaned by OMA. its a cultural center and museum to the area. its kinda hard to photograph. just large industrail looking spaces. its okay.


Part of the site is Norman Foster's Red Dot Museum. Dont care much for norman foster, but the musum was neat. An old industrial building with lots of cool chairs and product design seemingly randomly placed inside. kinda fun.

This is the inside of Saunna's Zollvereim School of Management & Design. Loved this place. I sprawled out on the floor and the German tour guide laughed. said i was experiencing the space the right way. Apparently he has spent entire days in there just seeing how the light changes. There were a lot of people who didnt like this building, but i thought it was enjoyable. Great spaces. Those people just dont know anything. hahaha im just kidding.
After a long bus ride we had a surprise stop at a design school that i should be able to tell you more about but can't. By this time we had crossed to the Netherlands. The student in the pink shirt gave a presentation on the State of Dutch Architecture. It was actually pretty cool. lots to debate. He also was very humble when stating which buildings and designers were the best in his opinion.

I promise this day was more exciting than the pictures reveal.

Day 2- Germany (in and around Cologne)

Langen Foundation- Tadao Ando___This is me in front of it. this place was great. but you couldnt take pictures inside, so i had to sketch it. Ill let you in on a secret tho, i took one picture anyway. Promise not to tell ;)
Insel Hombroich-Landscape museum-various architects____i probably should have posted a picture of a building, but honestly, im way more impressed by giant fighting robots. They gave us too much time here, so i spent most of it sitting in a cirlce of iron chairs in a clearing in the forest. I felt like King Arthur.

Hahaha...so it happened to be the day of the Cologne marathon. That was a logistical nightmare for the bus driver. We had to walk half way across the city to get to the bus. We also had to cut across the marathon at a really busy corner. Imagine 40 American students cutting across diagonally through a marathon. luckily no one was hurt, tho kate did fall once she made it to the other side. this picture is taken from where we crossed. half the people on the otherside are in my group trying to get over.

Kolumba Museum- Peter Zumthor___This place was cool. i have a lot of neat pictures. I think it was on the cover of arch record last year. Their pictures are better. I accidentally checked my sketchbook in with my backpack, so i have no drawings.

Kolner Dom- Cathedral (1248-1880)___pretty self explanatory. its old. its pretty. i have some moody pictures. Spiderman was also dancing in front of it.

Day 1 - Road to Germany

Thanks for the suggestions! I think I'll do this one day at a time, and post one or two pics per site.

So Day 1, all we basically did was travel on the bus from Denmark to Germany, Cologne to be exact. Only one stop that day. The Kalkriese Museum and Park by Annette Gigon/Mike Guyer (Swiss architects). The museum is on the site of a battle between the Roman Army and Germanic tribes around 9 A.D. The Germans miraculously won. the museum was super interactive and fun, but we didn't have much time there.

The Return

I had an amazing time in Germany and the Netherlands. I especially love Holland (NL). We spent two nights in Cologne, three in Utrecht, and one on the bus. Visited Rotterdam, Amsterdam, and a few other places. I got to visit buildings by OMA, Peter Zumthor, Norman Foster, J.A. Brinkman, ONL, MVRDV, Tado Ando, Sauna and several more. I didn’t even realize the last two had projects outside of Japan, but they were some of my favorite visits.

Over the course of 6 days I took around 600 photos. I don’t really know where to start, so I figured I would just show two images. The first is the backside of a sound barrier between the highway and a neighborhood just outside of Utrecht. It’s adjacent to the Hessing Cockpit (pictures to come). The second photo is of a canal in the older part of Utrecht. I had dinner near here the last day. If this is just the infrastructure, imagine how stunning everything else is.

Thanks to everyone who wished me a great time! It definitely paid off. Cant wait to share more in the coming days. If you have any requests let me know. I have far too many pictures to post them all. I can post a full itinerary as well.

Germany Netherlands

Hey everyone,
you know since im using that tone it means somethings up. If you read the title you know its a good something. I am going to Germany and the Netherlands for a week. I'm really excited! Its a class trip so everyday is going to be filled with stops and site visits. They tend to keep us really busy on these trips. I also do a small presentation of the trip. Pray that goes well because I barely remember what I'm talking about.

I should be back next Friday. Cant wait to share my adventures with you. Until then, God Bless! Hope you have a wonderful week as well :)

David

P.S. Thank you for reading this blog! It means a lot to me. Im glad I can share this with you, and as always, I love hearing from you!

AQUA///Olympics

My life has just been enriched. I just got to see AQUA performing 'barbie girl' LIVE! and for free i might add. There are a whole bunch of celebrations in the city for the 2016 Olympic locations was announced here. I went to city hall plaza after studio just to go hear aqua. What could be better than seeing them in their home country? Drummers from the military band even backed up one of their songs (see picture). haha If you didnt know they are trying to make a comeback, so they played some of their new songs too. The pictures above are proof. I also have video which i may post in a few weeks.

About 30 min after the short concert the Olympic location was announced. Its going to be in Rio de Jenero. I'm super excited. Its really funny, I dont think that any of my American friends here wanted it to be in Chicago. Most were rooting for Rio. I have a friend that was so excited that he tried to pick me up while i was still filming it all.

Keep in mind, that Aqua was playing in front of city hall... and after the announcements Danish rock legends D.A.D. played. It was amazing. well the pyrotechnics were amazing.