Last Night on the Steps of Sant Domenec

Before we scattered at the end of our Spanish journey back to Portland or other destinations in Europe, we shared stories on the last evening with a farewell dinner at a raucous Basque café. We then gathered on the nearby Pujada steps. As a fleeting group gesture, we created a temporary art installation by blowing up and sending 300 balloons down the staircase. Locals enjoyed our antics as we briefly changed the nature of the space both for us and them. As we made our goodbyes, and reflected on great sights, great food and great company, vows were exchanged to continue our design journeys.

The Lure of the Xuixo Endures

Most of our group fell under the siren spell of Girona’s luscious Xuixo  Legend has it that this pastry evolved out of the civil coexistence of Girona’s multiple religions and cultures. As our retelling of the story, the French said, "we must use croissant dough," the Muslims said, "let’s deep fry it," the Catalans said, "but first fill it with cream custard," and the Jews then declared, "afterwards, why not roll it in coarse sugar." The rest is culinary history and the city lived happily ever after - especially our students.

Stones of Girona

A Different Kind of Public Plaza

Continuing the study of public spaces, our group spent time investigating a unique elevated plaza, the Pujada de Sant Domenec. Geometrically complex and difficult to describe, the space has evolved over centuries and combines street and passive plaza activities with dynamic spatial characteristics unlike anything most students had ever seen. Buildings enfronting the space include a medieval palace multi-family houses, cafes, workshops, stores and a monastery, while use of the space changes dramatically over the course of each day, coming to its highest level at night. Sketching, measuring steps and levels, and people-watching in this complex space over several days provide valuable lessons for the students when they confront future design projects.

Not Columns Nor Posts, But Bollards

Amongst the urbanistic design devices the students found interesting, and perhaps transferable to US cities are bollards, pedestrian devices capable of allowing people and vehicles to share pathways, and capable of being personalized to the situation.

La Catedral de Girona

There has been a place of worship on the hillside overlooking the old city but the present Cathedral of Girona was begun in the 11th century. It contains both a nave, the widest in the world at 22 meters, and a peaceful cloister.

Kissing the Lioness as a Sign of Respect

According to legend, kissing the butt of the lioness, situated on a column in the north end of the old city, is a sign of respect for the city of Girona….or according to other urban legends, if you want to become a citizen of Girona, or if you want to return to Girona.....so, with respect, we kissed…at least some of us did.

History Is A Pillow On Which To Lay Your Head

We had the good fortune to continue our conversations with the head of the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Girona, Josep Fuses. Fuses gave a lecture at PSU last year and on this trip gave us insight into the historical evolution of Girona and its genius loci, three current projects on which his office is working to integrate new and old architecture. We liked his gentle statement about time and architecture: History is everywhere - it can be a pillow on which to lay your head.

Slowing Down to Take a Deeper Look

We're winding up our study trip by spending a few slow days in Girona, a university town a little more than an hour north of Barcelona in the rolling foothills of the Pyrenees. As a welcome relief from the intensity of Barcelona, students are finding time to wander many of its narrow, Gothic streets where around every corner there's always something to study. A major plus of the city is that it is filled with a plethora of contemporary insertions into its old fabric.

Another Kind of 11 September

Pro-Independence Rally in the Placa Catalunya

September 11 has a different meaning in Barcelona, one very different from Americans. September 11 is Catalan National Day, and to many Catalans, the hope for independence has been fermenting for 300 years, ever since they lost a major battle with France. The issues are too complex to explain in a short paragraph. Catalonia will hold an advisory plebiscite in 2016 for or against independence similar to Scotland's election in 2014. Today, Barcelona's major boulevards and plazas were filled for several hours by thousands of people wearing, waving, and celebrating the Catalan flags and colors.

Look, Draw....Repeat.....

The daily luxury of sketching

The process of learning to look can make the simplest things quite beautiful.  As the primary requirement for the study trip, students have been spending most of their time looking in order to see, and recording their impressions in sketchbooks in both descriptive and analytical drawings. The intent of these exercises is to document both the mundane and the extraordinary.

Unconventional La Pedrera

Unconventional Casa Mila, or La Pedrera, was the last residential project completed by Gaudi. From the outside, the undulating balconies look like a series of waves; on the inside, you'd be challenged to find a single right angle. Designed in consultation with Josep Jujol, the apartments are arranged around light coming from two central courtyards. We explored a furnished model apartment, roofscape and the attic, which houses a marvelous exhibition of Gaudi’s lifetime of works.

Gaudi's Garden Party

Central stairway from Park Guell's entry up to the Market Hall and its plaza above

Commissioned as a 60-unit subdivision in the English Garden City style (radical even for Gaudi), the project failed due to its relative distance from the city center. The project tour de force is the market hall with its plaza above surrounded by the serpentine bench, approached by tile-lined staircase. The park above served us well as a shady spot for a group picnic.

Mies....From the History Book to the Sketchbook

The Barcelona Pavilion by Mies van der Rohe.  So easy to photograph, so hard to draw.

Antoni Gaudi's Masterpiece

Considered his masterpiece, Gaudi devoted the latter years of his life to the construction of the Sagrada Familia. When finished some time around 2030, the church will have a total of 18 towers and accommodate 13,000 people with a central spire reaching a height of 170m.. We've been coming here with PSU students since 1996 and it's amazing to watch the progress of its construction - the church nave has evolved from a construction site to an awe-inspiring place for services. The views over Barcelona from the towers are as memorable as the jelly-legged descent down the tower's spiral interior.

 

Drawing Something New

The Mercado Santa Caterina gave the students the opportunity to experience one of Enric Miralles/EMBT's masterworks. The remodeling of the city's poorest public markets  offers the opportunity to examine a true structural tour-de-force. Actually a bit easier to draw than to analyze its structural dynamics.

Drawing Old Things

Barcelona's 25 centuries of inhabitation takes the students from architectural history books to the real artifacts of history. The Museum of the City's History took us underground to Roman ruins underneath a public plaza and the Barcelona Cathedral grandly offered itself up for lessons in Gothic spatial arrangement and construction.

Barcelona, Day 1

Riding through Parc Diagonal Mar by EMBT Architects

In an attempt to orient ourselves in Barcelona we took a half-day bicycle tour of the Old City, the '92 Olympic Village, the seafront, and the Example district. Next we do each on foot. It was like a mini-parade as the 16 of us rode through narrow, medieval lanes, broad boulevards plus old and new parks. We only got yelled at once at being in the wrong place due to an extensive network of bike lanes. The park above is Parc Diagonal Mar, designed by EMBT.  The sun-drenched MACBA, designed by Richard Meier, made for a couple of hours of focused sketching and analysis - cool and air-conditioned after the bike ride.

The Museum of Contemporary Art, by Richard Meier

The New Madrid

Madrid's capital-scaled projects captured the students' imaginations, but they were really attracted to a number of contemporary projects. Despite the heat of an mid-day march along the Rio Manzanares, the capital has completely redesigned  about 28 kilometers of river frontage. Directed by the Dutch firm West 8, over 10 kilometers of central river frontage created linear parks over depressed freeways, parks and pedestrian bridges like the Arganzuela Footbridge by Dominique Perrault. Another project that drew attention was the privately-funded Caixa Forum, which hosts world-class exhibitions. The project is by Herzog & de Meuron, with the monumental-scaled green wall by Patrick LeBlanc.

Contrasts in Madrid

Madrid, a relatively young European capital, is full of contrasts easily viewed on any five-minute walk in the city - light to dark, hard stones to soft greens, quiet mornings and loud nights.  Baroque boulevards and royal parks contrast sharply with medieval alleys and extensive civic reconstruction projects and the city makes for strong comparisons with the upcoming cities of Barcelona and Girona.

Arrival in Espana!

First Madrid......Despite numerous long flights from various parts of the world, delayed flights, and delayed baggage, 14 students and 2 faculty convened in Madrid to begin our study and analysis of the best Spain has to offer in architecture and urbanism. Daily activities of on-site analysis of works from Roman to the the best of today are being documented in our ever-handy journals.