Barcelona: A Visual Journal

HABITAGES VORA EL MERCAT DE SANTA CATERINA

2008-04-20T08:24:00.000-07:00

Site: Habitages Vora el Mercat de Santa Caterina
Architect: Enric Miralles and Il. Bravo 2004

La Ribera has been an area of progressive transformation since the city initiative in the 1980’s aimed to connect the Cuitat Vella to the l’ exiample and maximize housing in the old city sector. We will be investigating a series of urban interventions in the area of the Mercat de Santa Caterina.

Assignment: You will explore composition and narrative through a series of sketching explorations. Your final composition should communicate a narrative of the architecture and urban situation of the Habitages Vora and/ or the Habitges de Mercat Santa Caterina. Sketches: PJ Yurchak, Kevin McNamara, Kristen Clancey,

COAC

2008-04-20T08:12:00.000-07:00

Site: Col-legi D’Arquitectes de Catalunya
Placa Nova 5

Assignment: You will explore composition and narrative through a series of sketching explorations at the COAC.

com·po·si·tion
1.
a. The combining of distinct parts or elements to form a whole.
b. The manner in which such parts are combined or related.
2. Arrangement of artistic parts so as to form a unified whole.

nar·ra·tive
1. A narrated account; a story.
2. The art, technique, or process of narrating.
adj.
1. Consisting of or characterized by the telling of a story.

Your final composition should communicate a narrative of the architecture, urban situation, and installations of the COAC.

Sketch: Hawra Esmaeil

MOROCCO:FEZ AND MIDDLE ATLAS

2008-04-05T01:38:00.000-07:00

Assignment: You will be asked to sketch at a range of sites and locations in Fez and the Middle Atlas. Please examine the following ideas drawing connections and conclusion between the various sites and subjects. In addition you should investigate the practices of Islamic culture and religion and how they are manifested in the architecture and built environment.

Inside/Outside and the mediation between
Sacred/Profane
Centers/Edges
Direction/Orientation
Veil/ Reveal

Please consider the following architectural elements and how they might support or articulate the above concepts.

Threshold
Gate
Screen
Porch
Fabric
Skin
Contrast
Layers
Light
Shadow

Your investigation should be lucid and focused. Please establish a consistent framework and visual and textual language in which to analyze and communicate your findings.

Readings:
Hoag, John D. Islamic Architecture. Rizzoli: New York, New York. (Pg 38 – 62)
Kazimee, Bashir and Rahmani, Ayad. Place, Meaning and Form in the architecture and Urban Structure of
Eastern Islamic Cities. Edwin Mellen Press: Lewiston. (Chapters 1-3)
***Additional Handouts may be issued

Sketches in order from top to bottom: Josh Humphries, Stacey Carbone, Kevin Mcnamara

22@

2008-04-05T01:33:00.000-07:00

Site: Buiding B and C of Can Jaumandreau 22@

Architect: Josep Llinas

Assignment: Façade, rhythms, patterns and proportions
Please draw a diagrammatical (plan and section) or (axon) of the Can JaumAndreau block indicating the existing from the new.

Sketch the new building and old building’s facing elevations. Your drawing should reveal or indicate the underlying rhythms, patterns and proportions of each.

Questions to consider: Please answer with visual and textual notes in your sketchbook
Which proportions, rhythms or patterns of the existing façade appear in the design of the new façade? Which do not?
Does the architectural language of Llinas’ new buildings blend or contrast with the architectural language of the existing factory? How...

Site: Meteorology Tower, 1992
Paseo de Maritim

Architect: Alvaro Siza

Assignment: Subtractive transformation
You will document the process of subtractive transformation of the cylinder. Please draw a plan and exploded axon documenting the primary volumetric form and the area subtracted to create the 8 radial openings.

Please draw 3 elevations revealing the uniformity and inconsistencies of the design.

Questions to consider: Please answer with visual and textual notes in your sketchbook
In a seemingly pure form, where does Siza break the uniformity of the cylinder?
How do the openings serve the interior space? What is the program of the void space?
How does he establish Hierarchy, Orientation, Entrance?
How does the materiality of the building reinforce the architectural language?
Is there a relationship between form and materiality of the center and it situation on the waterfront?

Schedule:
Alvaro Siza: Meteorology Center
Alvarez Tenaz: Park for Biomedical Research
Rambla del Poble Nou
Josep Llinas: Can Jaumandreau
Can Ricat
C. Ferrater-B720: Campus Audiovisual (media campus sector)
Chipperfield-B720: Layetana Building: D. (media campus sector)
Indra Building: C. Ferrater-B720 (media campus sector)
Habitat Sky: Dominique Perrault
Pl. De Les Glories
Rafael Moneo: Auditorium
Ricardo Bofill: National Theater of Catalunya

FOSSAR DE LA PEDRERA MEMORIAL

2008-04-05T01:24:00.000-07:00

Site: Fossar de la Pedrera
Cemetery de Monjic

Architect: Beth Gali

Assignment: Transition: Sacred to Profane
Sketch a plan and section showing the relationship of the quarry space to the street. Indicate in your drawings the zones of sacred space, profane space and the transition space between.

Questions to consider: Please answer with visual and textual notes in your sketchbook
How are each of these zones articulated architecturally?
How do the architectural elements and materiality of the space and path choreograph an experiential sequence?
Locate the two points of access into the quarry. Are “entry” and “exit” suggested or prescribed by the design of the space?
What is the physical relationship of the quarry to the street and surrounding spaces? (boundaries, views, thresholds, connections, ...)?
In plan, consider how the geometries of the architecture respond to the natural topography. Sketches: Emma Pfeferkorn, Hawra Esmeail

INTRO TO WATERCOLOR AND INK

2008-03-18T11:00:00.000-07:00

Due Tuesday, March 8th at 10am
Assignment: Choose a photograph of simple façade or faced detail. It can be one you have taken or one you have found. Using the same technique you did when painting the orange in studio, you will create two watercolor paintings of the photograph. Using three tonal values, you will create one painting in grayscale and the second with color.

Sketches in order from top to bottom: Kristen Clancey, Jessica Euler, Jessica Euler, Josh Humphries, Kristen Clancey, Lauren Blodgett

ART TICKET BARCELONA

2008-03-14T05:27:00.000-07:00

Please complete four of the following five assignments in your sketchbook by 10am April 22. The assignment for the MACBA must be one of your four. Feel free to complete the fifth assignment for extra credit.

1

Site: MNAC
Palau Nacional Parc de Montjuïc

Assignment: SCALE, APPROACH, PROCESSION
Please draw a diagrammatical plan and section (figure ground) at the urban scale showing the location of the museum building and the stairs, pathways and landscape that surround and connect it to the remote urban environment. Indicate alignments, axis, connections, etc.

Sketch two perspective views – one from your ascent (looking to up to the MNAC) and the other from your descent (looking down to the city.)

Questions to consider:
How do the architectural elements choreograph your movement?
Are there moments of pause, acceleration?
What is the situation of the complex in the larger urban environment?
How does scale establish hierarchy?
Is the experience (rhythm, pace, perception, view, etc) different between your ascent and descent?
2
Site: CCCB
Carrer Montalegre, 5.
Architects: Estudi Viaplana/Piñón Arqs. Ricardo Mercadé Ass. 1993

Assignment: INTERNAL ORGANIZATION
Please draw a diagrammatical axon revealing the insertion of the new building addition into the existing hospital complex.

Sketch a diagrammatical plan including the interior space and the exterior courtyard. Your plan should suggest the materiality of the vertical planes. For example, glass should read differently than stone and masonry.

Indicate on the plan or in separate diagrams the layers and gradations of public and private spaces, and the zones of circulation.

Draw a panoramic of the interior courtyard facades. Indicate how the existing complex is reflected in the façade of the new addition.

Questions to consider: Please answer with visual and textual notes in your sketchbook
How does the form of the new addition and façade reinforce the internal organization?
What is the relationship of the complex to the street and surrounding public spaces, boundaries, views, thresholds, connections, etc.?
How does the interior space organized to respond to the internal organization?
How does the interior and exterior façade of the complex establish hierarchy?
3
Site: Picasso Museum
Casa del Baro de Castellet, Montcada, 15-23

Assignment: DOORWAY, GATE, THRESHOLD, PORTAL
Begin by drawing a plan of the museum spaces you can access. On the plan indicate the location of doorways, gates, and portals. Sketch a series of 5 to 6 small axon in scale to one another. Each axon should show at least one door gate portal and the two adjacent spaces. Please represent the consistencies and inconsistencies of your spatial experience as you pass though the gates, doors, and portals. This can be achieved by articulating elements such as light, compression, expansion, enclosure, size and shape of spatial volume, etc.

Questions to consider: please answer with visual and textual notes in your sketchbook
How are these openings are articulated (size, shape, material, ornamentation, etc.?)
Is there a relationship between their design, size, function, location and/or spaces they provide entry for?
How do the openings frame or edit a view into the space beyond?
How does your perception of what is inside and what is outside shift as you move through the doors, gates and thresholds?

4
Site: MACBA
Pl. dels Angels, 1
Architect: Richard Meier

Assignment: ?
Please visit the interior and exterior space of the MACBA. You will write an assignment for yourself in your sketchbook. Please use the format of the above assignments. You should indicate what topic you are examining (e.g. layering, hierarchy, circulation). You should specify drawing types and diagrams (e.g. axon, perspective,) and then propose questions you will investigate or answer through visual and textual note taking.

Site: Fundacio Joan Miro
Parc de Montjuïc
Architect: Luis Sert 1975

Assignment: CIRCULATION

BIBILOTECA NACIONAL DE CATALUNYA

2008-03-08T19:43:00.000-08:00

Site Bibiloteca Nacional de Catalunya
Antic Hospital de la Santa Creu, Carrer Egipcíaques
Architect Joan Rodon Bonet (renovation and new extension) 1998

Assignment Spatial and Formal Volumes
Begin sketching in the interior courtyard. Using axonometric, create a 3-D diagrammatical abstraction of the formal and spatial volumes of the complex. Remember, volume can be articulated as mass or void.

Choose a portion of the complex that you just recorded and document the evolution of your spatial perception as you move through one or between two volumetric forms. Remember, perception is the product of all your senses not just visual.

Questions to consider
Is there a series of underlying primary volumes?
Was the transformation of the primary volume/s an additive or subtractive process?
What is the spatial language of the new extension? Does it address the language of the old?

Sketches in order from top to bottom: Lindsey Dehenzel

PALAU DE LA MUSICA

2008-02-27T00:31:00.000-08:00

Site: Ciutat Vella

Mercat de Santa Caterina and Palau de la Musica
Architect: Enric Miralles (market)
Lluis Domenech i Montaner (original palau)
Oscar Tusquets and Carles Díaz (extension and renovation)

Assignment: Dialogue: Old and New
Investigate the language and situation of the existing architecture and analyse the response of the new extensions to the existing buildings. Please explore this subject at a multiple scales.

FIELD SKETCHING IN ANDALUSIA

2008-02-27T00:02:00.000-08:00

Site: Madrid and Andalusia

Assignment:

Independent study of the Islamic architecture of Medieval Spain. Sketching is required at the following sites; Plaza Mayor, Madrid; The Mezquita, Cordoba; The Alhambra and Generalife, Granada; Real Alcazar and Cathedral, Seville.

Sketches in order from top to bottom: Travis Akiwowo, Lauren Blodgett, Nick Valentino

ROMAN CITY

2008-02-26T00:59:00.000-08:00

Site: The Roman City Section

Assignment: Spatial Sequences
Sketch the spatial sequence between the Plaza Sant Neri and the Plaza Rei. Explore and existing duality that links and transforms the spatial perceptions along your route. Sketches in order from top to bottom: Irene Jorden

THE DERIVE

2008-02-26T00:35:00.000-08:00

Site: The city of Barcelona

Exercise:

You will explore the city by means of the situationist dérive,(1) a technique of rapid passage through varied ambiences of repulsion and attraction.

“In a dérive one or more persons during a certain period drop their relations, their work and leisure activities, and all their other usual motives for movement and action, and let themselves be drawn by the attractions of the terrain and the encounters they find there. Chance is a less important factor in this activity than one might think: from a dérive point of view cities have psychogeographical contours, with constant currents, fixed points and vortexes that strongly discourage entry into or exit from certain zones.”

You will position your self as the flanuer.(2) With the assistance of a partner you will begin your dérive at an unidentified location. You will record your drift determined by your emotional response to urban situations. Please remember, your perceived ambiances are a product of all your senses not just visual.

Assignment:

Following the exercise, you will create a psychogeographical mapping of your perceived ambiances. Your medium is pencil and collage on paper (dimensions and template to be specified). You will produce one map per group of two on white watercolor paper. It is suggested to begin your graphic representation with a 2-dimensioanl map that then is manipulated to express the varied ambiances that were encountered.

1. dérive: literally “drift” or “drifting.” Like détournement, this term has usually been anglicized as both a noun and a verb. In philosophy, a Dérive is a French concept meaning an aimless walk, that follows the whim of the moment. It is sometimes translated as a drift.
2. flanuer: comes from the French verb flâner, which means "to stroll". A flâneur is thus a person who walks the city in order to experience it. Because of the term's usage and theorization by Charles Baudelaire and numerous thinkers in economic, cultural, literary and historical fields, the idea of the flâneur has accumulated significant meaning as a referent for understanding urban phenomena and modernity

Boards in order from top to bottom: (board one) Travis Akiwowo and Kevin McNamara, (board two) Jessica Euler, Michael Doster, Josh Bereznay