Pompidou and Freedom!

Centre Pompidou

View of Montmartre from the circulation space in the Pompidou!

Bridge along Prominade Plantee

Museum of Science and Industry in Parc de la Villette

Cool water feature!

Friday we visited the Pompidou Centre!  I think this building is awesome. All of the circulation is on the exterior of the building and all of the structural and mechanical systems are exposed and color coded.  Designed by Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers, it was submitted to a competition for the new museum and this duo were fresh out of school and received the commission.. can you say winning??

Not only is the architecture cool, but it houses a museum of modern art which I thoroughly enjoyed.  It's been awhile since I have seen any work by Pollack, Kandinsky and Warhol.  <3

Saturday was a free day, so Laura and I ventured to Parc de la Villette and Promenade Plantee.  The promenade has a similar concept to what the Highline offers New York.  Creates additional green spaces throughout the urban setting... we also liked that it elevated us to see the buildings at a different level vs. being on the street and looking up at all the buildings.  Parc de la Villette was really interesting. Very family friendly and conveniently the Museum of Science and Industry is located within the park: every child's dream!  The museum had a few similar qualities as the Pompidou. The structure was exposed and also emphasized in a vibrant blue, which is similar to the color coding that takes place at the Pompidou.  I wanted to go into the planetarium, but unfortunately my art history pass wouldn't get us in there for free! ;)  However, there was an awesome water feature that I posted a photo of.  I am easily amused.

Garden Hopping and Biking at Versailles

Door detail in Versailles

Photo op in the Hall of Mirros

Bike riding through the gardens

Marie Antoinette's chateau: stylish and lots of pink!

We spent today at Versailles.. a full 8 hours of running around the chateau and gardens.  Well, not really running, but biking and lots of walking!  The bikes were probably the best idea (nice work Laura!) and allowed us to cover more ground in the limited time we had.  Kyle gave us lectures on the building and the gardens with a lot of great history behind it all.  I did not know that the chateau was referred to as the 'gilded cage.'  It received this name because Louis XIV invited his enemies to his chateau for a 'party' and never excused them so they could leave.  Leaving without being excused was a preposterous idea, meaning the guests and their families were to reside at the chateau.  This allowed Loius XIV to maintain his power without worry of it being taken away from him.  Upon his death, 30,000 people resided on the grounds of the Palace of Versailles.  Needless to say, it's enormous. 

Marie Antoinette's chateau was great to see as well since I did not have enough time to see it the first time I visited.  Her residence was much more subdued in materials and details, but still incredibly beautiful and feminine. 

I need to visit once more though.. because the fountains weren't running again! Maybe the third time really is a charm? :)

An Eiffel of Paris!

At the top of the tower

musee du quai Branly

Napoleon's Tomb

We were scheduled to visit two buildings/monuments today, but we decided to push ourselves and went for three! First stop: Eiffel tower designed by Gustave Eiffel.  Gustave submitted the proposal for a competition which was to design an entrance to the World's Fair of 1889.  The committee who selected his design chose him on one condition: he had to fund it himself.  They did not want to be held responsible if something were to go wrong structurally.  Gustave liquidated his business and put all of his eggs in one basket!  His only request was that the public were to be charged a small, affordable fee to go to the top.  Needless to say, he became a millionaire...

We then went to the musee du quai Branly designed by Jean Nouvell.  The museum was great, the architecture I am indifferent about.  It was completed in 2007 and seemed to be showing more wear than it should, but I suppose that could have been the intention behind the material selections.  The design wasn't all that cohesive either... however, I will give the space planning some credit.  It was difficult to get lost in the museum, which is often not the case. The designs for the displays were also really well done.  The exterior of the building was interesting because it had plants embedded into it (as shown in the photo above.)

Our last stop was to see Napoleon's tomb (which was free for students AGAIN! yay!)  It was an incredibly beautiful building which housed not only the tomb (over 6 other tombs), but also had a lot of artifacts from the battles that Napoleon fought. 

Another great day in the books!

Architecture Nerds

Site model

Geeking out over the craftsmanship... crazy!

Musee D'Orsay <3
My favorite museum!

Parc Citroen

Monday we had a free day and decided to go to the architecture museum and loved it!  Not only was it free with student ID's (perk!), but it was quite inspirational too.  The models were by far my favorite part of the museum.  Architecture nerd...

We visited the Musee D'Orsay today.  Fell in love again with this museum.  What is it about Impressionist paintings that I find so fascinating?  I'm not sure if it's the style, use of color or the emotion that is behind it all, but it gets me every time. 

Later this afternoon we visited Parc Citroen, constructed on a brownfield site in the 80's.  Previously an automobile production site, there was a lot of chemicals in the soil... therefore the soil was removed and a large flat open plane existed.  A botanical garden was created with a lot of great architectural details.  I don't think it is used as much as it should be... seemed like a really great space to spend time in, but was not very busy while we were there.  Hoping the weather and looming skies had something to do with this!

I'm exhausted and it's only Tuesday, but this means I am seeing a lot and learning a ton.. so worth it! :)

Giverny: Maison de Monet!

Soooooo happy!

Valentin was kind enough to drive me to Giverny.  Good company and I didn't have to take the train again!

The famous water lilies!

Maison de Monet- Imagine looking out those windows everyday :)

I remember studying Claude Monet's paintings back in high school... finally being able to visit and see them in person was amazing!  It also helped that the weather was absolutely perfect.  Couldn't have asked for a better day.  I could have walked around the gardens and house for many more hours than we did, but unfortunately many other people had the same idea, so it was a bit crowded.

Valentin is a friend I met while Laura and I were out and about one night.  It has been fun getting to know him and his friends and trying to communicate with the different languages.  Thankfully he and his friends know quite a bit of English!  It was funny to learn how many of them haven't visited any of the monuments and sites that we have gone to.  Valentin mentioned he probably wouldn't ever have gone to Giverny to see the gardens, but because I wanted to it was a good opportunity to go.  It's hard for me to imagine not seeing all of these places if I lived here, but then again, growing up with this setting at my fingertips, it might be something I think I would do eventually.  I would compare it to living in Milwaukee and saying I am going to visit the Pabst mansion.. I probably never will.

The flowers were still in bloom and there were a few lilies in the pond.  It was another great escape from the city.  I would go back in a heartbeat.

More of Corbusier!

A typical cell at La Tourette

La Tourette

Quite an amazing view

Ronchomp!

Window detail

Such great use of light!

After our visit to Lyon, we continued the journey to La Tourette where the monastery sits on a hill over looking the small city.  Despite not being able to talk as much and having to sleep in an incredibly cold cell, La Tourette was absolutely amazing.  It was nice to see a different side of architecture from Corbusier when comparing it to Villa Savoye or Maison La Roche.  La Tourette still has some qualities of his 5 points, but they are beginning to be less distinguished. Once we reach Ronchomp, the 5 points are no longer important in his design strategy.  This is one of the great things about being able to see a variety of buildings by the same architect... you can see how they grow and change during the different stages of their career.

The themes of La Tourette:
1.) Separate the inhabitants from nature
2.) Encourage spiritual enlightenment through mathematics and geometry
3.) Encourage spiritual reflection and discovery

The themes were very prominent and easier to grasp being there in person vs. seeing images in a textbook.  We had breakfast the morning we departed and took our packed lunch prepared by the friars.  It was really sweet of them to pack us lunch to go for our excursion to Ronchomp!

Ronchomp... where do I begin?  I can't express how much I loved seeing this particular building.  The details in the lighting, the hierarchy in spaces... so amazing!  Ahhhh I want to go back already :)  This church is great because it not only seats 50 people inside to serve the local community, but the exterior acts as a pilgrimage church when larger groups pay a visit.  Ronchomp was criticized immensely by the French press and also the international architectural community, but today it is one of Corbusier's more well known buildings.

Loved this weekend and thankful for all the experiences! 

A Snapshot of Lyon

We finally were able to escape the city for a few days and it was wonderful!  Our first stop was in Lyon.  This is a fairly large city as well, but had a completely different feel from Paris.  People were much friendlier too (probably because they don't have thousands of tourists running around their city everyday.)  Our first stop in Lyon was to our hotel.. which we loved. Mostly because the beds were AWESOME compared to the beds in our dorms.  We then walked to the opera house designed by Jean Nouvel which I absolutely loved.  This is an adaptive reuse project where they renovated the old opera house to accommodate more square footage and program.  The only part of the previous building kept was 3 of the 4 facades of the shell.  In order to fit the square footage needed within the same footprint, Nouvel added 3 stories below and 6 stories above the existing building.  Nouvel used 3 design strategies for this space which are:

1.) The use of the color black- it's literally everywhere
2.) Reflective surfaces
3.) Irregular forms

Such a great space... If only we would have planned to attend the ballet that night!

Instead of going to the ballet (due to cost) we decided to walk around the city and explore.  We had dinner and then Laura, Greame and I decided to hike to the top of Lyon where the Basilique de Fourviere sits on top of the hill.  It was a long, exhausting hike (mostly uphill) but completely worth it!  Along the way we crossed paths with an amazing waterfall which is shown above.  Between the waterfall, the basilica and the amazing view, I had absolutely no complaints about the walk to the top of Lyon.  Oh yeah... on the way back we saw an amazing candy store.  Don't ask me how I managed to spend 11€ on candy, but I did.  One of my inner child moments I suppos.

Au Revoir (for only a few days) Paris!

More ramps by Le Corbusier

Inspirational Sketches

Well we are leaving the city for 3 days to head to Lyon where we will be studying the Lyon Opera House, La Tourette (which is a monastery just outside of Lyon where we will actually be spending the night- not entirely sure how I feel about this!), and visiting Ronchamp and the famous Chapelle Notre-Dame-du-Haut (I'm super excited about this!)  In the meantime, I added a few photos from our excursion this morning.  We visited Corbusier's Maison La Roche here in Paris.  This is another great house and has many similarities to Villa Savoye, however this was more of an experiment for Corbusier to introduce his 5 points mentioned in the blog about Villa Savoye.  Maison La Roche was designed to be a house and an art gallery, which works well with Corbusier's point of having a free plan.  Also, I think I will always appreciate the effect that light has on his architecture and vice versa. 

I better get packing as we leave bright and early tomorrow! More posts to come on Sunday....

Corbusier Who??

Ramp at entry

Loungin'!

Villa Savoye is one of Le Corbusier's most well known buildings and I am so excited to have finally visited after studying it a lot in school!  We had a lecture before entering and then we were able to explore on our own for awhile, taking photographs, analyzing the design, and sketching.  Corbusier was a functionalist, which is evident in this design and he also incorporated his 5 points, which are listed below:

1. Pilotis
2. Roof Garden
3. Free Plan
4. Ribbon Window
5. Free Facade

One of my favorite aspects of Villa Savoye is how the light reflects on the surfaces (evident in the photo of the ramp and me lounging in the chair.)  I also learned that Corbusier believed that only the material deemed necessary should be used.  For example, the pilotis (or columns) are sized proportionately to the load that it carries. Smart man.

Another one of my favorite design features of Villa Savoye is that the ramp that greets you at the entrance is both an indoor and outdoor feature.  After making it to the second level, the ramp brings you to the roof top garden and then to the highest level of the house.  Another great day in the books! 

Walking Tour of Paris (AGAIN!)

Saturday we had a walking tour of Paris.  Even though Laura and I have gone to many of the same sites that we visited, it was nice to hear Kyle's lectures and to get a better understanding of the historical context of the buildings/monuments.  He also pointed out things that I probably wouldn't have noticed on my own.  After the walking tour, five of the grad students (Meaghan, Alexa, Laura, Graeme, and myself) headed to La Defense, which is where the newer construction and more contemporary buildings are.  La Grande Arche is shown in the pictures above, which is on the same axis as the Arc de Triomphe and runs through many other monuments buildings all the way to The Louvre.  This area had a lot of really great buildings and sculptures in it.  It also had a great boardwalk extending the axis beyond the arch. 

La Grande Arche is one of my favorite sites thus far :)

First Day of School!

Notre Dame

Detail on wood door at Notre Dame

Sainte Chapelle

Interior view of Sainte Chapelle's lower level

Interior view of Sainte Chapelle's upper level

First day of school in Paris was fantastic!  Our first stop was at Notre Dame designed by Viollet-le-Duc. Incredibly high vaulted ceilings, stained glass windows, and an immense amount of hand carved stone.  Breathtaking and as beautiful as I remember when seeing it in 2008.  We had our first sketching assignment here where we had to sketch 3 bays of the nave.  Hoping I can hone in my sketching skills by the end of the semester... talk about a rough start! 

Sainte Chapelle was a new experience that was also incredible.  The painted ceilings were very detailed and painted in rich hues (my pictures don't quite do them justice.)  There is a lower level church which is a little darker, less windows, but still has the beautiful ceiling detail.  The second level church has high vaulted ceilings with stained glass, which is currently under construction.  The renovations will be complete in 2014 and began in 2008.  It will take 6 years to restore the stained glass.  I'm surprised it wouldn't take longer with how intricate it is.  Sainte Chapelle was built to house the Crown of Thorns, which is no longer there, but is said to be in Notre Dame.  Ahhhh I love learning!  I think this is already a great start to the semester.