Picture and Verse in Barcelona

Purpose in the Suburbs: The Forum Promenade

2010-08-22T16:58:00.000-04:00

Beginnings and endings are just as critical as what comes between. In memory they are the easiest to recall, and the first thing that comes to memory is a performance by the dance troupe Pilobolus. The sounds of an airplane crashing out of the sky first come bursting through the speakers. This helps explains why, when the lights finally come up, a performer is lying on his shoulders and head with his feet sticking into the air. With little effort and no speaking we now have a complete picture of the performer as a stranded pilot.

In architecture, beginnings and endings most apparently take place at an entrance or exit, but a work of architecture may commence when you arrive from the metro or step out of your car, or even catching sight of it from a distance. The promenade of a project, then, might include spaces distantly connected to, or even disconnected from, the designed place. Two Barcelona parks, the Southeast Coastal Park by Foreign Office Architects, and the Northeast Coastal Park by Abalos & Herreros, are vast territories of land where beginnings and endings are as critical as a performance. Here I will look at the conceptual basis for these parks, the intention of the design, and how the parks are used today.

Parc del Forum

In 2004 Barcelona was home to an immense cultural forum, the Universal Forum of Cultures, requiring the creation of a number of buildings and public spaces to house activities of near-Olympic proportion. The Northeast and Southeast Coastal parks lie to the north and south of the Parc del Forum, an immense paved area with two elevated octagonal-shaped solar arrays and a collection of support buildings. All three areas were constructed between 2000 and 2004. The later addition of a massive Torres & Lapena elevated rectangular solar array, known as the Pergola Fotovoltaica, was designed in 2009 to not only provide electric power but to frame sweeping views of the Mediterranean. Other new additions include Enric Massip-Bosch Arquitectes’ Diagonal 00 Tower, and Zaha Hadid's Spiral Tower, both adjacent to the Forum.

Southeast Coastal Park

Foreign Office Architects points out that the entrance to the Southeast Coastal Park is located at Carrer Taulat (Locus)-- a road that runs parallel to the park, with a single point of access divided by the blue triangle of the derelict H&dM Edifici Forum. There is no direct path to the park-- the “arm” of the Forum-- so a visitor must traverse the vast Forum esplanade on the north side. Beachgoers, though, will find it easier to access the park from the south. With a highly visible pedestrian overlook constructed near the south entrance and visible from Taulat, it is just as likely for a visitor to make his way to the south end of the park after taking in the sights.

There is ambiguity, then, as to which side of the park is the intended 'entrance,' so it would be simpler to consider them both. Arriving from the south end, unfortunately, is a very tight pinch along a gated service road followed by an abrupt hard turn. My first impression was that of an unfinished project, with pavers and skateboarder railings extending into a vehicular barrier, followed by a raised edge. The long unbroken lines of the paving and boardwalk imply a place that should stretch past its own boundaries. If this is intended to imply a Miesian sense of continuity beyond the limits of the park, that sense is broken by raised paving edges. With a construction site to the south immediately followed by the beach, it is possible that the city intends for the south park to continue into the beach.

Following the Forum Building on the north side brings you to a large open esplanade where you can circle around to the top of the larger of the park's two auditoriums, a view of the sea opening below you. The real activator for the park is not in fact the park itself but a hardscape swimming area that lies between the park and the sea. The directional orientation of pathways through the park give the place a sense of linear, albeit curvaceous, circulation, and the gently sloped retaining walls used by bicyclists and skateboarders for play seem to bring the only visitors who actually stop to use the park. I suspect if it wasn't for the bathing area, the park might not be used at all.

The formal strategy, according to FOA (Locus), is dune-like, and for this they are successful; the 'dunes' of hardscape slope up and crest to ''scrub,' trees and hardy plants reminiscent of the grasses you might find growing near the ocean. The sense of place, that of a beach, feels very appropriate whether or not dunes (or for that matter, sand) may have existed on the site, and the park and swimming area-- all hardscape-- reinforce each other beautifully.

The programmatic strategy of “playspace” feels successful; as a retired skateboarder I found myself wishing for a little time on the slopes and rails. With the exception of the ampitheatre, however, the program seems more like “interesting corridor” with things for skateboarders and bikers to play on while they're coming or going. Foreign Office also refers to the use of paving patterns as a means to generate lines of force throughout the site, but a strong idea that looks good from a distance (the swirl of the paving by the ampitheatre that suggests a place of repose) is poorly detailed. They set rows of circular pavers into asphalt, with gaps between each row thus showing off the asphalt, and my sense is that they're relying on the contrast between materials to generate the lines. Peter Reed agrees, noting that “the pavers create strong graphic striations that draw the visitor's attention back to the ground plane.” (Groundswell, Northeast.) Never mind the intense difficulty the city will have when it comes time to maintain the site. When ground services such as mountings for furniture or electrical boxes touch the horizontal plane, pavers are simply removed and there is no real alignment or any other means to make the interaction between 'object' and 'surface' a well-though detail. These 'lines of force' are thus rudely broken and the fluidity of movement interrupted.

Northeast Coastal Park

Unified to the palm of the esplanade through the fingers of, in plan, a hand-like form, the Northeast Coastal park is a restored brownfield program of views created with infill, and attached to the massive earthworks through the connective tissue of a bridge are a plaza, park, a beach, and the remainders of an industrial plant turned to a recycling plant. Abalos & Herreros consider wasteland as a commodity or place of opportunity (Journey, 55), and seek “a new naturalism arising from the profound ambiguity in which nature is presented as the subject of knowledge and aesthetic experience.” (57)

The problem is, the “mountains” that they refer to are not the masses overlooking the park from the docks-- the natural pedestrian promenade from the Forum esplanade. It is two small hills on the northern end of the park accessible via the parking lot. This area, bordered by a highway on one side of the hill and a busy road on the other side closest to the plant, is decidedly less friendly than the bridge route, and is perhaps the better promenade if a visitor were to arrive by car. The earthworks manage to protect the site from the noisy highway, but the path to the complex is via sidewalks on either side of the road. We are left with a site located at the northernmost point of Barcelona and bordered by: the Balearic Sea, a river outlet, a parking lot and highways, and the Forum. In this isolated condition at the end of a metro line and about a mile from the nearest residential neighborhood, the small population of the beach and plaza are unsurprising and bring to the area a deserted feel.

Among the writings of Abalos & Herreros, the idea of sustainability comes up time and again, and they consider the park “an expression of the sensitivity towards environmental issues and cultural admixtures that gives [this project] context...” (Urbarama) An ideal condition is presented by the industrial plant, as a political message to the city reinforced by a building that can be disassembled then reassembled in a new configuration or remove unnecessary components for recycling. The restoration of an industrial site to public use is commendable, as is the use of recyclable plastic building materials.

The issue I take with declaring that a site is sensitive to the environment is that the designer should not be selective about the environmental issues he wants to consider, and instead make an effort to consider every environmental issue. While the project began design in 2000, in the infancy of the contemporary “green movement,” the more sustainable gesture would nonetheless include creating a walkable connection to the urban fabric, with deference to public transportation. Barcelona herself has been a walkable city ever since the Romans set up the original castrum-based town, and even in an era of cheap energy the idea of a main promenade sprouting from a remote parking lot along and across a busy highway is contrary to any argument for sustainability. Peter Reed buys into their argument, pointing out that mature palm trees were planted in order to “create an immediate sense of place,” forgetting to point out the enormous energy costs of trucking mature trees to a site, and neglecting to point out that in as immense a public space as this park, a smattering of a couple hundred palm trees does nothing to protect visitors from the sun. (57) Barcelona again offers precedents in such notable places as the Passatge de Gaiola (image e), the Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes, or the Passaeig de Gracia, all densely planted with large-canopy deciduous shade trees.

The idea of limiting urban sprawl in the year 2000 was not as popular an idea as it is now ten years later. Andres Rubio discusses how Abalos & Herreros seek out development of suburban sites (61), refering to projects like the Northeast park as, “the wasteland beyond the outer suburbs.” This is an important ecological idea, as it is our sprawling suburbs that, when they begin showing their age and in need of repair, can be given a new life as good walkable environments.

The Future of the Forum

That the Forum is adjacent to a large shopping mall (somewhat rare in Barcelona) should come as no surprise. William Whyte, in his book “The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces,” discusses the megafortress, large masses of buildings that turn inward and engage themselves rather than their surroundings. The idea of the indoor mall is typical of the era that the Forum was considered, and while the mall is not directly related to the problems of the Forum it is in fact an indicator of the urban ideas put into use at the time.

Making space, quite literally the design of nothing, is sculpting the surroundings of a given area with things which help us perceive the shape of the space we are given to occupy. A desert can feel desolate because it is nothing but space, without any means of enclosure to give us comfort. Too much enclosure, however, and we begin to feel claustrophobic. The size of enclosure must be carefully balanced with the needs of the space. The Piazza of San Pietro, in Vatican City, is an enormous space that can fit something like 300,000 people, yet it never feels uncomfortably large since it is constantly occupied by thousands of tourists, as well as more massive throngs for special occasions. On the other hand, the esplanade at the main entrance to Park Guell feels about a tenth the size of Vatican's Square, but with hundreds of tourists filling the space it is uncomfortably difficult to move about. Whyte, discusses the ideas of human relationships in designed space, where despite our desire for solace we actually seek each other out:

“What attracts people most, it would appear, is other people... How many people would say they like to sit in the middle of a crowd? Instead, they speak of getting away from it all, and use words like "escape", "oasis", "retreat". What people do, however, reveals a different priority. “ (19)

This brings us to some dramatic similarities in the two parks hinged together at the Forum: all of the large designed spaces are uncomfortably large. While these spaces occasionally play host to large-scale activities and events, by and large both parks suffer from a lack of traffic to properly activate the parks and make them worthwhile. The city planners may have recognized the need to bring people to the outskirts of the city considering the new highrises coming under construction inside the Forum where everything is accessible and walkable. Once the city brings density to the Forum, it would be worth a second trip to see how well the parks have fared.

Works Cited:

Abalos, Inaki, and Juan Herreros. "Environmental Complex Coast Park North-East [FR]." Urbarama - Atlas D'architecture. Web. 31 May 2010.

Abalos, Inaki, and Juan Herreros. ""Journey Through the Picturesque." Landscape Urbanism: A Manual for the Machinic Landscape. London: Architectural Association, 2003. 52-57. Print.

Moussavi, Farshid, and Alejandro Zaera Polo. "Parque De Los Auditorios." Locus 125 (2005): 92-95. Print.

Reed, Peter. Groundswell - Constructing the Contemporary Landscape. New York, NY: Museum of Modern Art, 2005. Print.

Whyte, William Hollingsworth. The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces. New York: Project for Public Spaces, 2001. Print.

Natural

2010-08-07T18:58:00.000-04:00

Renting an apartment in a nine-story building is not a big deal if there is a working elevator. Mine, thankfully, is tiny but useful. I did hoof it up one day, just to see what it was like. Not terrible, but I hope it never becomes necessary. I often walk down the stairs in the morning on my way to a café con leche and croissant at Maribarbola. I decided to photograph the experience for kicks, and noticed how the skylight creates different effects the lower you go, and a tiny little slice on the first floor. I might try this again at high noon with better light to compensate for the fluorescent lighting on the landings. The image is 4' x 5' at 200dpi if you'd like to order a poster version for yourself!

Idiosyncrasies

2010-08-03T16:53:00.000-04:00

I have compiled a short list of things that, in my various urban experiences, seem to be particularly unique to Barcelona:

_ Escalators will slow down when not in use. When you step on a tread the sensor will accelerate the stairs-- a bit disconcerting your first time, but a great way to trim down the energy budget.

_ Dogs are very popular here. Barcelona has politely included signs for places dogs are allowed to go to the bathroom, and right next to them signs for not walking on the grass. Apparently the first sign doesn't imply the second.

_ Many people start having dinner just before midnight. Probably why they're all so skinny.

_ In pedestrian crosswalks, unlike the US, there is no flashing red to warn you. The green flashes for a second or two, and it's never enough time to get across the road. I think the flashing is just a warning that a car is about to hit you. Recommendation: don't cross the road.

_ Las Ramblas is a wonderful place for anyone who loves architecture or picking pockets. It's a terrible place to do anything else like shop or eat.

_ Don't eat near tourist destinations without consulting a guide first.

_ Roads change name so frequently I wonder if it's Barca's private little joke on tourists.

_ Barna Art sells only pens and paint in one store, and only paper in another. Why? I'm not sure, there's plenty of space in both.

Save money: change your undies at home.

_ Barcelona, in a move to appease both lefties and righties, sometimes switches the position you use to insert the magnetic-strip ticket on the metro. Pay careful attention to the direction of the dim green arrow or you'll look like a dolt. I speak from personal experience here, folks.

_ The city comes complete with a strong ammonia scent. It's because Barcelona apparently can't keep it in it's pants -- in more ways than one. To combat the problem of public urination, the powers that be have started a hilarious ad campaign to warn violators of up to a thousand euros in fines.

_ You might feel a little out of place if you don't have more than two piercings, piercings in unusual spots, a few tattoos, or all of the above.
_ Two important things to the Barcelonés. Fubol, and the fact that Catalunya is not Spain. Only one of the two is officially recognized by the rest of the world.

I decided to break for lunch at the Forum today. Remembering Michael Ambrose's warning during a past trip to Italy ("Why do you think they post pictures of food, John?"), I found a restaurant with no images in sight. Until the waiter brought a menu, with tiny pictures everywhere. I quickly chugged my wine, left a few euros, and took off for another place around the corner, locals sitting at the tables. No pictures. Until the menu came, complete with several dozen HUGE pictures. I had resolved to go hungry rather than have a bad meal in Spain, but I suddenly had the feeling that every restaurant around the Forum catered to tourists, and me without my restaurant guide. Lunch wasn't bad, but it wasn't very good either. Feeling a bit cheated now.

Of Mussels and Men

2010-07-29T20:37:00.000-04:00

On my right, two over-excited Americans are each busy taking something like 1000 pictures of themselves and their food. Could you imagine being friends to both women and, when it comes time to watch the post-visit slide show, being subjected to two times the number of "Smiling face holding menu" shots or "Thumbs up with my face next to my plate" images?

On my left, a quiet and bored American. Who wolfed down his dinner then ran away after throwing money at the waiter. None of these people attempted to speak any Spanish to the waiter, and I suddenly felt a little embarrassed for my countrymen.

Before I get off my high horse: there is absolutely nothing wrong, and everything right, with a potfull of mussels, bacon, and mushrooms. http://www.muscleria.com/

On my first day in Spain:

2010-07-28T01:40:00.000-04:00

If you're organized enough, Spain's transportation system is just as easily accessible by English speakers as Spanish speakers, and you can get through the system crazy fast.

I made it all the way to Avenue Diagonal, where my rental apartment is located, much faster than I predicted-- then turned the wrong way down the Avenue, twice, and it took me an extra hour to find the apartment. I suppose this means I was almost organized enough.

A portion of Barcelona, developed during the 1860's under the guidance of Ildefons Cerda, has unique chamfered corners at every intersection that help you turn your horse and carriage around a corner.

These neatly sliced corners help make almost every intersection a nice public space by offering a sense of enclosure. The problems, however, are thus: the very small street signs, mounted onto each building, are already difficult to see without setting them another fifty feet back from the intersection. The pedestrians are required to follow the chamfers in order to cross the street, which is not only annoying as it makes the walk longer, but in an intersection of more than two streets it's even more difficult to get around AND it's far too easy to turn down the wrong street if you get distracted ogling the Art Nouveau architecture sitting on nearly every block.

With that said, I've walked a lot of miles so far and frankly there is always something interesting to look at along the way. The people are quirky and pretty and the buildings match the people. The brilliant minds behind Avenue Diagonal decided to plow a pedestrian path right down the middle of the Avenue-- a great way to avoid the in-out-in-out of the chamfered sidewalks. Which, as it turns out, are not quite as big a deal on the small, close side streets.

Making Images

2010-06-20T21:20:00.000-04:00

Sexy. Hi-Tech. Red. Lumix DMC-G1R.

I've spent the past four or five years using Canon's Powershot S3-IS, a very popular camera for people who, like me, dabble in photography but are not quite ready or capable of buying a full-featured SLR camera.
The S3-IS is a wonderful little device that looks like a very small SLR camera, so people assume you're a pro out on the streets (to everyone except the pros, that is). It has about 90% of the same features as the big boys, including manual control over shutter speed, f-stops, and the like. PLUS it has a small fold-out screen in the back that swivels and tilts all over the place, so you can get an ant's-eye image without the need to plant your chin in the dirt.

It all started with the S1-IS that got real popular real quick, and the current model, the SX20-IS, has a lot of the same features with better software, improved lens system, higher pixel density, HD video, and a slightly bigger swing-out screen. I bought the S3-IS after playing with a friend's S2-IS, and thousands of images later it's still soldiering on. It is so good, in fact, that I've wondered why digital SLRs are still around. Here's my thought: SLRs were great, back in the film days, as you could look straight through the same lens that records a picture onto film. For a brief moment, right as the shutter button is pressed, a prism/mirror assembly switches the image from the viewfinder to the film, then back to the viewfinder. They've gotten quite good at hauling these mirror assemblies out of the way, but with digital technology what's the point? Why not use the same digital sensor to send information to a viewfinder or, depending on the camera, a small accessory screen?

For Canon to offer a nearly full-featured camera like the S and SX without the complicated lens assembly was a good idea, but it is basically just a beefy point-and-shoot. The swing-out viewscreen is a great innovation, one which caused me to abandon all use of the tiny viewfinder, but too low-rez to give an accurate idea of the final digital imprint. The use of AA batteries was great, but as it turns out I never needed to run to the store to buy backup batteries-- if the camera ran out of juice, that was it. No need to make a scene ducking out of a wedding ceremony. The super all-in-one zoom meant I didn't need to haul around lenses, but it also meant I was stuck with, at best, a mediocre lens that could do almost everything.

Panasonic has recently come out with the Lumix DMC-G series of cameras and, along with Olympus, touts something called the Micro 4/3 standard. Here's the difference: the digital sensor on point-and-shoot cameras is tiny, 5.75 x 4.31mm. With the Micro Four-Thirds standard, the sensor is 18.00 x 13.50mm, a much larger sensor. The width to height ratios of the two are slightly different, the Four Thirds with a ratio of-- you guessed it-- 4:3, much more compatible with computers, websites, and other digital mediums. This sensor size is typical of low- and mid-range SLR cameras, and Panasonic THEN loads this camera with every other standard SLR feature except the mirror and lens assembly. This makes the camera a lot smaller and a bit lighter, THEN the twist-- literally-- an interchangeable lens system. Interchangeable lenses means you can have a lens that does almost everything with very high quality, instead of a lens that does everything with just so-so quality. THEN Panasonic loads on an articulating viewscreen just like Canon's S and SX cameras, which tells me Panasonic paid attention to the Canon fan blogs who were demanding a lot of features Canon just isn't providing. I haven't seen anyone comment on this interesting fact yet, perhaps nobody sees this as a competitive move, using the unfortunate FZ35 in comparison tests.

So take the Powershot, give it a bigger sensor, make the lens removable, and you have a great low-end Pro-style camera. When my DMC-G1 arrives (couldn't afford a G2) I'll be putting it through the paces in anticipation of this trip. I'm happy to be bringing a camera with twice the pixel density compared to my old camera, with a theoretical higher level of quality. Though as the abilities of the camera actually depend on the artistic and mechanical skills of the operator, we'll see if the new camera cuts the mustard!

10_Museu d'Art Contemporani

2010-05-23T00:03:00.000-04:00

Links and info and stuff for Meier's Barcelona art and urban project.

MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART

ARCHITECT: Richard Meier.
Bibliography:

Meier, Richard. Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art. Monacelli. New York, 1998.
Cassarà, S. (1997). Richard Meier. Barcelona: Gustavo Gili.
Beckett, Kathleen. "Barcelona: design plainly reigns in Mediterranean Spain" Metropolitan Home. [0273‐2858] 2001 vol:33 iss:3 pg:46
Richards, Ivor James. "White City." Architectural Review. 1997 Mar., v.201, n/1201, p34‐41.
Meier, Richard. "Light as a transient medium [interview]." Architectural Design. 1997 Mar‐Apr., v.67, p54‐59.
Ray, Nick. "Big and white in Barcelona." Scroope. 1997‐98, n.9, p80‐85.
Unk., "Un rêve américain: musée d'Art moderne." Techniques et architecture. 1996 June‐July, n. 426, p33‐37.

7: Edifici Forum - Complexity from Simplicity

2010-05-20T23:52:00.000-04:00

a simple plan of the forum in context

Fractals are, perhaps, the best mathematical means oftalking about simplicity and complexity simultaneously. A fractal uses a simple theory and a simpleform that is scaled and multiplied again and again, with variables that allowit to create consistent but highly complex forms. Herzog & de Meuron proclaim thatcomplexity is the best solution to what they perceive as stagnancy in moderndesign. As I understand it, this meansthat a symbiotic relationship between simplicity and complexity is a platformfor their work to stand upon. This paperwill look at their Barcelona project Edifici Forum, and discuss how thesecontradictory ideas were brought to bear on form, materiality, and context.

About the Project

Barcelona as a city is comprised of layers of urban fabric;some of the early layers were defined by city walls which shaped the medievaldistrict. In the late 19^thcentury Ildefons Cerda devised a plan of city expansion from the originalquarters, which brought accessibility to the city center and a well-definedstreet grid, giving the city better accessibility, light, and air. In the suburbs of the Cerda plan and directlyon the coast is the Forum, the entrance to the Forum site is adjacent to theconfluence of Rambla Prim and Avenue Diagonal. The site of the form was composed primarily of disused and underutilizedindustrial plants that did not contribute to the surrounding neighborhoods (???),so the Forum also became an exercise in ecological recovery and restoration.

Diagonal is, quite literally, a diagonal street that inGeorges Haussman fashion slashes through the grid. It improves on the accessibility of the grid,resulting in many awkward block sizes which offer great possibilities fordesign. In an interview with AugustiFancelli (El Pais), Jacques Herzog points out that two faces of the buildingare derived from an extension of the Cerda plan into the forum space from Primand Diagonal, the third face respecting the highway passing beneath thepark.

The Edifici Forum is part of the same 2004 InternationalForum of Cultures that, along with the Northeast and Southeast Coastal Parks,was designed to provide a venue for tens of thousands of people. Constructed to house up to 3,500 people inthe auditorium, with many thousands more in exhibits or traversing undergroundto the convention center next door, the Edifici includes a program of anauditorium, exhibit space, a vast public circulation area, and an undergroundtunnel to the convention center next door.

A Critical Look

The Metro map at Besos Mar doesn't refer to the building asa significant destination, and it is often difficult to find information on thelife of this project past 2004. It is asthough the building became tainted with construction and usability problems andhas become to Barcelona the illegitimate stepchild who keeps coming home to askfor money. Unless you consider that a renovation project is far more expensivethan a demolition, and you realize that in the memory of the city, perhaps adefective building might be better thanwhat was on site before.

The Edifici Forum has suffered a number of setbacks thathave both delayed the construction process and at two points completely closedthe building. During the Forum, theevent which gave the building its reason for being, was required to be closedin order to replace faulty ceiling insulation, and the innovative water-cooledroof pool doesn't work as designed as has, in fact, caused leaks within thebuilding. At the time of my visit thepool was empty. The Edifici is alsosuffering from a lack of purpose, perhaps because it was designed for aCultural Forum for many thousands of people. It later housed an exhibition on the city of Barcelona, and is currentlyclosed while undergoing an eight million euro conversion to a natural historymuseum (El Mundo).

It's easy to imagine the Edifici as a massive slab ofblueberry pie with the consistency of a kitchen sponge. The unusual dark texture, adding densityacross a wide low expanse of wall, feels overpowering. Not because it is especially large butperhaps, unlike the neighboring towers, it's entire mass is relatively close tothe ground, much closer to a human scale, and it is easy to sense the size andweight of the entire building all at once. The fact that the form is broken and sliced in discrete places actuallyseems to reinforce the unity of the whole without boring the eye.

Despite its “bigness” the building works well as a publicshelter. The Forum Park can get quitehot and passersby, on the way to the beach or the parks, will swerve to walkunder the overhang or cut through the building. Herzog & de Meuron achieve the ability for such a big building torequire such a small footprint by committing only circulation to ground-levelenclosed areas. Program elements resideabove or below this plane. Unlike muchof the vertical iconic architecture surrounding the Edifici, the Forum politelycontinues two of the urban edges in close proximity to the street. Jacques Herzog, in an interview with JoseLuis Mateo, considers the building a means to “both generate and articulatethis public space”. The prow of the wedge,facing the primary pedestrian promenade to the building, is made to seem sharperwith slight protrusions at the top an bottom, an homage to the architecturaldrawing convention of giving strength to the intersection of two lines bycompletely crossing the lines beyond the intersection, and even accentuatingthat point with an extra bit of ink. This forceful prow serves as an effective waypoint that clearly divertspedestrian traffic toward the Southeast Coastal Park or toward the Forumesplanade and Solar Pergola, while also reinforcing the corner and helping todefine the adjacent public spaces.

All three building faces are treated with the same color,texture, and compositional qualities. However, one side faces a busy urban intersection, one faces a plaza andconvention center, and the third faces the sea, so it is difficult to make theargument that context was a consideration. As the ground rises from one end of the site to the other but thebuilding maintains a single level, the seaside facade can be understoodhaptically; the sponge-like sense of surface is defeated when touching thedense, rocky, unyielding blue surface. Rising from the highway below ground are glass and patterned-metal lightwells, too tall to look down into and too dense to see through. The size and arrangement of these wells caneasily be mistaken as a group of mechanical outbuildings, giving the space anunfortunate “loading dock” feel. Theseaside face thus becomes deactivated space with difficult views and a sense ofutility more akin to a hotel service corridor than public space. The pedestal here shrinks to a height that inmany places is impassable by people, the Forum now sitting and not floating ona dark shadowy band.

The building floats on a pedestal of absence, offering apublic space with relief from the intense Catalan sun, thanks to largecantilevers that hover over a sloped ground, and a program that uses the groundplane solely as a transitional space within the building. The auditorium passes through the groundplane, but continues above and below as well, so it arguably does not reside onthe ground. Light is brought into theunderbelly through rectilinear shafts punctured vertically through thebuilding.

In an interview with Philip Ursprung, Herzog and de Meuronreveal an obsession with the pedestals of Chinese Scholars' rocks as aform-fitting piece that act as a support, but also define the contours of theconnection between the Scholars' piece and the surface it sits upon. The Edifici, however, is a floating wedge,with black and reflective surfaces pulled far under the cantilever. The idea of a “floating building,” a pedestalthat doesn't exist, is actually supported by the public space, the wispy trailsof the people who walk through. Exceptthat, with the exception of occasional concerts and shows, the pedestal isdevoid of activity. To be fair to Herzog& de Meuron I visited the project while it was under construction, but thesuburban site suffers from a lack of amenities to draw people from the citycenter.

While there were no visitors to the building, there were afew people heading to the park or the beach, but certainly not enough to fillup the spaces around the Edifici. In hisessay “Blue Lagoon,” Rob Gregory questions the longevity of this building in a“no-man's land” of fractured and remote urbanism. While the site accepts and extends the Cerdagrid and is perhaps not as fragmented as Gregory supposes, he does predict whatI discovered six years later. Intensiveconstruction around the Forum Park, however, seems to indicate that the cityacknowledges that the Forum is not yet a “good” site.

Formally, the dense prism becomes less monotonous withslices of windows that imply a disintegration of the pure shape. Light wells, offering an eerie bluish sourceof light, skewer the form from within and ward away the dreaded parking garagesyndrome. Herzog & de Meuron offercontradictory thoughts in an interview with Philip Urspring:

Arectangular shape without conspicuous design elements is not especiallyexciting. There are perceptual reasonsfor this. More complicated, diversifiedforms are more effective and appealing-- in nature as well.... These buildings(whether filmed or photographer) are therefore easier to represent and theimages more impressive than those of box-shaped projects.

The Edifici, then, is an attempt to commingle complexity andsimplicity. A simple form, the piewedge, is given a uniform texture and color. It is then surgically carved with deep vertical cuts with theclaro-oscuro of Joan Miro tapestries, and full-height mirrored windowsreflecting the sky, which all dematerialize the shape without distorting theperception of its form. The overalleffect adds interest to what would otherwise be a dull and imposing facade,while maintaining a common language throughout. The result gives the appearance of a singular solid block, without theneed to construct the Edifici as an actual solid mass.

In an interview with Alejandro Zaera, Enric Miralles talksabout complexity in architecture as such: “What interests me about constructedwork is that the more complex it looks, the more schematic it is, finally freedfrom the doubts of the process.”

Underneath, the “lie” of solidity is further reinforced withlight wells that bring light indoors and to the public outdoor space below. The mix of white light on the pavement withdeep blue reflected from the sides of the well seem otherworldly, but areeffective in bringing light into what would otherwise be a cavernous blackpublic space. The reflective nature ofthe outdoor ceiling, whose puddles bring to mind Alexander Calder's MercuryFountain, might have been intended to give the low wide space a greatersense of height. The metal panels,partly smooth and partially hammered, collectively give a sense of a wetsurface (appropriate to the sponge motif). The feeling of walking underneath a giant wet sponge is somewhatdisconcerting, and the riot of texture defies direct focus and pushes the eyeback down to the horizon. The ceilingfinish continues down across several of the ground-level enclosed spaces, andit is here that the metal panels can be experienced haptically. In order to allow air to pass through thepanels, the metal is perforated in specific locations using patterns similar tothe textured indentations. This integralbut poorly executed detail reminds me of rusty antique cars in the early stagesof bodywork. When a deformed fender ordoor must be repaired, the thinness of the car's metal becomes evident throughthe indentations a slide hammer creates when re-forming the metal. I felt obligated to stick my finger in acouple of the Edifici's vent holes, as they are remarkably easy to get to, andI think if I had applied a little too much pressure I might have cut my fingeron the grimy sharp-edged steel.

Conclusion

Just because we can, should we? Built in an era of “Anything Goes”architecture, Herzog & de Meuron have crafted a building that is moreimportant to them as an intellectual exercise than provide shelter, though it'sdifficult to discern at what point a giant sponge equals academicexploration. We then arrive at a greatbig expensive broken toy that the city is desperately attempting to repurposeand justify. Certain urban gestures arewell done, if sometimes obvious. Theeffort expended to find a juxtaposition of simplicity and complexity, however,did not justify an engagement of poorly understood construction systems thatultimately led to the failure of finishes, and the mechanical impossibilitiesthat should have affected the expression of its function, but seem to have beendiscovered too late to influence the design.

The current renovation project also speaks to the purposefor which the place was designed. Aradical and complex design may be the reason the city has had a schizophrenicrelationship with the building. It isdesigned as a large indoor exhibit space, then it becomes an education displayof the ecological history of the city, and now substantial additional funds arebeing used to convert the building into a natural history museum. It is then difficult not to concludethat the life of the Edific Forum was not considered during its existence onthe drawing board. Making a case of thenecessity of complexity in architecture is, then, not proven with the EdificiForum.

WorksCited:

"ElEdificio Fòrum Se Convertirá En 2011 En Museo De CienciasNaturales." Elmundo. 12Dec. 2009. Web. 04 Aug. 2010.

""LaArquitectura Es Percepción De La Vida" · ELPAÍS.com." Interview byAgusti Fancelli. ELPAÍS. 08Sept. 2003. Web. 08 Aug. 2010. .

"UnMuseo De Ciencias Naturales Para El Siglo XXI." Ciencia Y Tecnologa. 13 Dec. 2009. Web. 03 Aug. 2010.

Mateo, JoseLuis. "Ideas of Design." Herzog& De Meuron. Barcelona: G. Gilli, 1989. 6-12. Print.

Moneo,Rafael. "Herzog & De Meuron." Theoretical Anxiety and Design Strategies: in the Work of EightContemporary Architects. Cambridge, Mass: MIT, 2004. 362-404. Print.

Ursprung,Philip. "Interviews." Herzog& De Meuron: Natural History. Montréal: Canadian Centre forArchitecture, 2002. 80+. Print.

Zaera, Alejandro. "A Conversation with EnricMiralles." El Croquis. Vol.72:2. Madrid: El Croquis, 1995. 6-23. Print.

Additional Reading:

http://www.40bond.com/hdem.html

http://www.arcspace.com/architects/herzog_meuron/forum/forum.html

http://www.pushpullbar.com/forums/showthread.php?5667-Barcelona-Forum-building-Herzog-amp-de-Meuron

http://architecturerevived.blogspot.com/2009/01/edificio-forum-barcelona.html

6: Sagrada Familia

2010-05-19T23:48:00.000-04:00

A 100-year-old construction project-- and perhaps the world's most ornate building.

SAGRADA FAMILIA

ARCHITECT: Antoni Gaudi.
Bibliography:

Robinson, William. Barcelona and Modernity : Picasso, Gaudi, Miro, Dali. Cleveland Museum of Art and Yale University Press. 2006.
Burry, Mark. Expiatory Church of the Sagrada Familia. Phaidon Press, 1993.
Bespin, Albert Fargas and Pere Vivas. Symbology of the Temple of the Sagrada Familia. Menorca: Triangle Postals. 2009.
Pelli, Cesar. “Excerpts from a Conversation.” Perspecta. 1982. p127‐137.
George R. Collins, “Gaudi Y Cornet, Antonio,” Macmillan Encyclopedia of Archtiects. (New York: Free Press, 1982).
Saldívar Antúnez de Mayolo, L. (2007). Magic and enthrallment: The Cathedral of Cusco and the temples of La Sagrada Famílía and El Tríunfo. Cusco: Arzobispado del Cusco.

5: Park Guell

2010-05-18T23:44:00.000-04:00

Luscious Nouveau-ness.

PARK GUELL

ARCHITECT: Antoni Gaudi.
Bibliography:

Isnasi de Sola Morales, Gaudi. Rizzoli International Publications, Inc., 1983.
Kent, C and D. Prindle. Park Guell. Princeton Architectural Press, 1996.
Eaude, Michael. Catalonia: A Cultural History. Oxford, New York. 2008.
Carandell, Jose Maria. Park Guell: Gaudi's Utopia. Sant Lluis, Menorca: Triangle Postals. 2007.

3: German Pavilion

2010-05-16T23:36:00.000-04:00

Not the actual real one, they apparently "lost" the original after disassembling it. I lose my glasses, and I forget where I park all the time, but I haven't lost an entire building. Yet.

GERMAN PAVILION

ARCHITECT: Mies van der Rohe.
Bibliography:

Quetglas, J. Fear of Glass: Mies van der Rohe's Pavilion in Barcelona. Birkhäuser.Verlag; 2001.
Rubió , I. de Solà‐Morales, C. Cirici, F. Ramos. Mies van der Rohe: Barcelona Pavilion. GG Editorial Gustavo Gili; 1999
Website: Fundacio Mies van der Rohe. http://www.miesbcn.com
Constant, C.. “The Barcelona Pavilion as landscape garden: modernity and the picturesque.” AAFiles, 1990. page 47–54
Ravetllat, P. J. “The Barcelona Pavilion: The walls came first.” Sites, 1986. page 36–42

2: Mercado de Santa Caterina

2010-05-14T23:32:00.000-04:00

Everything you ever wanted to know, architecturally speaking, about:

SANTA CATERINA MARKET

How to Visit: http://www.bryanboyer.com/notes/2006-02-12.php
Their home page: http://www.mercatsantacaterina.net/

ARCHITECT: Enric Miralles, Carmen Pinos.

Bibliography:

Miralles, Enric: Alicante Eurythmic Sports Center/Huesca Sports Hall/Santa Caterina Market. GA Document, 1999, Nov. n 60.
Cohn, D. (2006). Projects ‐ Rehabilitation of Santa Caterina Market, Spain. Architectural Record. 194 (2), 98.
Cohn, David. "EMBT daubs an innovative urban‐renewal strategy with a high‐spirited riot of color in Barcelona's SANTA CATERINA MARKET." Architectural Record 194.2 (2006): 98‐105. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 6 Mar. 2010.
Asensio Cerver, F., Cuito, A., Miralles, E., & Tagliabue, B. (2003). EMBT arquitectes. Archipocket. Düsseldorf, Germany: TeNeues.
Miralles, E. (1998). Alicante Eurythmic Sports Center/Huesca Sports Hall/ Santa Caterina Market. Enric Miralles Benedetta Tagliabue's Office. ARCHITECTURE AND URBANISM ‐TOKYO‐. (8), 112‐151.
FASHION SPACES Rehabilitation of Santa Caterina Market ‐ Enric Miralles + Benedetta Tagliabue. (2005). Kenchiku to Toshi = Architecture and Urbanism : A + U. (416), 88.
Velasco Rivas, J. M. (2007). Roof of Santa Caterina Market in Barcelona. Structural Engineering International : Journal of the International Association for Bridge and Structural Engineering (IABSE). 17 (3), 218.

1: Igualada Cemetery

2010-05-13T23:30:00.000-04:00

A place for the dead, but really it's for the living. I don't think the dead care very much.

IGUALADA CEMETERY

Helpful map by Bryan Boyer: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bryan/99091462/

Tips for visiting, also by Bryan: http://www.bryanboyer.com/notes/2006-02-12.php

ARCHITECT: Enric Miralles, Carmen Pinos.

Bibliography:

Miralles, Enric: “MIralles/Tagliabue: Time Architecture – Essay
Berrizbeitia, A., & Pollak, L. (1999). Inside outside: Between architecture and landscape.
Gloucester, Mass: Rockport.
Paredes, C. (2009). Sketch: Public buildings : how architects conceive public buildings. Barcelona, Spain: Loft Publications.
Larrea, Q., & Bagué, A. (2005). In detail: Barcelona contemporary architecture.
Barcelona: Ediciones Polı́grafa.
Quiros, MaKenzie, McMurray. "Enric Miralles: Architecture of Time."
Robinson, Joel David. Death and the Cultural Landscape (On the Cemetery as a Monument to Nature). Essex University. June, 2006.
Zabalbeascoa, Anatxu: Miralles‐Tagliabue:Time Architecture.Gingko Press, USA, 1999.
Zabalbeascoa, A., Miralles, E., & Pinòs, C. (1996). Igualada Cemetery: Enric Miralles and Carme Pinós. London: Phaidon.
Fernández‐Galiano, L. (1992). Spanish Architecture: A Family Portrait. Journal of Architectural Education. 45 (4), 235‐240.
Wolff, J., & Halfacre, J. (2007). Cemetery case studies. St. Louis, Mo: Washington University School of Architecture.
LeCuyer, A. (2000). Radical tectonics. London: Thames & Hudson.
Spens, M. (2003). Modern landscape. London: Phaidon Press.

Revise and revise again

2010-04-20T16:48:00.000-04:00

I'd like to point out that when planning an independent study, you should always double the expected time for approval to accommodate scheduling, red tape, and logistic snafus. It looks like the trip is finally a go!

About Barcelona in August: there seems to be a common consensus that 10% of the city closes down during the last two weeks of August in order for Barcelonians to take their own vacations. As a tourist this is not a problem-- apparently all the tourist areas stay open year-round regardless of the tour schedule, it's the off-the-beaten-path shops and cafes that close. Still, the Gracia barrio is host to Barcelona's largest Festival Major that takes place from Aug 15 to 22. More details to come!

The focus of my trip will be on ten projects in/around the Barcelona metropolitan area, as well as an urban study of the city prior to leaving. Here's the current list, subject to change:

Igualada Cemetery, Igualada Spain (60 minutes driving outside the city)

Santa Catalina Market

Barcelona Pavilion

Northeast and Southeast Coastal Parks

Parc Guell

Sagrada Familia

Torre Agbar (Tower Agbar)

L'auditori de Musica de Barcelona (Concert Building)

Museu d'Art Contemporani (Museum of Contemporary Art)

More details to come!

Contact!

2010-03-27T17:03:00.000-04:00

The Barcelona Institute of Architecture just got back to me about my request for a tour of their school and some faculty interviews, and they seemed interested in making a connection between BIA and UMD. How exciting! If nothing else it will be nice to meet fellow colleagues of the city I'm studying-- I'm sure they'll have more insight into Barcelona architecture than I might ever glean from reading books. It will be interesting to see how Spain's pedagogy compares to the US, as well as getting to know the sort of academic environment that comes about when designers don't have quite as much fear of litigious reprisal and can therefore take bigger risks.

Finding a home abroad

2010-03-26T00:00:00.000-04:00

Here's the big secret to staying in Barcelona: apartments! For about the same cost as a hotel room you can get a bedroom, small sitting/living room, kitchen, bathroom, and an all-in-one clothes washer. My experiences in Rome on a prior study abroad trip left me with the notion that you really can't experience a place unless you not only visit local restaurants, but also visit local markets and cook your own food. In Italian markets (not the same as mercado grocery stores) it was frowned upon to touch the food yourself. The only way to buy a peach was if the matron picked it out for me. Since she was responsible for ensuring a repeat visit, there was an incentive for her to make sure I got the best of what was there-- since I'm totally clueless about exactly how ripe a melon needs to be, leaving it to the expert gave me better food than I would have picked out myself. I have no clue how things work in Spain, but I look forward to seeing how their markets operate and bringing back piles of unusual foodstuffs to fry up in my apartment kitchen.

Filling in little boxes

2010-03-25T09:06:00.000-04:00

The blank canvas is the most difficult to draw upon. My experiences with drawing and designing have taught me this, but it also seems to apply to planning. When you have to fill 48 days with meaningful work, and an entire city to work with, where do you start?

If all else fails grab your paper and pencil, pick some random object nearby, and just start scribbling. Once you've made that first mark all you can really do is keep improving on it. After staring at maps and calendars for far too long, with a lack of anything better to do I drew a long line to mark out every day I'll be abroad. Then I added my flights in and out. So I made myself a happy little container to fill up-- still empty, but at least there was more or less something of a picture frame. I then haphazardly began throwing ideas onto the calendar, getting the first scribbles out there before realizing such things as "it really doesn't make sense to go from Barcelona to Madrid, to Cordoba, and then to Bilbao." So rules of real life began to shape the blind guesses I first made, and voila! in no time at all I had a rough outline of the schedule.

It still needs lots of work, but it's a beginning. For all of you planning-types out there, think about taking a drawing class the next time you feel stuck.

Building a class

2010-03-24T18:17:00.001-04:00

Up to now I've been busy writing, then re-writing, and writing again a proposal to study architecture in Barcelona, ES. It's been difficult managing a full class load while putting a self-taught class together. Thankfully Luis, my faculty mentor, has been around to pile on even more work than I had imagined.

Just finished an image overlay of the ten barrios (neighborhoods) of Barcelona. It seems nobody has made a .kml file for Google Earth yet, so I made my own based on a Wikipedia version. You can download it here: http://www.wickedverve.com/pp-in-b.html (don't forget you need the latest Google Earth first!). You'll also see a Barcelona Metro file I uploaded a while back. Enjoy!

Introducing...

2010-03-24T18:16:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone, pleased you decided to stop by my blog. Feel free to comment and say 'hi'! My name is John, and I will be traveling to Barcelona between May and July 2010 for a study of the architecture of Barcelona, and I thought it might be helpful to blog about the trip while I'm at it.
I'm an architecture student studying near Washington, DC and will be starting my master's thesis this coming fall. Part of the effort includes building an independent study class that will hopefully become the template for a larger class down the road. I hope you decide to stop by often to see how I'm doing!

image

2009-06-21T00:58:00.000-04:00