Ciao, Firenze!

So I thought I'd put one last group of Firenze photos up before I finally say arrivederci alla citta. I'm going to miss it here but I'm so excited to come home!

Piu' Disegni

More drawings! 

Santa Maria Novella in Florence

The Pantheon

Piazza Navona

Top: Hadrians Villa in Tivoli. Bottom: Villa Giulia

Left: Ca' D'Oro. Right: Querini Museum

Left: Olivetti Showroom. Right: Palladio Church (I forget which one...oops!)

Venezia

This past weekend I went to Verona and Venice. Verona was nothing too special. We saw Juliet's "house" and the amphitheater where some classic rock legends have played. In Venice it was freezing! But the fog made for some pretty cool photographs. I really liked it there...It was nice to be in a completely pedestrian Italian city without Vespas or Smartcars trying to run you over! We went to the Biennale, which had some pretty interesting contemporary art. The best was running into Biennale installations all over the city where you don't expect them. 

Only a fraction of the fish at the enormous fish market!

An sculpture for the Biennale. The space that it is placed in is actually permanent and was done by an architect named Scarpa. We visited a lot of spaces designed by him in both Venice and Verona.

An installation outside of the USA pavillion at the Biennale. This was all in motion! Of course the Americans have the loudest exhibition at the Biennale...It was pretty funny though.

Another USA installation. The ATM actually works and the organ plays a different sound depending on how much money you take out. 

Roma

This weekend I went to Rome for the second time (and remembered to charge my camera this time!). It was an exhausting trip because we were doing stuff for school all day Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I sketched so much. Once I edit my drawings I'll scan some and post them! One cool thing that we got to do was go straight from the Sistine Chapel into St. Peters Basilica. I didn't even get to go into the Basilica last time I went because the line was so long!

 
Inside St. Peter's with Bernini's Baldacchino

My roommate sketching in the Piazza outside St. Peter's

Il Colosseo!

Dome of the Pantheon

View from the Tiber

The gardens at Villa D'Este in Tivoli. A beautiful site that I probably wouldn't have visited otherwise!

Le Vacanze

This is going to be the longest post EVER! There's so much I want to show all of you. I had my fall break this past week and I went to Brussels, Amsterdam, Barcelona and Paris. I only spent the day in Amsterdam, so technically I went to three countries in one day!

Brussels
We stayed in Brussels for two nights in a hotel near Parliament. Our walk to the city center both days was gorgeous! It was a cute, comfortable and easy city and I really liked it.

The Royal Palace

A Park on our way to the city center

La Grande Place

Belgian waffles! 

Amsterdam

Amsterdam was so strange! The canals were pretty, but the rest of the city sort of reminded me of 14th street. All the commercialization of marijuana and prostitution was so odd! I've never seen anything like it. It was definitely really interesting to see, but a huge transition after having been in a charming city like Brussels. 

This is the Red Light District...in case you couldn't tell by the right hand side of the photo.

Barcelona

We stayed for four nights in Barcelona and it was so cool! Where we stayed felt like the Upper East Side, but  once you're by the beach you feel like you're in Miami. I think that every country should adopt the tapas style of dining because it's the best system by far. Seeing Gaudi's architecture and going to the Boqueria were definitely my favorite things that we did there. 

Parc Guel Gaudi. All of the decoration is done in mosaic! So amazing.

The Barcelona crew! Lindsay, Nell, Katlin and I

A stall at the Boqueria. The colors throughout the entire market were so amazing!

Gaudi's Segrada Familia

Paris

Obviously my favorite part of the trip because I got to see Mom! We had such an amazing time. Each day had the same formula. Museum + Shopping + Dinner + Drinks + Law & Order. It might as well have been NYC except in Paris I can legally order a cocktail. The weekend definitely felt too short and I was so sad to leave her!

Mom and the Louvre. Could it be any more perfect?

Inside the Musee D'Orsay

View from the D'Orsay

I Miei Disegni

Carissimi,

I scanned a couple favorites from my sketchbook and from my first assignment! They're nothing special but I just wanted to give you guys an idea of what I do in my architecture classes. 

The sketchbook is pretty basic: plans, elevations, site plans, etc. But it's nice to have some drawings from all over italy! 

For our first assignment for our design class we had to analyze Palazzo Gondi in the context of the surrounding area. My main concept was that the heavily rusticated base of the palace has a strong presence on the pedestrian level, in contrast to some of the other more famous buildings (the Bargello and Palazzo Vecchio) which have these huge towers and thus, a vertical presence. The visual value of Pal. Gondi, similar to the Fountain of Neptune, guides the pedestrian through each piazza and acts as a pivot for the main axes that connect some of the monuments of the historic center of Florence. 

BORING I know, but even though I'm one of the least experienced people in the class, I felt like I had one of the most original concepts...so I'm pretty proud!

Sketchbook

Section, plan and perspective of the interior courtyard of Palazzo Gondi

Perspective of the Duomo of Siena

Elevation and interior of The Fascist Headquarters in Como

Site plan of Piazza S.S. Annunziata and elevation of Ospedale degli Innocenti

Gondi Analysis

This was my favorite page! 

In the top drawing you're seeing the Bargello in the distance and in the second you're standing right next to it. My little map-key is a tad crowded/confusing...

A breakdown of the geometry of the plan. The whole building is pretty much based on a series of 3x3x3m cubes.