The New Familiar

The vast majority of my knowledge of architecture is based on pictures, written accounts, and diagrams o f buildings.  Understanding through representation is really the norm for me.  

The last few days I have seen several buildings that I have previously studied, and actually experiencing the building first hand is so different from experiencing it through a book.  It is surreal to walk through an entry, or look through a window, or open a door that I have looked at so many times but never seen before.   In a way all of this de-mystifies the building; it makes it more real, and makes really cool architecture more attainable.  At the same time, seeing all of the details and good or bad choices that go into a building is extremely daunting.

Peter Zumthor - Kunsthaus Bregenz 

We weren't able to go inside this building because it was closed on the day we were passing through town, but that wasn't so bad because the really cool part about it (in my opinion) is the outside.  The facade that is directly visible is composed of a series of glass panels that are slightly angled and overlapping.  Instead of using these panels as a barrier to the weather Zumthor causes them to respond the weather.  On the day we visited we had the good fortune to see this building in the rain.  The entire facade was dripping water and completely fogged up (exactly the way Zumthor wanted it to be).

Zaha Hadid - Vitra Fire Station

When ever I am looking for a dynamic architectural precedent Zaha is at the top of the list, and this was her first project to really get across how dynamic her architecture could be. There is no telling how many times I have looked at this building from the same angle I took this picture from.  

Herzog and De Meruron - Vitrahaus

Hohenzollern Castle

The Hohenzollern family ruled Prussia/Germany for ten generations prior to WWI.  

Happy Fathers day

On a happier note than my last post...

I would like to wish my dad a happy fathers day!

Dachau

Walking around Dachau concentration camp I couldn't help the overwhelming feeling of sadness, of loss.So many people were swallowed up by hatred and disregard for life.  As inhumane as it all was, I just don't feel that that the word inhumane really fits.  What keeps popping up in my head is how much the atrocities committed there tells us about the capabilities of the human race.  To walk in the same place, to touch the same walls of so many helpless and terrified pople makes me feel sickeningly connected to that past.  Though sickened, I don't want to let my mind wander from it because it is too somber, too terrible, and our immediate reality seems like a cartoon in comparison to the horrible gravity of that camp.

-A table where prisoners where beaten for things like not having their shoes clean.

Each of these was once a set of barracks holding up to 400

"Shower room"

One room over from the "Shower room"  are the incinerators.

A few mornings ago I had the opportunity to go for a walk in the Tiergarten.  I stopped by Duncan Doughnuts and grabbed some coffee and a food thingie, and out I went.  On my journey, I discovered 2 things...

First off, the Ducks of Berlin are of the opinion that there are 2, and only 2 types of people.  People who feed the ducks, and people who do not feed the ducks.  I discovered this while eating my food thingie.  As I sat and ate the ducks maintained about 15 feet of distance.  With one bite of food left, I decided to share some with the ducks.  As soon as I threw the first crumb I made quite a few new friends, and the 15 feet turned into 15 inches.

Secondly, I have a certain fondness and fascination with the walking surfaces of Germany.  There is so much more variation.  My favorite thing is that they pave the sidewalks with gillions of 2"x2" rough cut stones.  It a nice surface to walk on.  It's not too rough, and not slippery.  It is interesting, and it flows around corners nicely.  This isn't the only type of paving over here that I have grown fond of, but it is certainly the most common that we don't see much of in the U.S.  

German Luggage

Germany has so much baggage to deal with.  From barbarians running through the woods beyond the frontier of the Roman Empire... To the protestant reformation and the fight to have it accepted....  Then the princes, kings, and emperors....  And both the world wars with the horrific loss of life and vast devastation inflicted on others and suffered by this city and its people... The years of post war division and standing between the cold war super powers... And now this new unified Germany.  

To say that Germany has cultural, historical, social, political, and emotional baggage seems like such an understatement.  Our few-hundred year American history seems so much more straight forward, and the way we build buildings does not have to contend with nearly as many historical complexities.  German architecture has born witness to and stands to testify of all the triumphs and horrors of its people, and the way Germans plan their city, the way they design their buildings has to respond to the architectural heritage of Germany.  


The evidence of architecture's role as a witness to the past is even evident in the way that Germans rebuild monuments and buildings that have been destroyed.  They will go to the point of duplicating a destroyed building in order to preserve the impact that it had on their culture and city.

The last few days of class we have been focusing on older German architecture, German history, and the ways Germans have built, destroyed, or re-built throughout their history.

Brought to you by: Personal Jesus (cover) by Johnny Cash

Traffic Laws in Germany

So, I thought I had the traffic laws of Germany down the other day, but today I am back to confusion.  In the city of Potsdam it is considered DANGEROUS, ILLEGAL, and WORTHY OF DISCIPLINARY ACTION for someone to cross an intersection while the pedestrian light is red.  In the city of Berlin, however, the same action is completely tolerable. (see picture of group of students and teachers crossing)  Alas, I may never be able to understand the complexities and conflicts of German traffic laws...

SaszTrek

It is much more difficult to see the Baltic from Super1 in Ruston than from the Sassnitz grocery store.

This church was right at the entrance to the forest on the edge of town.

I even find industrial smoke stacks pretty over here.  Am I becoming biased?

Start of our trek through the woods.

First sight of the sea.

Ya can't see, but there is a waterfall just below.

What do you call a peninsula that juts out into air instead of watter; cause our lunch spot was surrounded on three sides by a 100ft drop.

We finally found the way down to the beach.

Bottom of the waterfall.

Guten tag wife. Guten tag Mom.

Notice the scale figures in upper left and lower right.