vacation (with seafood)

Thanks to Mom & Dad (aka Grandma and Grandpa), Kyle and I were able to take a vacation up to Maine for an archi wedding in Kennebunkport. The whole trip was wonderful - we got to sleep in, eat lots and lots of seafood, and enjoy the company of friends, some of whom we haven't seen in several years. The wedding was on a Saturday, which happened to be the day that former tropical storm Danny was colliding with all sorts of other weather; the result:

(yes, Maine is under that big white thing)

Rain.
And cold weather.
And wind.

But, the wedding was wonderful. A few of us went out and got some wool socks and galoshes to go with our formal wear, wore long sleeve shirts under pretty sleeveless summer dresses, and just had fun with it. The wedding was moved into a house, with an excellent Rabbi encouraging everyone to get really close to the couple, a big hug of sorts. The ceremony was beautiful and personal, with plenty of smiles and happy tears. Afterwards we moved outside under a tent, with heaters brought in to warm us as we enjoyed excellent company, wine, and food.

By the time the evening came to a close, the clouds and rain had lifted, revealing a starry nite as we enjoyed our ice cream and s'mores by the fire. The next day was of course gorgeous and warm - we were able to see two completely different sides of some Maine weather!

A truly enjoyed weekend.

AIA Convention '08

You may recall that last year I went to the AIA Convention in San Antonio - it was so close, stayed with a friend, and I received free entry since it was my first year as an AIA member. I had a great time and was super energized coming back to work. Well, this year I also ventured out - location was great (Boston in May - perfect weather!), stayed with friends (including their pets Lucy (dog) and Puma (cat)), and received free entry and flight costs because I was granted a young professionals scholarship. I have to say, that while the location was indeed wonderful, and it was great to catch up with friends in Boston, I was not that impressed with the convention. Many of the seminars were repeats from last year, and the 3 keynotes didn't quite measure up to the 3 keynotes last year. Ah well. Anyways, here's a picture of a Corbu building on Harvard campus - I volunteered to 'herd' attendees on a walking tour of Harvard. The tour was actually my highpoint - the woman who gave the tour was excellent - she works out of Somerville, spent a year at the GSD, and then transferred to MIT (this was in the 70s I believe). Very knowledgeable, great at answering questions, and really responded to the group's interests. I have to say, though, that herding a bunch of architects on a tour is tough work - they're either lagging behind because they're taking too many photos or because they are hooked to their 'crackberries.' Figures.

Here are some random Munich buildings for you – the new Synagogue (rather disappointing that the entire surround courtyard is covered in asphalt) and the Munich airport.

Akademie of Visual Arts

This week I went to check out the Akademie of Visual Arts, by the previously posted COOP HIMMELB(L)AU. Started out a gorgeous day, but cloudy by the time I got there, so not very many photos. It’s interesting to look at in GoogleMaps, but otherwise….

Herz Jesu Catholic Church

Today's beautiful weather provided a great opportunity to visit this church by Allmann Sattler Wappner Architekten, located in Munich-Neuhausen. It was quite an amazing view. There were several other 'architourists' there wandering around. Be sure to check out the website, as there are some amazing photos (you'll have to dig around some, but they're there) of the building with the whole glass front opened up like two giant doors. The glass front is actually this double paned glass with blue nails printed on it (close up below) - on the exterior the nails themselves are in blue, while on the interior the print is inverted. The wooden 'fins' on the interior surrounding the actual worship space gradually are positioned so they let in more light as they get closer to the altar. There are also five wounds of the cross within the church expressed through glass 'windows' in the floor, allowing one to look down upon an artist's depiction of the wounds. Lots of amazing stuff going on throughout the building. Meanwhile, I've decided to open up a Flickr account to put all the photos, since I couldn't narrow it down . . .

Fünf Höfe

There is this great little shopping center just north of the Marienplatz called the Fünf Höfe, which means 'Five Courtyards.' It has pricey shops within it, mixed with some decent ones like a branch of Hugendubel (though the English language branch of theirs is just outside of the Fünf Höfe and has been a pretty good resource for up-to-date travel books; still prefer The Readery for fiction, though), a Muji store, and a pretty good Thai restaurant. The wonderful things about it, though, are the five courtyards and various passageways linking them. They are such a stark contrast with the typical indoor mallscapes you would see in the States. It was designed by the previously mentioned firm Herzog and de Meuron. Personally, my favorite is the Prannerpassage which has these small discs, probably 3 inches or so in diameter, embedded flush within the concrete walls, gradually decreasing in density towards the arched ceiling of the two-story space. It's absolutely gorgeous on a sunny day and changes so much during different times of the day especially since the entry-way off of the street is painted with this slight purple color. Definitely worth a stop if you're in the area, and it tends to be my small addition to Kyle's nearly perfected Munich walking tour. Oh, and also, there's an interesting parking garage just down the street that is skinned in some sort of cut-metal:

A few more Berlin shots

Here are a few more shots from Berlin. We visited the Reichstag when Kyle arrived - it was really cold and drizzly, with long lines, but pretty worth it. The Reichstag has played an important part in German history (Hitler used the burning of the structure as one of his stepping stones to power), it was therefore quite serious when the seat of German government moved back to the Reichstag in Berlin. Norman Foster did the addition/rediesign with a glass dome that really and symbolically overlooks the floor where the politicians gather, allowing the general public to be able to literally watch over those in power.

We also of course hit the Potsdamer Platz.

And walking around, the TV Tower in East Berlin was pretty much always present. It was built by the East German government during the Cold War to prove their might, but ended up as somewhat of a joke, as when the sun reflects off of it a cross appears - not exactly what they were aiming for. This photo was taken outside of one of the big department stores a few minutes before 10 - everyone was eagerly waiting outside for the doors to open and the shopping day to begin. Commercialism has definitely arrived with full fource in Berlin.

Bye-Bye Berlin

Well, we had a really great time in Berlin. Staying in East Berlin was definitely interesting. As Rick Steves says 'Graffiti is just their way of saying hello!' There was a noticeable difference visually between East and West Berlin, but all in all Berlin is just a big city. Coming back home makes Munich feel like a small town. Unfortunately, I did manage to lose my sketchbook while I was there - I tried really hard to explain to the people at the photography museum in my extremely broken German that 'Yesterday I had a bag with a paper book and 5 pen. Today I have not a bag' but, alas, no luck - a real bummer. Before Kyle arrived I visited several museums including the Bauhaus Archive Museum which was really good to see. They're actually planning on majorly expanding in 2010. Berlin is definitely in a building boom!
We visited the Jewish History Museum which was designed by Libeskind, the architect who won the original site plan for the World Trade Center site (which has been much changed since his original plans, and not necessarily for the better). The photo above is of the stairway.
We also visited the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. The information center below the site was quite moving and sobering as they had many personal family accounts representing what had happened. The photo below is of Kyle in the Memorial - it can be quite disorienting when you're walking on an uneven surface among all of the stelae, some quite tall.
We also visited this wonderful chocolate shop that has over 250 kinds of chocolate truffles, pralines, and other assorted yummies. I had a really hard time deciding which few to get. And those that I did buy didn't last long!
Meanwhile, Christmas season has started to appear in Berlin. In Potsdamer Platz there was a huge artifical snow hill which we slid down on innertubes, with some tasty gluhwein (spiced warm wine perfect for the holidays) at the bottom of the hill. Though I was hesatint to go up at first, it was quite fun!

Olympic Park

On Sunday we visited the Olympic Park here in Munich, which was developed for the 1972 summer Olympic games. It was a gorgeous day, perfect for our picnic. The site is amazing - in the photo we are standing upon a hill completely made of rubble from WWII, overlooking the pond and the rest of the complex. The park is quite huge, and there is some concern as to what will happen with the large Olympic stadium now that the new football (soccer) stadium by Herzog and De Meuron is complete. As you can see, the Olympic stadium still carries some concerts (David Copperfield, George Michael...) but during non-football season won't be as popular as the Allianz Arena. We haven't visited the Allianz yet, but trust me, it's on the list. The Olympic swimming arena, however, remains in use and open to the public and was quite packed this weekend, complete with kids jumping off of the super-tall 10m platform.

Adjacent to the Olympic Park are the primary offices for BMW. A new building is going up designed by COOP HIMMELB(L)AU and looks quite amazing. It was originally scheduled to be open in 2006, but as you can see it's still under construction. The BMW website lists the opening as 2007 - hopefully before we leave!