catalonian details

website with(out) boundary

2006-11-19T16:41:00.000+01:00

just a quick moving notice: although we are all in the same world wide web, i'd like to keep this little journal dedicated to my great year in barcelona. therefore, i'll be moving the blog with me to my new (and original) home at "home is around the world". the "physical" location is in Hong Kong but the mind is around the world. thanks for enjoying and sharing my barcelona day, now move on to see this city that i love/hate - HKG.

http://eloooodyworldwide.blogspot.com/

La Sombra del viento - the grand finale

2006-09-21T17:34:00.000+02:00

spending three days to finish reading this novel setting in my favorite city, barcelona, on the way of my departure to that life and that relationship...

i still remeber that day of in april 2006. el dia de Sant Jorge, the festival when books were given by girls to their lover in exchange for a rose (and love). certainly to me a book is a much better gift than a red rose, and it was this day we followed the tradition in our own way and we gave each other this book.

Through the story that happens in those streets and cafes which i got to know and fell in love with, remebering the good days, i thank you for painting it with brilliant color.

of course, the relationship as well as the reading of a 300-page novel in spanish couldn't move forward much.

until today when i am leaving the city that i picked up again the novel - in english translation. reading it with much ease in a familiar language, i was hoping to find the missing pieces where i couldn't understand in the foreign environment.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
and this will be the conclusion of the "catalonian detail" blog which has docuemented my life in barcelona in 2006. thank you if you have been reading it and to the city and everyone that i've met in this wonderful place.

-- THE END --

la sombra del viento by Carlos Ruis Zafon

the last cup of coffee in barcelona

2006-09-15T07:39:00.000+02:00

Cáfe Shiling, c/ ferran, bcn

Returning, and leaving...

2006-09-14T11:46:00.000+02:00

this will always be one of my favorite places.

cafe with a view

2006-09-04T07:30:00.000+02:00

Cáfe Centric, c/taller, bcn

leaving barcelona

2006-07-18T03:30:00.000+02:00

after a good ten months, tomorrow will be my departure from this city - for a month -
the schedule for this summer until october will be pretty occupied, from HK to Hangzhou to Shanghai to London to Venice to Dallas, of course by way of barcelona whenever i can. at this point i still do not know where i will be living in the near future, but with enough advanturous mind that i have, i assume i can live well as it comes...

for the things in barcelona, being so busy in the last couple months, i'll sure try to use the time i have this summer to fill up the gap and put back the docuementation of "catalonian details"

un beso y un abrazo para todo...

and the website might be moved to "home is around the world" as this page is dedicated to barcelona.

(good) exhibition ... good party

2006-07-16T19:39:00.000+02:00

haven't been doing much writing these days, all my time was here...
there might be many regrets, but in the same time it reflected quite accurately how this year of our master was... ... afterall, it's a good party. and that's the most important part.
thank you guys

tgn2026

summercase

2006-07-15T18:16:00.000+02:00

living here for one year and still i have not really have the chance to get a feeling of the live music scene in europe. on this very last day of my bcn-mba life, although physically exhausted with all the work from the master and the exhibition, i decided to go still to the summercase festival. and very glad that i did... not exactly that i'm a fan of those on stage (although i do like their music), but the atmosphere and energy, the surrounding and setup, it made a wonderful conclusion for this wonderful city...

building up...

2006-07-04T15:21:00.000+02:00

in this 'site', the foundation has been layed for a long time, and finally we can the first few floors up now...
welcome to buildup-des.com. it is indeed a process of building up, so bookmark and visit again soon. =)

one great night

2006-07-02T02:01:00.001+02:00

just the simple joy of having a good friend visiting and having a good dinner together after watching a good worldcup match in a good bar with good weather.

thank you.

starbucks invasion

2006-07-01T14:11:00.000+02:00

i am really a little mad at starbucks now... taking over our little neighborhood cafe...

mi barrio

2006-06-27T16:18:00.000+02:00

to be or not to be - an architect

2006-06-27T02:06:00.000+02:00

Winy Maas from MVRDV

so i finally understand what is the spirit of this 'new wave' in the practice. this nitch market thing. at least in terms of winy maas' idea.

we just have to do it and make it fesible. and keep doing it until the end. not through one period or one projecct but continuity is the key.

the importance of image

2006-06-13T23:55:00.000+02:00

so many times the desire or visiting a place comes from ONE image. not remembering from where or when, we have one image in our mind and would do whatever to go seek it. i guess that is the magic of travel. or the desire to travel. finding that "image" there in the end become less important. one thing leads to another, that's what i always believe in. maybe it's just the smart marketing by the city, but it's beautiful enough to be attracted to a particular place by an image, whatever you'll find afterwards, better or worse, it's another wonderful advantage.

now i have this "image" of murcia in my mind. and it is decided to be the next destination. =)

photo credit www.murciaturistica.es

juxaposition

2006-06-09T22:23:00.000+02:00

still in the stage of putting my head together, sorry there isn't much new things produced. instead. i've been looking back at the 2000 snap shots in the last few months and found some interesting juxaposition

build-up

2006-06-01T20:43:00.000+02:00

living in this city has also clear up my mind again about how life (or more precisely, how my life) could be. with a thousand doors opened and thus a million things waiting to be done, the formula i've discovered lately is like the website i've started to build. build up: chipping it away bit by bit, building up brick by brick...

of course there is not even the form of the building you can see there, but you're welcome to take a look at this building process. and check back often, as the process is going on...

thanks. :)

thank you friend

2006-05-22T05:11:00.000+02:00

as much as i'm so disoriented these days, that 3 days when i can enjoy this city i love with a great friend of mine was wonderful. it helped to put all the trouble behind...

wingo en barcelona

placa filipe neri

2006-05-13T17:48:00.000+02:00

sitting in the plaza for 3 hours... starting with a group of little girls sitting under the portal doing their large artwork, without knowing what a romantic setting they're at in. looking at the plaza at 4 pm when there was nobody, just a table of ladies lunching. a couple sipping coffee and chatting with very soft voice. and us.

slowly, people started passing by, various tourist came through the courtyard from under the archway towards the opposite alley. an old couple that has time to stroll through very slowly. another group of bicycle tourist came from the other side street, filling this little courtyard with almost 20 bicycles.

another family came taking another table at the cafe; this little boy is on a wheelchair but has a happy smile on his face, he must be loved. three backpackers saat at the doorwa of a closed church resting, eating their sandwich and taking-in the sun (tomar el sol - sunbathing) at this pretty little place. the bicycle tourist went on to their next destination and the lunching ladies left after chatting with the young "camerero" (waiter)...

the bell from the cathedral behind stroke five, echoing a smaller one in the chapel of filipe neri in front of us.

suddenly all the little kids from school are running out for their liberty, chasing each other, kicking the football hard onto these hundred-years old stone wall. a coupe quiet girls sat under a tree whispering about the boy-next-door. the grandma who came pick up her grandson let the kid run wild and keep catching up with the other grannies.

this old delicate plaza under spring sun doesn't mean anything as such to them, they are just enjoying their life as is. it is only to us these "多愁善感的人" who would think, it is such a beautiful scene of kids shouting in a medieval courtyard under shadows of large trees. (verses the suburban child who play in their large concrete playground with no setting or shading...)

if we close our eyes, the sound of these happy children are exactly the same.

the bell rang again and it's now a quarter past five. peace arrives again. boys and girls went different ways back home with their mom or grandparents. curiously the tourist left at the same time. two little boy who doesn't have anyone to pick them up stay chatting and kicking aimlessly. another lone tourist passed by. a flashy couple of a young girl with an older guy came sit down to our next table, talking loud in their own language.

now we hear again the sound of water from the fountain. we are still here. me next to him.

this is just another descriptive excerise. description of another beautiful afternoon that we've shared.

the final presentation will be on 7th june, 2006

2006-05-03T19:28:00.000+02:00

collection of plazas

2006-04-29T15:16:00.000+02:00

Base on the principal of "getting lost on purpose", i went out on these 'walks' again this afternoon. By chance and by luck i arrived at this courtyard off calle hospital. actually i've been here before, just never passed this point thus never discover this courtyard. i know if i spend the time here doing this i'll lose the hours to go to the bookstore. but then, as always, going to l'central is just the mean/ the excuse to go take a walk. since there are so many unknowns waiting to be discovered, getting there or not, in the end, become less important.

i have forgotten all the things that i've studied about classical architecture. but somehow it seems to give a comfortaing effect to the general public. perhaps it is the assurance of history and time. opening up one of these courtyard to the public must be the merit of this city government.

more on sant jordi

2006-04-23T01:40:00.000+02:00

two days in a row i was on La Ramblas. still full of people, even more, in fact. the rose sale still goes on, plus today with rows of book stalls. it is said that today is the day when book sales in barcelona is the highest. obviously, where the only store open on this sunday is bookstore, and it goes to till late night.

suddenly this seems to be such a literal city.

thank you for "la sombra del viento".

la fiesta de sant jordi

2006-04-22T22:34:00.000+02:00

like any saturday afternoon, La Ramblas is full of people (and tourist in this season).

today it's even more packed, with rose-vendors, who sell roses in the name of love, for one of the big festival here in barcelona, sant jordi. who is the charming patron saint of Cataluña. this is also the "day of lover", when lovers exchange roses and books...

a critical eye for bookmaking

2006-04-21T18:37:00.000+02:00

after a few months since i took on this job of making the publication of our master, it's not until this day, after presenting the half-finished proposal to my fellow students and professor, i have felt the weight on my shoulder. it isn't really a burden in any sense (yet), i'm more than happy to have the opportunity to take on this job. However, for all the books that i've liked and bought and read, it is not until today i try to look at them in a critical and technical way.

being one feet into the graphic design profession for many years now, to make somethin visually plesant no longer seems a challenge to me. i probably will not be the actual graphic designer of the book but in that sense i do have the confidence of keeping it on track.

however, today when i look at a book, a leisure quick read has become analytical. i was trying to see how a book is organized, how and why the experience of reading this book is better than the other... if we're trying to do something more than just a catalogue of our projects, it will be important to make a book that is interesting enough to read and to keep. i know well enough with our names and our project it is not appealing enough for any random book shopper to even pick it up and flip through it, haven't even got to the 'selling' part...

about an interesting and appealling book, so i've a vague idea of how some pages would have to be full bleed photographs; how some pages would be fillers with concise and focused text of 60pt. fonts. all these i realized were already inside my head from the many books that i've looked at. (mind you the differents between "reading a book" and "looking at a book") in this sense if we are doing a book, an architecture book of unknowm master students about a no-where site, it'll have to be somewhat attractive to "look" at. average 15-30 mins time for the whole book. or the 1 min flip-through in a bookstore...

i cannot say anything more concrete than that at this point. with the very blurry image of the book in mind and the help and suggestion from colleague and professors, i will try to tell you more about this journey of making a book. soon.

terminal patient

2006-04-20T19:05:00.000+02:00

although i have been living in this Barrio (neighborhood) for almost 6 months now, still i do not know my streets that well. so i have to start a collection of spaces. since now my life in city seems to be timed, suddenly there is a feeling of a terminal patient. (in a positive sense, don't worry, i'm not dying yet) that of having to do the things i've always wanted, and docuement them if i don't get it see it again. and to let other people to see it in an objective way but through my lens and my pen. so i get to leave a mark in the world in the most subtle way. and i like it this way. with the spirit of "my life without me".

everyday plaza

2006-04-20T12:20:00.000+02:00

i will have do some research and find out more to tell you about it's history and so on, it is the point where the three "st pere" streets (s.p. más baix, s.p.miataj and s.p. mas alt) merges and end. personally, Plaça St.Pere is a neighborhood plaza that is closest to my home and one that i enjoy. (seems to me it is ancient plaza, ha, but you never know in this city, intervention is at every corner)

we learn from ARCH2553 that a "plaza" is a well definied space usually with one prominent façade and four corners. but this seem not to be the case here in barcelona. a plaça could take any form, as "public space" would be a better tag for them. usually in front of one of these many churches the façade becomes the backdrop of life that is happening, thus the "public" part of the space.

perhaps it is true that density creates energy. that when you cannot have a huge front or backyard then the kids will run onto the street to play football, and these spaces become the "communal living room" (i need to credit the person who coin this term but i don't remember where did i hear it from...) different activities take on at different time. at nights and weekends, people from the bar surrounding will spill into the plaza; during the day there are people passing, appearing and disappering through the many streets that open into the plaza. there are always old ladies with the food trolleys (carrito) around 11am-2pm & 5-7pm. on a quiet sunday afternoon like this one there would be children playing football.

ocassionally the church bell rings. i never understand the schedule and rythmn of these bells, nevertheless they are as pleasant as ever. oh, and the dog bark, yes, dogs do bark a lot here. there are usually fountains in these plazas, still some people would take drinking water from there, but mostly it has become the foundtains for thristy dogs during their daily walk...

a little descriptive excerise
@ Plaça de St. Pere, bcn

music month - soundtrack #3

2006-04-18T21:21:00.000+02:00

with a little more energy and little less melancholy, it's moby's hotel. with those extra beats, it's in accord to the 1pm pedestrian traffic amount the office towers of paseig de gracia. :)

label addict

2006-04-18T00:07:00.000+02:00

finally, i live in a city with a Muji

i don't know if this is a kind of blind following or am i a victim of their successful marketing. however, although i've been living in cities without them for years, everytime when i travel to a place with a muji store i have to go in and get a thing or two... mind you shopping is not a big agenda in my travel planning...

seems to be the most successful brand that sells pure simplicity. there is a lot of learn from them, from product design to marketing, or simply their philosophy...

now there is finally a muji store in barcelona... will this place become a destination for my daily accessories or will my passion fade when it so easy to get hold of?...

c/ beates 4, baxio

2006-04-16T19:34:00.000+02:00

this is "my" version of my front door and my street... actaully quite far from reality. :P but i'd rather it be remembered this way...

american cinema

2006-04-16T17:04:00.000+02:00

Icaria - Lowes
in an american style movie theatre, even the reaction of the audiences are more "american style". normally there is a good cultural habit that as audiences we'll stay seated as long as the house light is off (which is usually until the end of rolling credits). perhaps it has to do with the theatre policy and how the regard this subject of 'film'.

in verde, the more "art house" cinema, light is out until the very last bit of rolling credits, in the case of renoir, lights were dim during the credits. here at Lowes light weres up as soon as the last scene finish, and people stood up and leave right away... we see how a piece of american culture is fitted in this meditarrian harbor...

brat

2006-04-16T00:46:00.000+02:00

沒有心情做正經事的時候,就只好任性的不停地記錄情緒. 抱歉了. =P

(not) a plaza

2006-04-14T01:12:00.000+02:00

plaça de la llana, bcn

overpowered by the nature

2006-04-10T15:57:00.000+02:00

the legitiment reason of this trip is to visit Olot because of the architecture of RCR. but it is almost understandable how the nature has distracted us from our "mission". all these different villages of a couple thousand inhabitants are so attractive, contemporary architecture suddenly seem to be of no importance. of course, in our time we shouldn't just repeat the existing need new architecture... but in the same time i cannot deny this strong force that i cannot resist...

country air can heal illness

2006-04-10T14:36:00.000+02:00

the journey starts with two bodies with flu. however, we feel better than ever after a great night of sleep, a good hot shower and fresh air with sun at the altitude of +500m. no wonder the 19th century city-dwellers always escape to the country-side for their "health". perhaps it's true.

the right theatre

2006-04-08T13:50:00.000+02:00

as much as i would like to visit different venue to watch different type of performance, sometimes my instinct on finding venue and happening to my liking is quite accurate. therefore, after i have found the "right" place and the right shows, due to the little time i have and the laziness i that cannot shake, i usually take the conservative method and go back to the place i've already known.

Mercat de les Flores is one of thsoe places. After watching res de res, i get to know this venue and learnt that they carry performances to my interest. so, without much further research done, i trusted them (brand-building worked here) and we went to see Akram Khan tonight.

Comparing to the previous piece i saw, this performance is a little more philosophical and less "entertaining". with a hindu root it feels almost spiritual. When the dancers' bodies are rolling and stretching and bending as such, you can almost see their mind and soul in another world in order for them to perform with such spirit...

"ma" by Akram Khan.
Photo: Colin Hattersley

orange tree

2006-04-08T00:44:00.000+02:00

it is almost unbelievable to say this is the first time in my life to see an orange - on a tree.
the courtyard of Museu Frederic Mares - bcn

la alegria de las 18h

2006-04-07T19:29:00.000+02:00

the joy of living in Ciutat Vella (the old town) is that one can always encounter a new street with stores and cafe even after months of living here. and the joy of 6pm, when residences in the neighbourhood go shop for dinner, when kids just got off school and play on the street, when all the activities is going on at this prime time. especially when spring comes, the sun is not down yet at 7:32pm...

by a short run to the tobac nearby, i went on one of this "being lost on purpose" stroll again around my very own neighbourhood and found this new streets. now i understand why i need a camera with me all the time, because i might not be able to find that cafe, that curry restaurant or that botique with the cute dress again... unfortunately this is the day when i did not bring the camera, but i'm optimistic enough to believe i would be happily lost around these areas again... ...

*the part of town that is always developing. c/st.pere més baix, ciutat vella - bcn

annual painting - in progress

2006-04-07T03:08:00.000+02:00

as much as i would like to "paint", i realize only do one painting every two years... ... still the similar lines and colors, i wonder as an "artist" did i grow any better any without the works in between...

it'd be interesting one day to put all these drawings together and see how this has progressed.

once a cat person, always a cat person

2006-04-05T11:40:00.000+02:00

my new friend gordo.

i miss you guys too, mr.sui and gummo...

i like to "make" things...

2006-04-04T00:26:00.000+02:00

the latest production after the "bed", the "sofa" and now the "table"... looks nice, no? haha. quite architectonic with cantilever as he said, only it's a little too high to work on and a little unstable... ...

when am i actually going to make something properly?... ...

ah... otra vez, gracias por haciendo conmigo...

just a little pride

2006-04-03T00:38:00.000+02:00

a competition i've done with Laura and Hung-Yi, being exhibited in taiwan with a title of "佳作" citation. :)

228 memorial competition

fiesta

2006-04-01T13:27:00.000+02:00

once again, it must be the air of this city. every weekend i would find myself in some nice party.

and thank you girls! the food is unbelievable!!

a secret blog entry

2006-04-01T03:29:00.000+02:00

... ...

be careful. maybe it's just a april fool's day joke

pasatiempo

2006-03-31T14:28:00.000+02:00

after all the busy-ness and craziness last week. finally it feels like holiday. without anything planned in mind, the vacation seems espacially relaxing.

when the old style cafes in hongkong is disappearing and i can't be there in time to catch the last moments, everyday i encounter one of this type of 'cerversaría' or cafe/bar here. what can i complain about this life?

the sound of people speaking in language i don't totally understand becomes the background 'noise' that i enjoy being in and have no desire to understand the words. the soundtrack of walking along the street has been 'kings of convinenient' these days, but never in a cafe, the sound of the passing people is the best soundtrack.

thank you for the sun

2006-03-29T02:24:00.000+02:00

at the end of the small alley i live, by luck i'm get to catch this picture at this hour with this light... contrary to my "photoshop junkie" tendency i didn't want to/dare to change anything in this photo...

4a paisaje biennale 06

2006-03-22T11:57:00.000+01:00

what constitue a good event? these "what makes... " questions are always one i ask myself when i went to a place and enjoyed an event. and this one is certainly one of them.

is it the format of the exhibition? the wood crates and the plants that makes it? or are those wonderful sweets that looks like flower? is it the fact that it has transformed COAC into a jungle without feeling too tropical? or was it the great performance of the electric guitar + cello duo? as now i am at a point of organizing an event, there are certainly points that i have to learn from...

you see, like always, i've been looking at all the surrounding things and the "package" i have forgotten to mention the exhibits themselves... there are in fact a lot of great landscape projects. and it is a different preception of "landscape", where it doesn't mean gardens alone, and how it can be very architecture as well.

4a Biennal Europea de Paisatge

busy saturday evening

2006-03-18T15:05:00.000+01:00

bookstore is always a place where i spend hours at aimlessly.

i've mentioned it in past entries when i first know her. after a few months getting to know the city better, naturally a pattern is developed and there are a few places that i would visit frequently. this is certainly one of them.

boookstore itself could make me linger, especially on a busy day, with my own soundtrack (still kings of convieninent) mixing with the sound and noise of the surrounding and the people talking, when i can use my particular right of not understanding the lanuage...

busy saturaday afternoon

2006-03-18T14:55:00.000+01:00

Via Laietana is a main street that cuts through the Barri Gothico (the old town) of Barcelona. Perhaps for its moumental status or perhaps it is connecting the main Plaza (Placa Catalunya) to the sea through the City Hall (Ajuntement at Plaza JaumeI), almost every saturday afternoon there is protest and demostration along this wide boulevard.

Living in this flat around the corner from Via Laietana, it is not the first time i've seen these "parades". with my limited knowledge of Catalán political situation, i often just pass my way and pay no attention. today is the first time i try to see what is happening, and seems like the theme for today, the good and general cause of "anti-nuclear-war" is something that everybody could relate to.

still, perhaps with my political-cold-hearted-ness, i kept as the role of a passerby, do my duty to docuement the moment.

a coffee a day, keep the madness away

2006-03-15T13:54:00.000+01:00

another beautiful day concluded with another nice café.

(just a short record to keep the collection running... hopefully soon will be the time to get it together...)

Club del Cafe C/ del Call, 24 - bcn

...entre todo del trabajo i estrés, mejor aún puedo tener que vida buena, gracias por todo has hecho...

beautiful saturday morning

2006-03-11T12:09:00.000+01:00

just a brief to record a beautiful morning... a saturday which i actually get up in the morning... a nice walk in the sunny streets near home, followed by simple breakfast with someone special...

cafe catalina behind mercat de santa catalina

Un poco de vino es bueno para su salud...

2006-03-10T21:13:00.000+01:00

it has been a good day.
(= sunny cool weather, delicious food, nice wine and great laughter)

and the best way to conclude a good day is always with a strong coffee in a quiet cafe. especially when it is on a small by-way from the busy street. from the noise of friday night pedestrians to the slience of two old man in an old bar watching films on TV...

using the excuse of slight drunkeness, once again i wandered on the streets in my "barrio". of a city with high energy, one can never know all the small streets and alleys. it's a wonderful thing because whenever you took on supposingly wrong turn, you always discover another wonderful place... the pity is after a day of "excursion", my camera is as low in battery as i am... however, lucky enough i have the advantage that i can always return... perhaps this place is just a mirage that i will not be able to find it again, but the moment is recorded... ...

Café-Bar ANDURIÑA Carrer de la fruita - bcn

fill in the slot

2006-03-06T02:22:00.000+01:00

fill in the slot

another small wonder in this very small town of vilafranca...

the hide-away weekend

2006-03-05T21:00:00.000+01:00

after all the "city" travel... finally one "tranquilo" weekend with the landscape.. thank you for making all these happen...

alt penedés turisme

more on language and thinking

2006-03-01T15:06:00.000+01:00

(a short note after our second presentation on the tarragona project)

for some reason i wasn't suprised when we receive the comment of being the more "conservative" project of all. we have thought in a very function way, all those decisions made do seem very logical.

perhaps it is because there is a 40 years old engineer among us, or from my working life influence, we were at a "not so innovative" approach. i think the last comment we got was as well "realistic"... ...

so. in creative terms, it might seem quite some negative comment we've got. but that aside, instead of drilling on our "failure", i started to think the reason why it happens so. and what do they (the jury) expect from us. perhaps it is a difference from undergrad studies, when we were kids and when imagination was wild, we were taught to make things work.

and now after years of being CAD monkeys, perhaps our ability to solve architectural problems has been assumed. and once again we will need the imgaination of the wild child? especially when it is supposed to be a "think tank" type of proposal instead of a project in the planning department. in formal and even functional terms we really don't have to care if it works or not... maybe...

poetry seems to be something that i've lost... with a very pragmatic mind, it reflects in the presentation graphic that is always clear and simple. computer is not to be blamed. but pen and paper is indeed what i need to go back to...

afterall, i thought all these as lessons to learn. how to have a clear mind to explain and present the concept. while i think i'm making a pretty good progress in logical thinking and "design process", i might have to lost the very concept itself, no?

the method to make form: from research to design...how?

2006-02-28T22:41:00.000+01:00

(an excerpt from an email to my professors)

hola,

cuando hacia la proyecto.. siempre tengo una pregunta... siempre... podeis ayudame? ...

on making decision
ok.. so it begins... since tarragona is not a place that i am (or most of us are) familiar with, i found it quite difficult to simply make any decision, besides the most obvious and general ones. of course we can see the site as a tabla rosa and put whatever we want, but doesn't it have to make sense, to fit with the tendency of the places? we're making something real, not science fiction, right?

on our growing knowledge about the site
then we move on and learn more about the site, its current plans and developments, somehow it seems we got some answers there, and most of the time those solution were better studied and thus make more sense than what we 'planned' in the first excerise... ...

we went on study a lot of those information and plans presented to us, and a question of two poles came up:
(1) we're constainly influenced by the ideas presented
(for example, right after one lecture about the preservation we focus our projects on agriculture land, yet after the chamber of commerce lecture we realize much land is neede for industry as well!) and
(2) this happens to me personally, but from those information and the advantage (or disadvantage) of google earth's detail aerial photo, i went on mapping a lot of the existing condition of the sites, and these mapping just went on forever and i never moved on to putting down the new developments we would propose... ...

on the amount of necessary background information
so. the question comes down to this, i keep asking myself how much of the mapping excerise is needed? are we (or am i) just researching and reading so much to make thousands of diagram presenting the facts that are known already? or precisely is how to and at what point we can start translating it into some physical "thing" (such as infrastructrue, or land use etc... ...)? i can see everytime we move in scale we look into the site more detail, in the same time new problems arise and new conditions found, so i ended up doing more analysis and diagrams... and dare not to put another line on the map...

on concept vs practicality
a parallel problem is when we start to think from where to put different functions and structures, we tend to think in a very pragmatic way, thus moving away from the initial 'concept' we had... so... does the function (i.e. where to put the uses of land) or the form (i.e. in what way the "diagram"/picture would look nicer - the "strips" or the "spots")comes first? hahaha. that seems to take me back to my first year in architecture school! but we're not in the 1920s anymore... emmm...

... ...

these are the two main problems i have while still mapping endlessly... i really appreciated Prof. Bru's lecture 2 weeks ago, and still remember he answered that the problem/condition of the site will appears itself to tell us which approach (e.g. grid or layer) to use ... but moving one step further, at what point the method will tell us where should we put some industrial area or a train station for example !?

... ... well well well... i guess this is going to be a on-going question i will have for the next few months or possibly longer and i don't expect the answer can be as simple as a light bulb turning on.... i hope my train of thoughts are not too confusing to understand... i just want to share it with you-all since you probably have a much better idea then i do, plus i see this is quite an essential question i have to investigate, since it's not site-specific to this project alone, but for any question in the rest of my career...

thank you for spending the time to read this and see you soon.

:) ~melody

ps. i still talk too much...
from the question of how much research is enough, i remeber ignacio mentioned in his email about the complexitiy of this project, i agreed, and that is why i made again so many diagrams... because i believe we're not to just to decide where to put a building or a new road or a park but more than that... and the research and mapping is necessary... is that mean we just need to work even harder (as senaka said replying to ignacio's email) or should i just pull myself out from google earth and the background info for a while and put a line of mine on the map... lo no se.... :P ...

google earth addiction

2006-02-28T14:22:00.000+01:00

it is alway fun to find your own house on a map. especially when it's an aerial map that you could see your car on the sidewalk.

but more than fun, what does it do for us in terms of our studies of the cities?

i got into this addiction of mapping everything from the information shown on these google earth map, but are these mapping excerise a necessary step of our studies or am i just distracting myself for ideas to flow?

... ...

so i have to figure out the reason why i am running in circle...

untitled - daily life

2006-02-11T18:50:00.000+01:00

i have a confession to make. while visting a gallery or museum, i don't usually pay so much attention to the art, or to try to understand the "hidden meaning" of it. to me, being a little selfish, i just enjoy the environment and take whatever i get from the "art" and run with it.

so what catches my eyes is the overall installation of the exhibition. the overall atmosphere. and this one encounter tonight is certainly an amusing one. the motive for going to every exhibition varies, but not a lot of times i was so thankful for the invitation.

ERICE - KIAROSTAMI. Correspondencias
two cinematographer with parallel life in very different countries. perhaps it is the Irani-Spanish colloboration that draws such heaviness, expecting it to be all about war zone and that. in fact, it is an exhibition about daily life. cultural differences give an interesting picture of different daily life. but the essence is the same. and this is that essence, the description of daily life that i like the most.

ERICE - KIAROSTAMI. Correspondencias CCCB - bcn

the joy of finding "my" cafe

2006-02-09T04:15:00.000+01:00

this could be the most precious thing for a new-comer to a strange city: to find a place where you can have a coffee or a drink, smoke, have a light meal, stay undisturbed, chat with friends or even do some work.

their name "Living" indeed shows her personality, a neat but not too sleek atmosphere, with the 'tranquilo' lifestyle of the owner (who doesn't have a definite business hour, who would stay open until you leave), as mentioned in an earlier post, this feeling is like finding home. and finding home in a strange country is certainly something that you cannot wish for...

ps. and after the 'lost and found' this week, i get to know the friendly owner and waiters, one more reason for me to keep going back whenever i want a moment of peace.

---------------------------------------------------------------------
me parece este una cosa la más preciado, al vida nueva en una ciudad extraña: encontrar una lugar que puede tomar un café (o una copa), fumar, comer un poco... quedarse sin molestar, charlar con amigos, o tal vez hacer algo trabajo...
después el incidente de 'objectos perdidos', he conocido la propietaria y los camareros amable. el sentimiento es como volver a la casa, que me gusta, y es verdad se volveré.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Living c/capellans, 9 - bcn (t) 93 412 13 70

untitled

2006-02-05T22:11:00.000+01:00

又是一個人一杯咖啡的照片. 最低消費,最高享受. :P

習慣了近來日夜顛倒的生活, 晚上9:30算是完成了一天對外的工作時還是覺得很早. 難得這晚天氣和暖得像春天, 經過在繁忙大街旁邊的小廣場可以坐下喝一杯咖啡, 即使這樣工作的疲倦都抵消. 難怪人們這麼容易愛上這城市.

simple life as a glamorous adventure...

2006-02-03T23:44:00.000+01:00

"簡單的生活,何嘗不是一場華麗的冒險"... this sentiment from cheer chen is indeed intranslatable to another lanuage... i understand, to learn a language is also to learn their sense of living...

陳綺貞的歌曲常觸動到許多人, 我也是其中一分子... 把簡單的生活看成華麗的冒險。她好像也是雙子座的。

cheerego.com

chain of events

2006-01-28T15:32:00.000+01:00

i blieved that "everyone of us, was brought here for a reason". not in that mysterious sense as spoken in LOST, the TV show, but it does happen all the time. and i like to see them as happy accidents.

i was "brought" here to Poble Nou in IaaC today, supposingly for an aaron betsky lecture (a write from NAi, a little more about him in my previous entry here), which turned out to be not a lecture by him, but student presentations of a workshop led by Betsky, and unfortunately in the short 30 minutes that i stayed the projects were not exactly that interesting...

so the apprent "reason" was a misunderstanding, yet the three "happy accidents" that came along are more than enough to justify this detour to Poble Nou with a sleepless body after working few days straight:

i saw again the beauty of this decaying (in the same time re-developing) industrial district in personal experience;
enjoyed some quality private time after the overdose of collective life recently;
and visited a workshop presentation which i could have possibly been part of...

let me tell you about these one by one...

a new discovery every day

2006-01-23T21:25:00.000+01:00

after having lived in this neighbourhood for almost 3 months, it's almost embrassing to say that only until today, i realize there is a public library 10 steps from my door. in a building of typical catalan "courtyard house", it is a community center with a library above. it's a pity that the space itself did not preserve much of the original character but with bright florescene light and blake white wall. however, one can still see traces of history such as the wood tile floor and the organization of "salas" through the discovery of one small room after another.

indeed it is a public library with a tiny section of books to my particular profession, anyhow, it is still a comforting fact to know there is a refuge place as close as this to my home. the only thing that i found weird about this library is, contrasting to what one would hear in library - which is nothing - they were playing Pulp's "common people" and their other Brit-rock quite loudly throughout ... ...

certainly in the coming days i'll tell you more about this place as i will be a frequent visitor to it. and i'd also love to take some pictures and show you about this "catalan courtyard house"...

Lost in Research

2006-01-18T23:52:00.000+01:00

not particularly related to barcelona, just a random thought from today... ...

ever since information is so abundant and website design as visually plesant as it can get, research (esp. online) has become almost an enjoyable thing to do instead of a tideous task. the problem does not start in the information age, one could easily get lost in a library distracted by all the non-related literatures as well, but the simple ease of surfing and browsing does increase the risk of circling around instead of getting to the point... ...

when we encounter a new project in a strange city, solution cannot be drawn without research and understanding of the site and its surrounding, (on second thought, or is it better to assume a piece of empty flat land to reach the most creative idea, and later to adapt it to site...?) however, how much background is enough? how deep should we go before the first line can be drawn?

perhaps it is the question of schedule and/or organization... after the experience of hitting the wall a presentation of with too much information but not a presentable conclusion, the lesson i have learnt today is according to the given deadlines, we should restrict ourselves from the temptation of looking deep before putting in onto paper. i guess there is always a chance to adjust the program according to new and more accurate information found, but not vice versa. in a brutal way, if there is not a concept, there is not a concept - no matter how many individual ideas there are responding to the existing.

secondly, the question of organization. different than working alone, where you can always just tell yourself to shut up and move on, in the case of team work, an organizational framework has to be set and strictly follow. it would be much harder to pull back four people's digression than one's own wandering thought...

being believed in myself of the ablity to put ideas into logical sequence with supporting elements, it was indeed a defeat with this wall-hitting. Although one postscript could be said about a successful presentation of a project. if there was a more presentable drawing, things might be different. it should be able to speak for itself. he was right, if we only have 3 minutes, how can the project explain itself in formal terms? afterall, we are architects.

understanding the importance of a "complete" package (in terms on not the concept itself but all the components), i do have some reserve still. the question of chicken-and-egg. which comes first? because if there is only a bold stroke without supporting data, it could be just like a child's scribble with crayon on the placemat. but without a solid concept, all these information are just floating in the air without any meaning... ... right now i shall leave it here as an open question, and go back to put ideas onto paper... ...

finally in theatre

2006-01-14T11:08:00.000+01:00

perphas it's the city. or perhaps it's just my state of mind. the experience of going into a theatre performance has always been moving to me, but during the days in dallas there were just too many excuses not to go... finally now and here i regain that courage for the theatre, and by luck seeing this wonderful show tonight.

mercat de les flors
just as sometimes i go to an art opening for the gallery space more than the exhibition itself, same goes for performance venues. in the not particular "hip" district of Poble Sec, there lies the zone of fairground and theatre. i'm not sure is it because of my interest in theatre or in architecture, being in the floyer watching people pre-show is almost one of my favorite moments.
mercat de les flor Lleida, 59 - bcn --- (t) +34 93 426 1875

res de res - tempo
due to the still existing lanugage barrier, choices are limited. However, performances with less talking and "acting" are exactly the ones i prefer. Tempo is a show somewhere between "cirque del solei" and "stomp" where the four performers are all dancer-musician-acrobat-comedian. starting off in a comedy scene with non-instrument precussion such as a typewriter and other household items, the show progress with beautiful singing, piano and cello while the performers were "flying" across stage. highlight was how they have utilized the stage in a three dimensional sense, dancing "on" the backdrop perpendicular to the floor as if they are walking on this wall. the essential integration of dance and acrobat with music (live) and humor has made this into an entertaining but not too flashy piece. Along with the small theatre setting, i found its personality very content to my own taste... is it the spanish (european) culture vs the american "show biz" or just my bias? one performance cannot speak for all, for now i have found the right place with right shows, i'll have to go explore more... ...

p.s. another observation from this night further confirming my impression of the cultura atmosphere here, the audience group is not just the young and somewhat 'arty' people, but also quite a lot of older couples in their 40s or 50s who would enojoy the 'experimental' theatre just as they might go to a classical opera.

HK gangster movie

2006-01-09T03:07:00.000+01:00

never really a big fan on the violent gangster movies from hong kong. however, because of the rare chance of watching a film from home on the big screen, i went to see "Election" today. it's still not my cup of tea, although there is a few interesting things i can point out.

The story line is not a very complicate one between two small boss in the "society" to fight becoming the new leader. i'm not at a position to comment in technical terms, and i was happy to see the film was not as violent as it could be. However, one strong impression was the tendency to become another "infernal affair". From the multi-line story happening in a short time, to the clues that leaves on all the posible development of different characters. Was the succes of "infernal affair" becoming too big that all the gangster film from hong kong will be under its shadow? or Johnny To is really planning on doing "election-2" and more?

season of parties... in the city of fiesta

2006-01-08T18:32:00.000+01:00

frankly i am not really the 'party people' type, nor i had a full schedule of holiday events. However, looking back i did enjoy quite a few great parties this holiday season. I think it is the atmosphere or this city, fiesta is their everyday life, doesn't have to be hip or cool, nor young and pretty, everyone just enjoy life and party hard. wonderful.

20 dec,05.......unknown tapas bar in l'exiample..........holiday begins when school is over. a long table with sangria and great tapas makes a great party.

21 dec,05.......juanjo's flat..........thank you juanjo for starting the custom of wonderful house party.

24 dec,05 & 31 dec,05.......denise+antonio's flat..........sometimes it's better to stay in and enjoy the good time with good friends than to go out and queue in line for the festival spirit.

06 jan,06.........my flat........the last holiday in the season "the King's Day" concluding the holiday season..... more to come in 2006. :P

come and go

2006-01-05T05:13:00.000+01:00

time is running faster and faster, without even knowing, the holidays came and is now officially over...

me and olivia in the london tube

+++stay tuned: 'in london'+++

merry christmas

2005-12-23T18:17:00.000+01:00

being busy the last 2 weeks, all of a sudden christmas is right around the corner. sorry didn't have the time and chance to make christmas card this year... so let's take this and say "merry christmas" to all of you... :D

100% recovered

2005-12-21T05:39:00.000+01:00

BREAKING NEWS: after a month of "alternative living" (off-line), today i'm officially back to normal. along with the holidays coming up and not too much work nor too many friends, this site should be updated more frequently now. :P. thank you for visiting

notable 4.0 - one great small concert

2005-12-04T02:26:00.000+01:00

once again it's the spatial quality that enahnce or even trumps the actual content. On a hidden-away street in the sant antoni area there is this "music club" - jazzsi taller de musica. at the entry is where you buy your drink (that serves as the entry fee), stepping inside is the space of about 500 sq ft with the stage at one end, and a metal hanging mezzanine around the other sides. Soon enough it's filled with people (probably more than fire-code allows) coming for today's open-mic. there are in fact hardly any place to sit, but later into the night chairs are stacked up and tables pushed aside for more people to stand. perhaps the line-up might not be the most spectacular, nonetheless in this less posh and somewhat industrial setting everybody seem to relax and find themself in place. i did get a bit breathless when the oxygen level got low around 2am, but with the groovy R&B singer who can bring up the atmosphere, and the personal liking of the location, it was a wonderful evening.

a little more info i found afterwards about this place, it's a "music school" where you can go jam during the day, and they're quite famous for the friday session of flamingo as well.

Jazzsi Club Taller de Musics 2 Calle Requesens - bcn (t) 93 329 0020

pre-IT age...

2005-11-25T18:25:00.000+01:00

in these days without a computer, is actually some time that i would treasure, to live without as much information and technology. Going back to the pre-IT age of ways to do things. finally got the tactile feeling: flipping through the dictionary while reading; checking the phone book for maps and direction; writing thoughts and work on the notebook; drawing sketches on tracing paper... ... might not be a bad thing... ...

Leaving it behind

2005-11-18T04:28:00.000+01:00

under the shadow of my 'unfortunate event', the trip to bilbao was decided to go on. seems like i'm a person optimist enough that bad luck is usually overcame by good time.

Bilbao(1)-the spectaculars starts from arriving

2005-11-18T03:32:00.000+01:00

it has been months since november... however i still haven't get the thoughts together to write about Bilbao...
the least i should is to post the photos and keep the record... cannot make any promise. but should return to this soon...

(not) a series of unfortunate events

2005-11-16T19:37:00.000+01:00

there is always a price to pay and a lesson to learn from the life in this wonderful city... after the incident of my unfortunate event, i´ve learnt to go back to the non-digital life of writing and sketching. other than that, the only affected matter is the interruption of the journal. it´ll be a little while before i can come back and continue to tell you about things i saw and experience here... stay tuned.... :)

back to architecture school

2005-11-10T17:45:00.000+01:00

honestly i was a bit disappointed when i first visit our "office", rm 204 in the Fundacio UPC. I told myself it’s the research branch of the school and that's the reason...

Until today i visited the actual architecture building of the UPC proper (ESTAB), i finally see the real architecture school.

Like all university, it is a place where things are a little bit disorganized, with peeling walls and random notes posted here and there. However, this is the atmosphere of how an architecture school should be. Along with the many fellow architecture students hanging around, carrying their large portfolio or working last minute on their model, and with the drawings and projects on display, many good-old-days memories came back in mind.

After a slight research this building was renovated by Coderch, i assume that Coderch in LeCorbusier’s time, but should be right as with the white curve wall and ‘pilotis’ columns that are signatures of the International Style. How approiate for fresh architecture students who first learnt about the beginning of modern architecture, who admire and believe in their utopian idea of architecture... ... (more nostagia of the day as a pure-minded archiecture student in my teens...)

The building also house their own bookstore, cafeteria, supply shop and print shop. So self-sufficient that students could really “live” in their studio in those months without living the building. Also of note is the bookstore certainly has a good collection, also in better price than outside bookstores.

notable stores 3.2

2005-11-10T17:38:00.000+01:00

a well-know Italian brand of jeans and streetwear, I need not to tell you more about its clothing. Like many other happy accident, I walked into this store which I usually don’t visit, amazed with not its latest collection, but with its amazing store and its display.

Situated in one of the many 19th century buildings on the paseig de Gracia, not only the interior is well preserved of the original details, there are also many different installation/display in the store that is worth visiting. since we cannot afford to buy everything we see in every shop, the shopping experience itself is more like gallery hop-ing, appreciating its decoration and display like we enjoy artwork.

replay Paseo de Gracia, 60. bcn

新居入伙 2 - moving in

2005-11-09T00:13:00.000+01:00

it's a weird feeling moving into a furnished flat.
it's more difficult then filling up an empty one, difficult to feel like you belong here.

only until i indulge myself into the biggest purchase since i move here, with new bedsheets and towels etc, i started to feel like this is going to be my home for the next 9 months...

新居入伙

2005-11-08T23:55:00.000+01:00

獨自一個坐在新居客廳喝第一杯咖啡。
沒有以前搬家的興奮,應該是因為現在身邊沒有他與我分享。
原來是首次獨居。

notable stores 3.1

2005-11-01T22:44:00.000+01:00

when i started to immerse into the barcelona life, certainly the sight seeing part is reducing, and the strolling aimlessly is what i do most of these days... ...

RAS gallery (el raval)
usually, near the contemporary museum there would be some nice bookstore and galleries. this is one of them. a great publisher of design and architecture books, they also maintain a bookshop with a small gallery space. sometimes i think visiting these small specialized bookstore has more pleasure then trying to find the right bookshelf..
RAS bookstore and gallery Doctor Dou, 10 -- 08001 bcn (t) 93 412 71 99

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

SALTA restaurant (l'eixample)
perhaps due to the overall 'design-consciousness' of its citizen, there are 'hip' stores and cafe is popping up here and there in this city, instead of usually concentrated in a certain area, and this is one of them.
salta is a newer generation of restaurant in barcelona. where people usually meet friends and have 2 hours lunch, this is a 'fast food' restaurant, however, fast food here means comfortable seating area where you can always hang around in those sofa for another coffee or two.
oh. should mention too they have free wi-fi connection. one more reason to linger around longer...
salta provenca 280, bcn. (t) 93 215 0022

seeing the city with critical thinking -1.0 (gardens of gracia)

2005-10-24T23:56:00.000+02:00

through a series of 'guided tours' of the city with the program, it has shown me barcelona in a way with a critical but not touristic mind. the following posts are a little docuementry of the discoveries...

gardens of Gracia
Gracia was a village outside of the barcelona city wall. only until 150 years ago it was integrated into the greater city of barcelona. Walking through this neighborhood, we experienced many small intervention done in the last 25 years to release this dense residential neighborhood with new pockets of open space.

++even in barcelona - the city for walking, there is the problem of vehicle traffic and the need to resolve parking issue. instead of building parking structures above ground (like those in cities like new york), here they decided to put all cars underground. with that same area created a plaça, a open public area, where bars and restaurants start establishing around, and residences start flowing into it. ++

++antoher type of intervention we see a lot in barcelona. by taking down one small building on a continous dense row of housing, not only a connection of streets is made, but also a section of it has turned into a small garden. these very small space is not a plaça that everyone would go, but a 'public living room' for the residences to take a breath from they tiny habitation.++

++a more traditional kind of 'plaza'. where there is a mounmental building as the focus with an area surrounding it opened up. with the proper street furnitures in it, these plaça can usually carry the tradition of people gathering, to serve as a 'forum' type of common ground for the residences.++

special thanks to Josep Torrent from COAC as our guide for this tour. =)

Scale = M

2005-10-24T17:48:00.000+02:00

Taking an anthology of E.Bru, we could briefly divide the urban interventions of barcelona into three scales of S, M and L. If the gardens of Gracia (as well as those in Ciutat Valle) is catergorized into "small", the following plazas could be seen as the medium. For this time barcelona is creating new space for the new part of town, where land is less of a problem than in the dense historic neighbourhoods. However, as with many debates within the city about these spaces, i’ll leave off on the merits and faults...

Placa del païso Catalans
in a different setting, surrounding by residential and commerical towers, but not smaller historic block, compact plazas cannot alony make effect on the space. As the open plaza outside of Estacio Sant (Sant Station), a modern regional train terminal, this plaza by Piñoz and Miraelles also took a more contemporary approach. Instead of being garden-like, with greenery everywhere, this is a concrete plaza a walkway from the station covered with a gental curve of metal canopy, symbolic of the smoke from a departing train.

Another nice detail was the double canopy, it could be seen as further symbolism as part of a train engine, but in effect it has bring the scale of the plaza closer to the tall towers in its surrounding. There are other details such as the water jets and slopes which has made it popular for skater to try out their newest trick. However, without as many street furnitures and a less comprehensable scale for pedestrian use, seems like this plaza did not become the other ones in town that is populated many residents ...

Via Julia
Like in any modern city, there would be the problem of vehicle traffic, and thus parking problem. Personally, from a market-driven city where parking lot is more profitable than a small commerical/residential building, it is certainly admirable that in this city the officals realize how much disruption to the urban fabric would cost by parking lots and garages. One of the many efforts to put vehicles underground, Via Julia is in a new residential neighbourhood, and the parking is put underground along with the new metro line running underneath, free-ing the above ground area into a Rambla, furnished with street benches and public sculptures, providing its residents a pleasant place for daily communte, and also for leisure stroll.

notable stores 3.0

2005-10-23T19:20:00.000+02:00

since the program started, i'm stuffed with information about this city's urban transformation and have seen many examples of its beautiful urban spaces. the ambitious plan was to recall and post my interprtation for myself or anyone who might be interested.

However, it is an ambitious plan indeed, for the amount of information with my poor scribbled notes, much more research is needed before i can present a legible post. in the mean time, certainly i visited more areas and stores; this 'notable stores' section seems much easier to write. =)

cuines santa caterina (la ribera)
walked pass the mercat Santa Caterina many times (and learning about it a little more every time), finally i came to this street again when the market is opened. is it the merit of Miralles or the city, this is a restaurant/café that stands on its own right. being inside the market, it took the advantage of fresh produces (at least it appears to be) instead of the disadvantage of noise and mess of a 'market cafe'. in the end, we found out it is the merit of a successful resturant group: Grupo TragaLuz

l'central (el raval)
for i'm still new in town i did not know the city's bookstore system so well, so i just came across l'central by chance, and returned to it many time since then. an extensive selection from current fiction to specialities in film, music, literature, philosophy, arts and architecture. to complete a great bookstore they also have a good looking coffe bar attached. being in the heart of old town, you're going to be suprised when you walk through that arch, there is actually three levels of bookstore with many corners with treasure to be discovered!
l'central elisabets 6 -- 08001 barcelona (t) 93 387 50 18

the most famous building in barcelona

2005-10-23T12:57:00.000+02:00

sagrada família
oh. i almost forgot, this is the most famous building in Barcelona, the sagrada familia. The supposing most signficant church designed by Antonio Gaudi, who was killed in traffic before the work is finished. Due to many other reasons, the church is still on not finished, however, this fact has already become one of the very selling point as a tourist attraction.

i believe it's due to the education i'm getting here, we tend to skip all the 'great buildings' and focus on small intervention of spaces. like many of other gaudí's buidling, it is seen as mounmental but did not really play a part for the daily life of its citizen... ...

Torre Agbar
another 'mounmental' tower built recently in barcelona. this is the Torre Agbar in the Plaça Glories by the french 'master' Jean Nouvel. It is very understandable that why it had stir much controversy when the tower was proposed and built. The first time when i encounter it personally, i di have the feeling that it does not belong to the city of barcelona. However, it looked somehow approiate situating besides one of the most 'obvious' highway intersection in barcelona. (in this city they tend to 'hide' highway traffic underground or make it less visible). In a visionary sense of some city planning, this is a scale that is unadvoidable for a city to move into the new century... i'll leave the judgement here for you to say... ...

view from the roof

2005-10-23T12:38:00.000+02:00

after staying at the Onix Residencía for almost 2 weeks, i finally went up to see their roof top pool, looked so good in the pictures on their website. i cannot say it is a magnificant pool, but it's always nice to have access to the pool with a good view of the surrounding.

a very brief history of modern barcelona (urban planning)

2005-10-22T23:00:00.000+02:00

for a purpose more personal, this post is my revision of the first day of class with a straight 6 hrs lecture. however, if you're ever interested in the development of this city and have a little time, i hope this could be an introduction for you too.

Geography

it was quite incredible when they take about their city and its planning history, geography was emphasised on so much. perhaps it's because with its natural resources and terrain that it is more interseting to study? for all my different homes (hong kong/dallas) i do not even know briefly the size of population of it!

the beginning
the city was founded in roman times name "barcino", and built a wall surrounding it. barcelona continues to grow within the wall as a small harbor city. the central government in madrid has banned any development outside the city, for military purpose. until the mid 19th century about 150 years ago, with a progressive mind of its citizen, this city wall was demolished and thus begins the history of modern barcelona city planning.

(1900) l'exiample
the problem of spreading too far - town planning strategy

the name Cerdá has been appearing many times through out the lectures, the engineer who masterminded this "enlargement" plan of the city of barcelona. As a tool to organize and expand the city, he planned a 50mX50m grid system with three main roads:Gran Via - the horizontal; Diagonal - from SE to NW; and Meridiana from the center to NE to connect and intersect at Plaça de les Glories.

Outside the city wall there were some small township surrounding the 'city' of barcelona, one of them is Gracia, north of the old city (Ciutat Vuella). To connect this town into larger barcelona, the old road leading to Gracia turned into a main artery Passeig de Gracia, incorporated into l'axiample with developments along the way. (which also becomes nowadays one of the most popular shopping streets, which is also mentioned in the many 'notable stores' section)

During the early 19th century, some of the Cerdá plan was realized along with the development of the harbor, and the growth of the city is faster than ever, along with industrialization becoming a prosper town.

(1930s-70s) history

when the civil war broke out, with the later Franco dictatorship, urban planning was in a sense a diaster. Immigrants from spain and other countries flee into the city, without proper planning, the "in-between" space filled by much needed housing but in a unorganized way. Although there were different plans such as the idealistic Le Corbusier vision or the organic plans proposed, not much of these were realized and condition in the city and it's immediate surrounding has become almost inhabitable.

(1976) the GMP

after Franco's death and even before the first democratic government is fully established, officals in barcelona has approved the much needed GMP (General Metropolitan Plan) for the city. Returning to Cerdá's plan, the goal was to create new centers to lighten the burden for Ciutat Vella, and also creating public (green) space, infrastructure and public amenities to the residence.

(again, never at any point i see so much emphasis on space instead of structures. which should be the reason i did not realize before, that we admire so much of the european cities. their concern of the life quality of their citizens)

(1988-92) the Olympics

(1992-now) post-Olympic

*NOTE: the above information is only my very brief understanding with the past week's lecture and visits, please do not take it as academic information as i still have to research and verify most of the information above.

*also, credit must be given to the lectures and our tour guide from the MBA program

a thing or two i learnt about the making of a city

2005-10-22T12:47:00.000+02:00

creating an 'urban' green urban space is not simply to clear out some land and decorate it with trees and flowers. we learnt in a formal sense a "plaza" is a space well-defined. however, in a humanistic sense, the key should be engagement and integration, also to act as a link to weave the fabric of a city together.

be it in a scale large or small, if the space is designed to be used then it should be a good urban space.

engagement and integration
in the lectures they talk about Gracia (neighborhood parks) vs the Diagonal del Mar ("campus" park), where the scale makes the difference. for it has to be comprehensible by the users with a appropriate scale to its surrounding. in theory a 'place' is made when it is bounded by buildings on 4 sides, and ideally a neat geometrical square. however, that is only how we see it as architects in drawings. it is the surrounding with life and sight, the people who sits and chats; the kids who run and jump in this 'space' that matter the most. commercial/cultural activities, amenities for children, and street furniture, when put in a comfortably scaled context, would attracts its residences to use the space thus make it more lively. this is an interactive act, but the intervention itself could be a catalyst to start it.

at this very early stage of my study about urban planning, my perception of the XL open space (such as Diagnoal del Mar or many 'parks' in the US) is that they could be seen as a ceremonial space, to serve another purpose, but does not seem to be an urban space which is designed to be used everyday by the habitants.

linkage
zoom out a layer then we're talking about the link of spaces to make a city. i agreed very much on Edward Bru (our program director)'s comment about the extend of a 'metropolitan' is not measured by the 1hr-travel-distance radius from the center but should be measured by the continuation of its urban fabric. in this premise the satellite towns in north america is not one metropolitan but are individual cities that should have the potential to grow on its own.

i believe this "linkage" could explain why our experience in barcelona (or some other european cities alike) feels so pleasant. one could stroll in town all day without feeling the miles he had walked, while walking is quite inconceivable in many american cities. when different urban spaces are planned out and linked well, it creates excitement and attractions along the way. during the journey through big streets or small ones, every now and then there would be a 'breathing space' for our minds and eyes. and thus the city is "weaved" together.

notable stores 2.0 (El Born)

2005-10-20T00:26:00.000+02:00

El Born
This is the known to be 'hip and trendy' area right next to the Barri Gótic. Indeed, in these medieval alleys surrounding Santa Maria Del Mar you can find many interesting shops, creative local fashion brands and smart bars and restaurants. although for some reason, my eyes and feet keep being attracted to these delicate choclate and pastry shops. i thought it was famous in paris to have small deserts that looks too good to eat, and was suprise to find plenty of them in barcelona too.

bubo
from out i thought this is a boutique with small gifts and expresso cups, but inside there are lollipops made of chocolates in lacey shapes and petit-fours. there is also a coffee bar that serves wine and cavas, the only thing missing would be some seats to enjoy these great little things.
bubo caputexs 10 08003 barcelona
(t) 93 268 72 24

téxtil cafe
after walking too much since early afternoon, in the evening i found the texil cafe. a museum restaurant stands by its own merit and open way pass museum hours, the cafe is occupying the entry courtyard of this old spanish "palace" along with the small vaulted room inside. the téxtil cafe is part of the museu téxtil, which exhibits from ancient textile documentries to contemporary fashion design like balenciaga. while having my first spanish dish of tortilla de patatas and my first glass of catalan champagne cava, this is another place of note that i have to come back and spend an afternoon just to visit.
téxtil cafe c. montcada 12-14, 08003 barcelona (t) 93 268 25 98

back to campus

2005-10-18T23:30:00.000+02:00

after a couple weeks resting in dallas then a week being a tourist here in barcelona. i finally realize i'm here for a reason! =P

++the library building of UPC++

++still i am having a bias over the european consideration of "urban space". although from plan, this campus does not have a very admirable plan. however, still they do create a very nice courtyard, and being enjoyed by everybody.++

la playa de barcelona

2005-10-16T23:52:00.000+02:00

with the great blue sky and the beautiful beach, it was the first time since i arrived that i used up the memory card in one afternoon. the followings are just a glimpse, more of the beach should be coming.

++port olimpic is a nice experience of seeing how the olympic event has transformed the city. once again to praise the city planners in barcelona, this development for '92 was keep on developing and not wasted after the event. although a slight bit too much "mall-sauce" (term credit to mr.MK) and touristy, it is still a pleasant stroll for a sunny day.++

++i guess with the gift of mediterrian weather in barcelona, the way people use outdoor spaces as their dining room is more than any other city i've been to.++

++there is always small details in the city to see the thoughtfulness of its planner. these simple concrete bench were not only provided free by the city but also elegantly designed. quite an interesting sight to see all the sunbath-ers oriented all to east because of these beach chairs.++

++just 15 mins walk from where i am staying in the center of the city, the atmosphere has suddenly changed. La Barceloneta is a little piece of land-fill were onces wasteland by the docks, now transformed into a nice little neighborhood that could be mistaken as any resort town.++

walking to the sea

2005-10-16T23:05:00.000+02:00

一直幾天天氣都灰沈下毛毛雨, 難得今天一有陽光就急不及待的要去看海.

shopping in barcelona

2005-10-15T23:47:00.000+02:00

the day started out to be bad and feeling sick from being in the rain yesterday. it was almost going to be another day of staying in and feeling more sick. for the weather being nicer than yesterday and i dressed warmer, it turned out to be a great day of great discovery.

Passieg de Grácia
Known to be a famous shopping street, it is indeed one of the most popular streets with big stores and many people. Not as touristy as La Rambla, it was a pleasant stroll with a series of notable stores. Again without prior planning, i also passed by and had a glimpse of two Gaudi buildings, Casa Batlló and La Pedrera.

C. Gran de Grácia
after visiting mos as recommended by the guide books i tried to go into the direction of the nearest metro station. What a pleasant suprise when i see this street filled with light and people. Not as wide as a boulevard as the others, with this scale it came on top of my list of 'desirable neighbourhood'. Although not the most fashionable street yet there is a few interesting shops. i would be more than happy to have a little piso on any of the side street along!

notable stores 1.0 (passeig de gracia)

2005-10-15T13:05:00.000+02:00

like the priority of many of my other trips, the first day i would go to the old city center to see the heritage and the main museums; then on the second day i'd usually go see the main shopping street. here are a few notable stores i found today:

vinçon
-something in between moss and ikea

with the scale large enough yet comfortable, vinçon has the selection as wide as ikea, from glass and plates to furnitures and stationery, yet its selection was are almost as intricate and 'designer-oriented' as moss. along the entry there is a glass case of small precious objects on display, when going further into the store one would discover many household items, nicely designed, many with a well-known name tag. Although i'm not yet in a position of impluse purchase on these houseware, yet i know this is one place i'll visit again and pay them ransom sometime.

vinçon passeig de grácia, 96 -- 08008 barcelona (t) 93 215 60 50
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
mos

this is one of those i've read from some design guide book and see as a destination. Although not in the middle of a busy district but a quiet neighbourhood, the store itself didn't disappoint my detour at all.

i realized i'm into a habit of comparison, whenever i encounter a new place (like stores or restaurant for instance) i try to relate and compare it with something of my own. and quite simply the comparison would fall to eatiz's in dallas. unlike typical barcelona café, there isn't a terrace or garden (wheras eatiz's has it!), they have a dining area a half a level up in the back, with the kitchen underneath.

as soon as one walks into the store, you'd be distracted by the beautiful pastries and chocolate on one side and delicate salad and hot plates on the other. fortunately i visited at dinner time and had the chance to see if the nice context had any content. Certainly being a self service deli-style food hall they wouldn't be gourmet quality, but still it's worth the trip.

being in this quiet neighbourhood of Grácia, without the hustle and market-like atmosphere as eatiz's, mos would certainly become the choice of a peaceful meal after a busy day. with the price tag of under 6EUR for this nice little dinner, and the pretty desert and chocolate that i didn't try, this is another place that i'll have to visit again, hopefully when i found an apartment and living in this neighbourhood.

mos via augusta, 112 -- 08006 barcelona (t) 93 237 13 13

notable stores 1.1

2005-10-15T12:06:00.000+02:00

tapelia

looks like a smart restaurant, haven't go into try the food yet but found they have a smart website.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

camper

the all time favorite spanish brand having a brillant concept not only with shoes but lifestyle as a whole. yet to visit their hotel and restaurant in the el raval district.

urban space in barcelona

2005-10-14T22:37:00.000+02:00

is it my personal bias or is it true that in barcelona they have better urban space? i tried not to dismiss Dallas so soon. i believe the difference comes not in any grand gesture but in details. when they have jean nouvel, frank gerhy, gaudi and others, we also have louis kahn, tado ando, renzo piano and even phillipe stracks...

the merit does not lie in the roster of 'starchitect' structures in a city, but rather the thoughtfulness of the city officials and planner to its residences. to be seen in the smallest details.

in this little parc behind the estacío del nord, there is this random park. they said barcelona is the city with most trees. i don't doubt.

does it starts with Gaudi or is it a catalonian tradition of the extensive use of colourful moasic and these sculpturous form?

*after a little research, the sculptures are by Beverly Pepper and he was indeed inspired by Gaudi.

small wonder in every corner

2005-10-14T01:51:00.000+02:00

this was a beautiful accident when i turn into the wrong street. is it an existing market with a bright new roof? i remeber seeing it in some journal but can't find it now... what a smart move to gives the old market a great new jacket. the steel frame is soften with its curving form and undulating roof line, also here is where the reference going to barcelona's master - gaudi with colorful mosaic on as roof top. i hope i can find out which street is this that i got lost into... can somebody tell me what this is?

*just a couple days later, with once again a happy accidental encounter i came back to this market. from the back side this time, with even more wonders to seeing it in all angles. it was done by Enric Miraelles. More details on el mercat de santa caterina here. (unforunately the site seems to be only in catalan) --mel oct17

starbucks is invading the world...

2005-10-13T22:38:00.000+02:00

i wonder why, when there are so many authentic cafes in these european city, starbucks would still be able to stand. isn't that the corporate's idea was to create that 'european cafe' atmosphere in US? if so, wouldn't it quite laughable to do this in the masters' turf?

museums and its surrounding

2005-10-13T01:01:00.000+02:00

almost as a rule of thumb, i usually start my journey in a city with visiting its contemporary art museum. from there, their surrounding area would always have some cute little shops and streets. be it the beginning of a year long journey, i went to the Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona and Centre de Cultura Contemporánia de Barcelona. in fact, as now i understand i have the luxury of time to visit the exhibitions in the future, i did not go inside just yet, but just to get to know the area...

*the Barcelona Contemporary Museum of Art, designed by Richard Meier

*the Contemporary Cultural Center of Barcelona, an existing building with a new glass-clad atrium.

*just a unknown school across the street but with an extraordinary metal gate

sight-seeing barcelona v0.2

2005-10-13T00:27:00.000+02:00

all the sight-seeing locatoins, after seeing it so many times in picture, i finally seeing it with my own eyes.

sight-seeing barcelona v0.1

2005-10-13T00:04:00.000+02:00

after closing myself in the comfortable room for 2 days connecting to the world just through internet; today i finally let myself out to do see this city as i intended to...

without a special itinerary i went right into the heart of the city, with a vague idea in mind going to the contemporary art museum. i walked as far as i could, being distracted by every little alley and turned into them, i came to a point landing in a cafe on La Rambla, passing by the ancient gothic streets, the cathedral, placa reial...ending at the museums as i wished.

streetscape

2005-10-12T23:21:00.000+02:00

since the arrival few days ago, one of the first things i noticed about this city is their care for 'streetscape'. Not only we see there are many public square large or small around the city, and be furnished by benches in shade, most of them are nicely designed that can be compared to those for sale on dwr.com. i assume Spaniards do spend a lot of time outdoor enjoying the sun and the city cares for the need of their people.

we have 'hyper-market' in the states who shamelessly show off their giantic size and domination; whereas in this 'mercat', understanding itself should be a part of the community, was integrated into the local community building which creates a plaza, just with a glass front and minimal signage. Only if mr. sam walton would have the slightest idea that residents would recognize their own 'market' if it's part of the neighborhood...

this, in fact, is just a local street, diagonally cutting arcoss the grid of l'eixample district, being developed into a pedestrian zone, with bollards lining a one-lane strip for cars to pass through. i admire the sensitivity of city planners to create this small piece of ground for their residents when traffic flow is not so heavy. so it became a little 'placa' where locals would sit on the bench chatting, kids playing, with the other side of the street lined with 4 or 5 not-too-fancy cafes, where i have enjoyed my first Barcelonaa breakfast.

habitacio 4391

2005-10-11T14:17:00.000+02:00