Happy Thanksgiving!!

Happy thanksgiving to those who are celebrating. My day today was a good one, but not filled with turkey and football. Oh well. Work is going well, we seem to have some good direction and clear aim at what we are taking about. Its nice to have a set of task to work on and tackle the project on our terms.

Last night when I cam home around 11 from the lectures there was a note on the door of the house. I didnt think much of it at the time and just went up and went to bed. However, this morning when I got up to take a shower and found that there was no water I realized what it said. The construction at the bottom of the street (steps) shut the water off for a few hours. After realizing this the sign made much more sense. So a little grungy in the morning before I was able to shower over lunch.

The days have been quite nice recently and its been good to walk home and get some fresh air. The weeks absolutely fly by, its truly amazing. Hopefully some of the weekends will be nice when I finally have the time, or the courage to just get out and enjoy them.

I've also rediscovered the wonder of skype, my name is xcrogers if one downloads it we could talk for free. I think when I get paid I will prob buy some credit to as it is really cheap, compared to my cell phone. Also nice is that I can run it on my ipod, so when I am around networks (ie at my apartment or at the office) I can use that to talk. Almost like a cell phone of sorts.

well I am off to bed.. a couple related pictures of the construction and the wonder of skype.



annika shared in my rediscovery of skype


they posted no smoking signs all over the place. but the fact they were grinding metal within the construction site didnt leave me with the best feeling.

here and here

the above links are to the websites of the two lecturers I saw tonight at the university in Stuttgart. The first lecture was abour digital architecture. the office had some very neat projects and application of architecture. it was hard to get into at first (ignoring the obvious language barrier) but after a bit I was able to see what they were getting at and I liked how application was ultimately used and the projects that came of it.

the second was completely different. an architect from mexico city. She spoke in English which was nice but her projects were amazing.. a completely differnt style of practice but very, very nice work.

making plans.....

tonight was spent playing cards with Johannes and some of his friends. we played uno, but with several rules that they add to make it more interesting. So combing the speed, the language and the new rules... it was very intense.. even for a game of uno. It was nice though. I think I made plans to go back to a club on saturday. But I'm not sure.... we'll see how it goes down. My lack of cash flow (paid once a month at the end of the month) makes one very conscious of budgeting. And I think I would rather go to the baths on Thursday and relax. That way I could spend the weekend doing the competition for the NH AIA. Hopefully in one foul design charette swoop I can get that done and off to Chris for printing and delivery. It would be nice to enter.. even nice to win something....


Also been thinking about plans after christmas. I think I might go to Morocco for a few days. It would be a fabulous place to travel too. I also think I might start trying for some quick day trips on the de bahn.. or even just using the S bahn to get out of the city center. We'll see.. again.. need to budget wisely.

walk to the office

this weekend has been a very lazy one. its been nice though. I went to the Lidel and did some badly needed grocery shopping. I also re-discovered the ability to do laundry at my apartment using my landlords machine. I still need to go to the laundromat to dry the items. But being able to wash it here saves on time, and a lot of money.

Johannes and I also spent Saturday night making a soup from a recipe his mother provided to us. It was amazing. Very simple but very good. It was nice to spend some time cooking and just relaxing though.

Today, after much sleeping in a managed to drag myself into the office. I figured I would take the opportunity and document a few things I encounter on the way into the office every day. the photos can be found here. (The link will bring you to the set on my flickr page.)

Other than that.. not too much. Just preparing for another week. They go by so quickly.

Hadid's new Museum in Rome.

Above is a link to Zaha Hadid's newest project. The article has some interested conclusions about the place of such a project.

This week has been busy to say the least After a week of chasing out tails I think we might have finally gotten out from under the shadow of the "which came first?". The client is interested in the typology of the architecture that is being proposed. However, we have little idea of the character of the places we are examining. So its hard for us to develop a type when we dont know what these places want to me. Forgive me if I'm being naive.

So this last week we spent creating some loose examples of how some of the spaces could break down. I think for being under a time crunch (though arent we always) and not really having a great deal of information we've gotten some good progress. Certainly there will be criticism, both internal and from the client and collaborators. But you've got to crawl before you walk right?

So it was nice when at 8 on friday we finally sent off our boards. Can be free of it for a few days and make last minute changes for them in needed monday. Then next week we can focus on getting the cart back behind the horse.

The rest of the weekend will be spent doing book work and I think I might try and get a sketch idea for the NH AIA competition done. I would like to enter it and I think that if I can get a semi decent idea and board out the door it would be some good experience. Its for a library in southern NH. I need to read the brief and see what ideas come to mind. I think that the program is quite large and the requirements of the board will make it easy. Wont be much space for anything terribly fancy. We will see....

well I finally had two solid days of sun here in Stuttgart. Might even get a third.. who knows. Today was spent preparing the studies we spent the first part of the week coming up with for a presentation. We will finish that tomorrow and I think its coming along nicely and will look good. We are putting the cart ahead of the horse coming up with the typologies before we have really had time to think about the fabric of the project. But time is tight and we need to get some preliminary studies underway so that we can get the ball rolling.
Doner Kebab tonight was amazing. I had food in my fridge but really wasn't in the mood to cook and it was nice to not worry about dinner. I snapped a picture out of my apartment window of my view.. which I rarely see. Usually when I am home its far to dark out, of if by some miracle it is during the day, it is raining.

and back to the grindstone...

so this project is beginning to rear its ugly head. The work is piling up quick and the deadlines approaching quickly and without warning. At least now we have some goals and tasks to work towards. Before this week we were floating around too much. It was hard to really pin down a direction or a method. At least now we have something to go on, and will see where it takes us.....

a few shots of a weekend...

weekend

This weekend was a full one. Friday evening I went to a birthday party for one of my flatmates friends. They had a dinner party and it was a good time. I met some more people and hung out and drank for a few hours. They had prepared some great meatloaf as well as some other dishes... really very good. I had gone to the store and bought some Jim Beam, its the first time I've had any since I came over. After a few drinks and some shots of Johhanne's mystery drink and the mystery fruit liquor thing I was feeling quite good. I managed to make the last U-Bahn home which made the trip home quite quick. Had I missed it I would have had to wait for the night bus and that would have been a whole different affair. We talked about skiing a lot, and think might try and go with them at some point while I am here.

Saturday I managed to make it over the to Staatsgalerie. I took time and went through the museum for the work and architecture. They have some nice pieces and it was good to see the inside of the building. They also had quite a bit regarding the competition and the building itself (its been around 25 years since the competition was first commissioned) so it was good to get some history there. I also went and climbed he train station tower and searched around the University for the Hysolar building. It was a nice afternoon. Upon my return I spoke to Johhannes who informed me that he and his friends had all gone to those places. We must have kept on missing each other all day. That night we all went out and hit up a few bars and explored a bit. Eventually i ended up going to a club with a couple of the guys. It was near where I originally stayed and was quite the place. It was quite full and quite loud, but a good time was had and I'm glad I took the opportunity to see what it was all about.

Sunday I slept in for a bit and then went for a long run with Tim. We went to a park outside the city a few miles and ran on the trails there. It was really nice and was good to get out and go for a run with someone. In the afternoon I went over to the office and worked on my book for a while, starting to make some progress on that as well. So it was a good weekend. I enjoy that I've seemingly settled into a routine. My boss came through the office while I was there and we discussed the project a bit and I can see a lot of work in my future, but it is good. I was feeling slightly lost at the end of last week. So I think between that conversation and getting some more info about the project itself I will be able to get some good ideas/discoveries out there.

Hope all have a great week.

http://www5.stuttgart.de/baeder/menu/187710

today after work I went here with Tim (the guy who helped me move the sofa) and Johannes (my flatmate). They found a nice public bathhouse in Stuttgart that they go to once a week. They invited me along and I decided to join them. I didn't learn until about 20 min before I left that it was a nude (and coed) bath house. Which isnt really a problem, but an interesting first introduction.

We went to enjoy the saunas, of which there are many different styles there. We would rotate between the saunas and then outdoors to cool off, or a jump in the mineral bath, or a swim in the carbonated pool. The carbonated pool was very strange.. not only because of the obvious swimming naked and cold water.. but of how it feels to be swimming in that type of water. All the bubbles on your skin.... slightly odd smell... very strange. But cool, I looked up on the web and there are many good things of such a bath.

But it was a good time. There was a bar in there so we had a beer as well. Just kinda relaxed and enjoyed ourselves. I'm sure my skin is thanking me. Well off to bed...

my place

Yesterday Tim (one of my flatmate's friends) and I went over to Abbie's place and got the sofa and other items that she didn't want. We were able to get everything in his car, it was quite amazing. God bless Ford Focus Wagons.. the fact that the sofa isnt huge helped too. But we got it all over here, and set up in my place. The shelf needs to rest against something (it doesn't like to stand on its own). But it works well enough my needs and should be just fine. The only thing remaining is to get the heat in my room working. Right now its at around 20% (maybe). I am the last on the loop and the water is low. So my landlord needs to refill the system. He is aware of this but just started a new job and has been quite busy.

Found out today that the scope of the project we are working on is vastly larger than what we had imagined. But will not need as much detail as we explore each area. So the work load is about the same. However, I think the powers that be would like us to be done with this by Dec 23 (when we all leave for Holiday). This way the people we are working with/for have time to move our suggestions into their format etc etc.. So I'll work on this until I come home for xmas and then maybe something else for a few weeks in Jan before I am done.







These pictures are of my room and the kitchen. Omitted is the bathroom. Often I hang out in Johannes's area, he has more of a separate living room area...

I have been trying to catch up on my German. Johannes and I are going to try for days where we just speak German, hopefully that will help move my studies along as well. He' a good flatmate and certainly enjoyable to have a social network outside of work.

VISA, its everywhere you want it to be.

well not entirely true.. seemingly only when you want groceries. Twice now I've encountered that food stores do not take VISA. I don't know if this is a standard practice here or if I've just discovered the two chains here that dont. The first was a natural food store (which was very pricy but good) and the second was a larger, more standard store. Both times I had to sheepishly leave my cart and the counter, go grab some cash and come back down to pay. Its not a huge hassle, but feel kinda like a horse's ass. The rest of my day will be spent in the studio. I think I will attempt some book work so that I can get that done and out of the way.

two weeks...

so the first competition is over. the boards were submitted and we will find out in mid to late December how we did. The office is pretty dynamic, people move around and form groups as projects come together and then move as they are needed elsewhere. I moved my desk just a bit and now I am working on another competition. This one is in a completely different direction than the last. The project is a master plan development. The client is redeveloping what is now their port arear and turning it into residential, educational, cultural, etc etc.... its a huge area. Something like 2.5 million square meters of land.. not counting upward development. So we are working with a team of planners and engineers to develop the initial proposal and begin to give some definition to the areas they are calling out.
It will be a very interesting project to work on. The date is a ways off so it wont be too crazy, at least not for a little while. And it is nice to get in on the project at the ground floor. To have an understanding of what is going on and not be playing catch up in understanding the project.
I think this weekend will be spend working on my thesis book and running some errands for my apartment. Maybe grocery shopping. Get some of those things out of the way so I dont have to think about them during work. Hopefully get my desk set up here as well. And next week pick up the couch and things for guests to sleep on as they may arrive.

it´s best not to do the math...

I recently had a few spare seconds (the walk home) and did the math on my salary, if computed for actual time work my hourly wage it is essentially cut in half.. So Im not going to do that again...

Been putting in some long hours trying to work on a site plan for this project which is meeting with pretty harsh criticism. Trying to work in the colors, layers and textures as well as get the information correct is very difficult. Plus still learning how they organize files and color structure makes my job even harder. Its going though.. and I just keep plugging away....