Brady Dorman

Author: Brady Dorman (page 8 of 22)

Sketching

I sketched this out during drawing class yesterday while sitting on the Ponte Sant Angelo bridge. Facing south, the end corner building at the very left is actually where the church I have been attending is located. I generally do not consider myself a good drawer, but am quite pleased with this one and look forward to sketching more and improving. I drew it in my pocket sketchbook so it is actually quite small, about 3.5 x 5.5 inches. I prefer small scale sketching because accuracy is easier and can be done fairly quickly.

History of Contemporary Rome

January 20, 2010 / Brady Dorman / Comments Off

Today we had another intriguing lecture for ARCH 528 as well as a walking tour discussing the contemporary history of Rome in connection with the modern republic of Italy. Rome became the capital of the unified Italy on December 20, 1870, likely chosen for its symbolic history as a center of power and government. At the time Rome was not much larger than the original ancient city and had somewhat of an agrarian economy. Expansion and transformation from a sleepy town to once again major urban center occurred very rapidly. Modernization had to be quick so many existing buildings were taken over for government use and to house various ministries.

The biggest issue was housing to accommodate the extraordinary growth. Rome was a city of employees, not industry, but construction of course boomed. Surrounding landowners – monasteries and aristocrats – were now developers and there was a building fever. New buildings were eclectic with historical references on facades. A typical new building – becoming common across Europe – was four or five stories tall with all commercial space at ground level. Above on the first floor were located larger, luxurious apartments for the wealthy, and the upper floors became shorter and smaller for the lower classes. This is very interesting, seeming to be the beginning of planned large-scale mixed-use buildings. In general the ancient part of the city was and is still mixed with residential and commerce, but it was much more organic and reactionary.

So much of the city of Rome is not of ancient or even medieval times, but of the 19th and even early 20th centuries. To accommodate automobiles, some new arteries were cut through historic areas. Corso Vittorio Emmanuelle II was cut through the dense Field of Mars area (in the thick of ancient Rome). Unlike new straight arteries, this one winds through to minimize destruction and curve around the most important buildings. Otherwise many building facades were cut back. This is still not a particularly wide street by any means, but is certainly an important traffic corridor through the middle of the city. To the east it connects to a new street, Via Nazione which was modeled after radical new radial avenues in Paris that accommodated not only traffic, but various infrastructures as well.

And finally, close to home (studio) in the Jewish Ghetto, major changes also occurred. With striking parallels to the United States’ urban renewal of the 1960s and 70s, whole areas were deemed unfit and demolished to build brand new. A large part of the ghetto, which had been extraordinarily dense was removed and laid over with a modern grid – including the new synagog. The whole area replaces resulted in only four blocks so the juxtaposition against the remaining ancient urban fabric is quite unusual. (See blue blocks on map above.) At one place you can stand in between the ancient ruins of the Portico d’Ottavia, tiny medieval buildings, and large scale block-sized buildings in simplified Renaissance style facades.

While walking around we used Nolli‘s 1748 figure ground map laid over what exists today to understand the great extent to which some places have been altered. Above the map diagram shows the Corso Vittorio Emmanuelle II artery cutting through the center of Rome (horizontal red line) as well as Via Arenula (north-south) which turns into Via di Trastevere south of the river crossing. It of course terminates at Vittorio, but there was a plan to extend it even further north and split along either side of the Pantheon (located just a few blocks north, off the map). In that proposal, the Pantheon was deemed important enough to preserve, but of course dozens of buildings around it did not have that esteem. Thankfully this extension did not occur.

Additionally on our walking tour, we visited the Palazzo D’Esposizione museum, located on Via Nazione, completed in 1882, so the new state could show its interest in art and culture. There was a new, essentially all glass addition on the back containing a cafe and restaurant. We stopped here first before visiting the gallery, which was seemingly entirely separated (we actually had to go outside and reenter the front of the building). Currently there is a large exhibit with the works of Alexander Calder, who is best known for his mobiles and large (often red) stainless steel sculptures. A group of school children tried to make one of the large mobiles move by blowing at it from afar. How fun.

New Design for Cybrid Fleet

January 20, 2010 / Brady Dorman / Comments Off

The winning “Cybrid” design has been picked for the 10-12 new Gillig hybrids coming soon to CyRide’s bus fleet. Just over 80,000 people voted in an online poll on CyRide’s website to pick from three different designs, with a landslide majority win for the “Gold Leaf” design. CyRide received $1.6 million in 100% federal funding through the 2009 Recovery Act to upgrade diesel buses to hybrid. It has been common for transit systems across the nation to specially brand hybrid buses to promote “going green” and the environmental benefits of riding transit. The first nine Cybrids are scheduled to arrive in Ames by July.

> CYRIDE: Cybrid Vote is Gold (Leaf)

Chicken Parmesan

January 19, 2010 / Brady Dorman / Comments Off

Mon, Jan 18 – Tonight was my turn to make dinner again. Last week I made lasagna, so this week I decided to make chicken parmesan. I checked a recipe earlier today and stopped by Standa on the way home from class to pick up chicken breast, flour (for breading), and a few other needed ingredients. I loosely followed this recipe from chickenparmesan.net, but simply used a jar of tomato sauce instead of the combination with tomato puree called for in the recipe, and added chunks of cherry tomatoes. (Eating in Italy is actually teaching me to like some vegetables – but still not lettuce!)

Frying the chicken was somewhat trial and error. At first there was not much of a fried breading so I attempted to add more flour and thicken the crisp while already in the skillet. This eventually just lead to an unappealing sediment of flour glob in the pan. The second batch (I could only fit three of six pieces on the skillet at once) I tried to batter a bit thicker to start but the build up of old flour in the pan was not ideal. All turned out well and the chicken tasted good and had some crisp, but was not thickly breaded as intended.

I then poured the sauce over the chicken in a baking dish, generously topped with fresh mozzarella and grated parmesan and baked for about an hour – nice because it gave me plenty of time to clean up all the dishes and utensils I had dirtied during preparation. The finished dish was another culinary success and tasted great. The small group meal sharing has worked out really well so far – I get a great meal almost every evening, don’t have to cook often, and save money too.

The dish tonight was split among six people, but I still have one piece of chicken leftover for my lunch tomorrow. The photo above is it right out of the oven. The side of pasta was compliments of Jackson. Now I have about a week to figure out my next meal to cook. Any suggestions?

Weekend in Rome

January 17, 2010 / Brady Dorman / Comments Off

It was a nice weekend in Rome. On Saturday (Jan 16) I spent much of the day walking with two friends since it was sunny and warm. We walked up the hills near our neighborhood Trastevere, with fantastic views of the city, en route to the Vatican. Piazza San Pietro (Saint Peter’s) was busy with people, but due to the immensity of the space, it was not crowded. To go inside, the line for security took a mere ten minutes or so. Entering the basilica I was immediately taken aback by the enormity of the space. Directly inside to the right was Michelangelo’s Pietá statue. Walking further in to the crossing, you experience the fullness of the space that is incredible. It is uplifting and inspiring. I took few photos, fully realizing they would turn out well, but I sketched a small part at the crossing. I want to return and sketch more inside and out in the piazza.

Today, Sunday, I went to church again with Jamin, and enjoyed coffee and greetings afterwords. On the way back we crossed the river and walked back through Trastevere. Today was somewhat gloomy outside, not like the nice weather Saturday, so I spent the rest of the day at the apartment doing some reading for class and part of a sketching assignment, as did most of my apartment fellows.

The Pope was at the synagogue right across the river near our studio today for an historic visit. I did not make it over to see any of the spectacle, but I heard from a friend streets were blocked off and access was restricted with a block or so perimeter with strict security. The are had been buzzing with activity since the middle of last week getting ready for the special visit.

New photos from Saturday here.

Imagine a Vital Neighborhood Cedar Rapids

January 17, 2010 / Brady Dorman / 1 Comment

Cedar Rapids-based, non-profit organization S.E.E.D. (Sustainable Ecological Economic Development) will be hosting a Sustainability Symposium “Imagine a Vital Neighborhood” this Saturday with architecture grad students from Iowa State University. Students will present design proposals to stimulate ideas for building a pedestrian friendly, sustainable neighborhood in the Oakhill Jackson and New Bo areas near downtown Cedar Rapids.

S.E.E.D. founder and Oakhill Jackson Neighborhood Association President Michael Richards has been collaborating with the College of Design’s “Bridge Studio” for two years. The first year students developed prototype designs for post-flood affordable housing that received the grand prize for the 2009 NCARB Prize for Creative Integration of Practice and Education in the Academy. Professors Clare Cardinal-Pett, Peter Goche, and Nadia Anderson, who was my studio instructor this past fall, will be leading the event.

Anyone interested in the revitalization of these neighborhoods and making a more livable, sustainable Cedar Rapids is encouraged to attend. The forum will be held from 10am – 5pm, this Saturday, Jan. 23, at the Community Conference Hall in the Horizons Building, 819 5th St. SE. More information about the event can be found on BJ Smith’s Puncture Proof blog.

> Bridge Studio
> S.E.E.D.
> Puncture Proof: Forum promotes pedstrian-friendly neighborhoods

Beyond Trastevere

January 16, 2010 / Brady Dorman / 3 Comments

Yesterday evening (Friday, Jan 15) I decided to explore beyond my neighborhood of Trastevere (photo above) in a direction I hadn’t gone very far yet. I had purchased five single ride bus tickets (BIT) earlier at the tabacchi so decided to ride the tram line 8 out to the endpoint at Cosatello and go from there. Throughout my explorations I discovered some more neat pedestrian-friendly and happening streets outside of the central city antiquity, and also picked up a few things about the transit system.

The tram ride to Cosatello took about ten minutes or so. As visible on the map, once away from the heart of Trastevere near the river, the urban pattern becomes much more gridded and regular. The area is of course much newer than central Rome but besides a few main thoroughfares, the streets maintain a human scale and the buildings are mixed-use, in many cases more visibly active than many buildings in the older parts of the city. Typical apartment buildings there are five to six stories and stucco with muted colors. Facades are generally plane, but made lively by inhabitants. Autos are much more dominant on the streets, which are certainly more “friendly” to cars. The tram past a Ford dealership, though still extremely tiny by American standards and fully contained within a building. Car lots are non existent here. There were also some larger gas stations along the main roads as well. A lot of places, especially closer to the center of the city, tiny filling stations are located along the side of the roadway and cars simply pull over. I’ve noticed all of them seem to have attendants so perhaps self service is either not customary or legal.

Once I reached the tram endpoint I backtracked a few blocks until I came to Via Edoardo Jenner, a pleasant street characterized by apartment blocks with specialty shops at sidewalk level. I stopped at one complex of four apartment buildings that had a nice entry courtyard in the middle to sketch. As I continued further down the street it turned into a much more active retail district. After a number of blocks the concentration of retail terminated at a piazza so I turned the corner and went a few blocks to another major thoroughfare Viale dei Colli Portuensi.

This street was much wider than the one with the tram, with several lanes and generous setbacks. The scale of buildings were similar, but most were not attached to each other on the sides. In one sense it felt very suburban, but at the same time most ground floors of buildings were active by shops, restaurants, and commercial entities. Aside from the architecture, it somewhat reminded me of the wide avenues in some newer areas in the District of Columbia. In fact I notice a lot of parallels in different parts of Rome to certain attributes of various American cities I’ve visited.

View ROME 5 – Beyond Trastevere in a larger map

Navigating Bus Stops
I originally did not intend to venture to far away from the tram and until one point, even when I had gone quite far, was planning to simply turn around and return along the same route. But once I had been walking quite a distance I decided to simply follow the major thoroughfares I came upon and make a big loop back to tram. You can see my large loop on the map. My turn on to Via Portuense was by a narrow sidewalk along an off ramp. When I reached the next major intersection I began second guessing my direction. However after pondering a map at a bus stop sign for a moment and looking at the route information provided on the sign, I was able to use the bus stop signs to confirm I was heading in the right direction.

For each route serving a particular bus stop, the sign lists every street it goes on and how many stops on that particular street. I noticed the majority of routes at the stops I was passing had final destinations at Stazione Trastevere. At one point I walked too far past a street I needed to turn on, but realized about a block past when there were no more routes listed for Trastevere. Eventually I simply stopped at waited for one of the Trastevere buses – took route 774 – to get back to the tram. Of course once I got on the bus I discovered the tram was only about a block further away.

It was an enjoyable exploration outside of central Rome, but nonetheless a bit tiring. By using the bus stops to confirm my direction, I was able to better understand all the information on the sides and now the system seems much more legible to me. For someone with a broad knowledge of street names in Rome, it’d be quite easy navigating the system simply using the information provided at stops. Unfortunately the Roma ATAC website is not quite as thorough, particularly for buses, which is why it was less clear to me at first. Of course, knowing where you want to go is critical for getting around by transit, which was my main inhibition at first – simply not knowing anywhere to go outside of central Rome. I look forward to exploring more of the Rome metro via transit.

> Photos: (005) Beyond Trastevere
> Photos: (004) Friday urban history walk at Forum and Colosseum.

Musings in Roma

January 14, 2010 / Brady Dorman / Comments Off

It’s been a week since I arrived in Rome now. The past few days since classes began have been fairly routine. We’ve been drawing a couple hours each day – a quick review of the basics of blind contour, negative space and figure drawing – which has actually been quite delightful. My studio meets in a small room in the back of the studio at Palazzo Cenci (photo above) with access to a small terrace. The desk I sit at looks out a side window facing another building facade with many layers of time, materials, and levels. Occasionally pigeons touch down on decorative ledge in the brickwork. Next week we begin drawing out in the city at various sites.

Yesterday (Wednesday) we had an introductory lecture to a weekly seminar course on Italian design spanning art, architecture, and urban – very intriguing. That afternoon we also had an introductory lecture of Roman urban history by Jan Gadeyne, an accomplished historian, who will be giving the first three lectures. In addition to this course will be weekly Friday walks in the city, first of which will be tomorrow.

Today I had a few hours free between drawing in the morning and Italian in the afternoon; I took a walk north of studio past the Pantheon destined for Richard Meier’s very contemporary Ara Pacis Museum. On the way I seemed to discover a large, trendy retail district with several upscale stores as well as recognizable chains …even a Disney Store. The scale of most specialty stores here is so different than in America, several being no larger than a few hundred square feet. During the month of January (Gennaio) every store has large sales (saldi) so one of my tasks this weekend is to do some shopping. See new photos from today’s exploration here.

This evening I went up to Viale di Trastevere (the tram street) to buy a sketchbook for tomorrow’s history walk. I decided to walk further down the street. After a few blocks there was a noticeable shift from more traditional Roman architecture to a good mix with larger scale early 20th century modernism. This made sense as much of Trastevere sits outside the two original city wall boundaries, making this area relatively new for the city of Rome. It was interesting to see how these modern designs have aged and been adapted.

Most were apartment buildings with commercial spaces along the sidewalk. Aesthetically I can’t say any of them were particularly attractive, they are still occupied and respectable locations. Some of the drab, redundant facades have been enhanced with shrubbery and plantings at windows and along balconies. The juxtaposition of these large scale exhibits of modernist residential architecture in the ancient city of Rome is fascinating. Entirely different scales and styles, though likely similar densities. This is something I would like to study more during my time living in Rome.

That is all for tonight. Tomorrow’s history walk includes the ancient Forum, Palatine, and Colosseum. I’m staying in the city for the weekend and looking forward to more exploring. The Pope is evidently coming to the synagog (a block from Palazzo Cenci – our studio) on Sunday so the are is buzzing to get ready for the big event and security is beginning to be increased as well. It should be quite the spectacle.

Also my friend Dana started blogging tonight about Rome as well. He has a good first post concerning the scale of Rome streets and blocks that can be very deceiving when looking at on a map. It is worth a read here.

First Day of Class at Palazzo Cenci

January 12, 2010 / Brady Dorman / Comments Off

Monday, Jan. 11 – Today was the start of semester classes in Rome. We meet at Palazzo Cenci, a fairly significant 16th century building at Piazza delle Cinque Scole (five schools), where ISU College of Design has space on an upper floor. It is just across the river from Trastevere where my apartment is, in the former Rome Jewish ghetto. (See walking route to studio here.) We began at 9:30 with a brief orientation.

On the walk there I stopped with my friend Jenna at a coffee bar on Isola Tibenna (Tiber Island). The coffee bars in Rome are tiny bars where people come in and drink and eat quickly standing up at the bar and then go on their way. The coffee comes in very small cups. At this particular bar, you pay first at the cashier and take your receipt to the bar. I was unsure how what to say, so I requested the same thing as Jenna ordered before me – espresso e cornetto (crossaint) – for €1.80. At the bar the barista asked if I wanted cioccolato (chocolate) or creme (cream). I asked for creme. Now I know the next time to order cappuccino e uno cornetto.

Following orientation we broke for lunch. I walked up to Corso Vittorio Emanuele II (the busier street with the cellphone store) and had a panini and Coke for €3.70. It was fun to be able to try out the few new words I pick up each day. I went to pay and told the cashier I had a “panino e Coca-Cola.” (Amazing, right?)

Back to studio we had a drawing lecture from a faculty member from Ames, then broke into our studios. My studio met in a back room with access to the terrace. We spent the remainder of the day experimenting with different grades of charcoal and other drawing mediums. At the end of the day our instructor Chris took us on a short walk around a few nearby blocks pointing out some noteworthy places and amenities.

On the way home I stopped back at Panella (the first supermarket I went to on day 2) just off Viale di Trastevere (street), to pick up a bottle of bianco vino for the evening and some more pasta sauce for good measure. Once I got back to our apartment I passed the old woman who seems to be sitting at a corner near a vending machine all day everyday. I greeted her “Buona sera” (good evening) and she responded with a smile. Around the corner an old man greeted me and we had a brief conversation. He spoke little English but asked my age and if I was a university student. “Sì” and “Buona sera.”

For dinner another friend made salad and manicotti with the remaining lasagna ingredients from last night. Tomorrow is supposed to be at least partially sunny so I hope to take some photos of the neighborhood and studio. For class we have a language course and another drawing session.

Domenica con Sooba e Lasagna

January 11, 2010 / Brady Dorman / 2 Comments

Jan. 10 – Sunday with Sooba and lasagna. Today was my first Sunday in Rome and the last free day before class begins tomorrow. My friend Jamin found an English speaking British Methodist church so I went with him to the service at 10:30. He went on earlier for breakfast so I walked there myself and met him there. It was not a very far walk, maybe 20 minutes. The church, Ponte Sant’Angelo Methodist Church, is located by the river (opposite side from the apartment) just across from the Vatican. I met Jamin nearby and we went in a little early. To my surprise the church was very small – the entire sanctuary perhaps 50 by 50 feet. We were invited to practice today’s hymns with other members congregated around the organist, a Methodist minister from New York who is now studying music in Rome. Eventually a crowd of about 35-40 people filled the church. We were not the only visitors today – an older British couple was there (they have an apartment in Rome so they come visit a number of times each year), and a woman from South Carolina planning to eventually bring some students here.

Following the service was coffee and fellowship upstairs. I talked briefly to the organist from New York and the British couple. A short man named Sooba, originally from Myanmar (Burma) kept talking to me, but initially it was difficult to understand each other. He came to Italy a few years ago after not being able to get a visa to the US, and works at a restaurant and a bar. He offered to show us around the city. I was reluctant to accept, intending to return to the apartment to meet back up with others, but figured I would not want to miss out on this experience. Indeed it was.

Neither of us were certain exactly where or how long he was planning to show us around. We first took a bus (route 64) from near the church to Termini Station. I had not used transit here yet, so I suppose it was a nice way of getting familiar. Sooba had a month pass, but we needed to purchase a ticket first. In Rome all modes of transit (bus, tram, metro) use the same ticket that must be pre purchased and validated once on board. He seemed to think you could buy a ticket on the bus. We didn’t think so, but we went along. Of course it ended up you couldn’t. An older Italian man was talking to Sooba and offered us a single ticket he had spare, so only one for us. Luckily we arrived at Termini without encountering any ticket inspectors.

When we got to Termini I figured we were going to connect to the metro to go elsewhere in the city, but instead walked a number of blocks nearby to a small Chinese area (as much as there is in Rome anyway), centered around Piazza Vittorio Emanuelle II, a large, lush piazza surrounded by arcade facades and all sides. We spent probably a half hour or more in this area, Sooba in search of fish paste. We stopped in a tabacchi (tobacco / convenience shop) so we could purchase transit tickets and Sooba got a small coffee.

We then took the tram line 5 far east along Via Prenestina to Sooba’s apartment. He told us his generous boss gave him a bottle of champagne, but he could not drink it himself because he lives alone. He went to get it as we waited on the corner near his building. Out this far the city was much newer but still quite dense. The two of us were hungary so we picked up pizza as we all walked back to the tram. Then returned to Piazza Vittorio Emanuelle II to eat and share Sooba’s bottle of champagne. Only in Rome.

At this point it was getting pretty cold and cloudy again so it was quite uncomfortable. Sooba wanted to have Chinese food for dinner but we told him we needed to return to the apartment. It took a very long time to finally get back though. From the piazza we took Metro line A to Flamino (from far east of our apartment to a good distance north of) and then further north to Piazza Mancini. There we crossed the street and went into a phone center (we past a few of these that he pointed out – basically several phone booths for making international calls). He told us to wait for him to call his mother… At this point we were both getting a little frustrated. The phone did not seem to work for him so we finally got on another tram line (19) back south and across the river to just north of Piazza San Pietro (St. Peters / Vatican). Once we walked into the piazza we ensured Sooba we could find our way from there and finally went along on separate ways. Neither of us had been to St. Peters yet, both we were both pretty exhausted at this point so walked along the Tiber back to Trastevere (quarter that our apartment is located).

It was an interesting afternoon with Sooba. (See a rough map of our journey here.) He seems to be expecting us to hang out every Sunday afternoon now. I wouldn’t mind occasionally, but certainly not the long, seemingly random time we had today. At least next week we will have homework as an excuse.

For dinner I made lasagna for myself and four other friends. I had planned to last night but came home to discover we had no baking pans. My friends picked up an aluminum pan so we were good to go. With mozzarella, ricotta cheese, and prosciutto, it turned out very well. At first I was apprehensive to cooking and admittedly never been my favorite thing to do. But I was pleased with how it came out and my friends seemed to enjoy it as well.

I apologize for this rant of a post. My hope is to keep this less of a travel-blog and more of an observation, but I found today’s adventure worthy of sharing. Tomorrow class begins at 9:30am in our studio just across the river at Piazza delle Cinque Scole. Also today I uploaded some photos of the apartment here. Ciao.

URBAN THINKING