URBAN THINKING

Page 7 of 22

Villa Borghese

Today (Wednesday) was a beautiful day outside (in the 60s) and I had the afternoon free so I spent sometime exploring Villa Borghese, a large public park in Rome, formerly a private villa for the Borghese family. It is the second largest public park in the city, following Villa Doria Pamphili, which I wandered upon this past Sunday. I had a great time just walking around and enjoying the weather. It was a nice retreat from the dense and busy city and made me think of a lot of other retreat parks in urban areas in the US, as well as large city parks that include many different civic and cultural attractions such as zoos and museums.

While Villa Borghese was originally a private suburban party villa for Scipione Borghese, it is now public and includes the Bioparco (zoo), National Gallery of Modern Art, and other smaller villas from the 1911 world exposition here. Relatable examples in the US would be Forest Park in St. Louis, City Park in Denver, and of course the great lakefront parks in Chicago. Closer to home I was reminded of Bever Park and Ellis Park in Cedar Rapids that were originally suburban parks to provide a public retreat from the city. Bever Park also includes a zoo that at one time had a pretty impressive collection of animals.

I spent about two hours strolling around Villa Borghese and then walked back along Via Vittorio Veneto, a street I went down on the bus ride there. It is a very attractive, well-kept (and expensive) area that feels more Parisian than Roman. Wide clean sidewalks, separated from the street by grass medians and flowerbeds, accommodate several permanent pavilions for restaurant dining areas.

It was a very nice afternoon. I look forward to spending more time outside in Rome as the weather continues to get nicer as we head into spring. See photos from today here.

Piazza di Santa Maria Liberatrice

February 22, 2010 / Brady Dorman / 1 Comment

It was a delightful sunny Saturday afternoon in Rome, following a bit of a dreary, but relatively warm morning. After lunch my friend Jenna and I decided to enjoy the nice weather with gelato in a park. We went to one of my favorite parks I’ve seen so far, Piazza di Santa Maria Liberatrice in the Testaccio neighborhood just across the river to the south of Trastevere. The neighborhood is relatively small, sandwiched between the Tiber to the west, the Aventine Hill to the east and Monte Testaccio (Rome’s ancient Mount Trashmore) and old industry to the south. The area was sparsely populated with poor rural settlements before the mid to late 19th century when it was developed for worker housing for the industries nearby. It is one of the few cases of planned urbanization in Rome.

Laid out in a grid system, the neighborhood has a sense of continuation within and with the rest of the city, despite actually being somewhat tucked away. The regular streets disguise the neighborhood’s small size, giving a sense it could continue endlessly. It is characterized mostly by 6-8 story apartment buildings with sidewalk level shops, a market building, one large early 20th century church Santa Maria Liberatrice, and of course its associated piazza.

Piazza di Santa Maria Liberatrice is really more of a park compared to a typical Rome piazza. It is two blocks long and triangular shaped with a large playground at the wide end and a large open plaza in the center that flows into a brick pathway lined with benches leading to the narrow end near the church. The entire piazza is filled with trees and areas of green. The few actual grassy areas are separated by small grade changes with brick retaining walls and benches, discouraging walking there, so they have actually been maintained pretty well compared to most places with grass in the city. The abundance of trees and breaking up the piazza with different elements create several smaller spaces instead of one single open space which is more typical of Roman piazzas. This makes the piazza much more versatile and useful for more and different people. The scale and aesthetic of the buildings surrounding the piazza provide a well defined edge around the urban space.

After we got our gelato from a place at the corner, we took a bench in a nook between the playground and the larger central plaza. The playground was very active today with several children and their parents out enjoying the nice weather. Across from us three old men were sitting and shooting the breeze over a smoke. Soon several of the local pigeons congregated around us as we were finishing our cones. I laid a few crumbs down near me to see how close they would come. One little guy in particular was trying to get closer but kept beating around the bush. A small lonely sparrow came out from his hiding spot under a bush so I threw him (or her) a piece.

Later on a few boys started of a game of soccer in the central plaza space – the biggest kid as the goalie. Meanwhile the old men went on their way and a new crew took their place. The mini world cup was a fierce match but all in good fun. When the ball went astray there was plenty of help getting it back. A middle aged man sitting on the bench next to us tossed it back first. Then a young father passing through with his daughter in an all-terrain stroller kicked it back to them. The next foul ball went high into the air right towards the new group of old guys. I can only imagine the brief terror those kids experienced as the ball went hurling through the air towards them. But the men shrugged it off and all was well. It was a captivating game that got everyone involved.

The interaction of different people, different generations, and different creatures makes visiting this park a wonderful experience. It is a park that encourage and facilities an endless number of activities through its design and amenities like the playground and ample sittable space. The different spaces within it are at a human scale, making them inviting and comfortable to be in. The buildings and church that frame the park give it context and a sense of place, making it special and unique to that community. Piazza di Santa Maria Liberatrice is everything a great urban neighborhood park should be – and a great place to enjoy the day with some gelato.

Velkommen to Norway

February 22, 2010 / Brady Dorman / Comments Off

For a long week end two weeks ago (Feb 6-8), three others and I had a delightful time visiting Norway. Overall impressions from our brief visit were extremely positive, despite being very cold compared to Rome. After returning from Perugia Friday night, we headed back out of Rome early Saturday morning on a 6:30 flight to Oslo.

Once we got into the city we checked into our hostel, just blocks from the bus and train stations in the city center. In search of lunch we walked down Karl Johans Gate, the “main street” of downtown Oslo running between the rail station on the east and the Royal Palace at the west end. A number of the blocks on the easter end have been turned into a pedestrian mall with a very trendy retail scene. Further west the street opens back up to traffic near the Stortinget (Parliament of Norway), the beginning of a park that runs the rest of the way to the Royal Palace grounds. The park includes a plaza in front o the Storinget, a large fountain turned skating rink in the winter, and the National Theatre building. This seems to be the real heart of Oslo. Several buildings on the south edge of the park, some modern, but most more traditional had electronic advertisements and signs atop, like it was Norway’s version of Times Square.

Just a block or so south of the park is Oslo Rådhus (City Hall), a monumental brick building facing the Oslo Fjord. Next to this area is Aker Brygge, an old shipyard that was redeveloped into offices and shopping starting in the 1980s. This small area had an incredible collection of new architecture with creative facades and use of different materials. It was almost overwhelming to take it all in with so many intriguing buildings. One area where a street opens up, two small sittable spaces are created by the pavement mounding up to create an artificial brick berm. A small child was playing on one. I can only imagine how popular these are when it is warmer.

We then headed over to the Oslo Opera House as the sun was beginning to set (around 3:30pm), with a quick stop at the National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design that we spotted on the way. The Opera House was simply amazing. We walked up the sloped roof and had a delightful time trekking all around on top. The accessible roof connects the physically-isolated opera house with the rest of downtown by providing fantastic views of the city. The architecture is engaging and interactive for everyone, not just those going to a performance. It becomes much more than a cultural asset, but has social and urban virtues as well.

When we explored the lobby we decided to get tickets for that evening’s National Opera orchestra concert. Cheap seats were for 100 Kroner (around $17) so not bad at all. The concert started at 7:30, featuring music from Strauss and Beethoven. The performance was enjoyable and nice to hear some recognizable pieces, not to mention experiencing the event in a world-renowned venue. Inside the performance hall was clad in variations of horizontal and vertical wood lines that I particularly liked. (Anyone who’s been in studio with me knows I have a thing for parallel [wood] lines in architecture, so you can imagine what a grand time I was having in Norway.)

After the show we asked our usher, who seemed to be about our age, where a good place would be to go out nearby since we hadn’t eaten yet. Her friend suggested a place a few blocks north around Youngstorget Square. We found it and discovered it was only a bar and we still needed to eat. Being used to the late dinning custom in Italy (and not exactly familiar with that in Norway) we found ourselves almost out of luck besides perhaps McDonald’s. We stopped back at our hostel, not far to ask the clerk where we could find something to eat. He directed us to the Cathedral Cafe on Karl Johans Gate, serving local Norwegian food we were in search of. I got a Norwegian Ringnes beer and a dish of salmon with hallandale sauce and boiled potatoes (not sure what the dish name was). After eating it was nearing midnight so we all turned in for the evening with another early morning ahead of us.

In the morning we walked to the train station a few blocks away to catch our NSB Bergen Railway train, departing a little after 8:00. This was my first trip by train in Europe so was pretty excited for it. We boarded and found our seats; the train was quite empty to start. The cars were modern and comfortable. Despite being one of the more memorable parts of the trip, it is hard to describe in depth through words. The route weaved in and around snow covered mountain peaks, alongside fiords and small towns. Initially it was interesting to watch as we left Oslo and how the city transitioned into rural. Housing types were actually quite similar to the United States. The train ride was a little over seven hours, running a bit late toward the end. The scenery just kept getting better and better as we approached Bergen.

Once we arrived in Bergen we walked a few blocks to our hostel. This one was not quite as accommodating as the one in Oslo, but it was good enough for the night. Since we only had a short amount of daylight left we were swift to drop off our things and head out exploring. We walked a few blocks to Bryggen (see photo at top), a series of Hanseatic commercial buildings along the fjord. This is the oldest part of the city, dating back to 1070, but due to various fires the oldest buildings only date back to the 1700s.

Soon Jamin and I split from the other two and took the Fløibanen cable railway to the top of the hill. From there was a spectacular view of the entire city, clarifying to us how large Bergen actually was. From the small area near the train station and our hostel, we perceived the city much smaller than it is and didn’t get to many areas with taller, more contemporary buildings. The top was busy today not only with sightseers, but also skiiers with a cross country ski trail running right by. A restaurant and a gift shop were also at the top. We stopped in the gift shop for a while to warm up, waiting for the sun to set a little to get photos of the city below. I bought a Kvikk Lunsj (quick lunch) bar that was extremely similar to a Kit-Kat. But don’t tell them that! (according to Wikipedia)

We went back down and regrouped with the other two around 6:30. We walked around the city center a bit more and around the University of Bergen campus nearby. Then we had similar issues finding dinner as we did in Oslo, despite going much earlier this time. Many restaurants seemed to be closed or not serving food (because it was Sunday perhaps?). We went into an Irish pub that looked good just to find out the kitchen was closed because the chef was sick. Aaron and Chester settled on an Indian restaurant we had walked by, while Jamin and I opted for the less expensive choice across the street at a small gyro / pizza place.

This was the first place we encountered that didn’t speak any English – the guy working appeared to be an immigrant so he only knew some Norwegian. I was looking for a pizza with onions so we were able to ask what was on one particular kind, so he pointed to the ingredients, one that looked kind of like onions. As he was putting it together I noticed a different container over by the gyros that clearly was onion, and realized we had ordered a pepperoni, pineapple and paprika pizza. (Pineapple not my fave) The pizza was good anyway and came with cucumber sauce for dipping. It was also really inexpensive (by Norwegian standards) at only 149 NOK for the large pizza and two drinks. We headed back to the hostel for another early night to bed, followed by another early morning.

The morning (Monday) came very soon. We left the hostel by 5:45 to make it to the bus station to catch the 6:30 Flybuss to the airport. We had an 8:10 flight out of Bergen to Rygge Airport, another airport by Oslo. We took another bus back into the city center of Oslo, but only had about two and a half hours until we had to catch another bus back to Torp Airport to make our return flight again. The bus transport between airports and the city ended up taking longer than expect and due to the scheduling, we had a lot less time back in Oslo than originally expected.

On a mission to get some photos and a souvenir knit hat, I walked down Karl Johans Gate to near the Royal Palace before swinging down to the shop near the Rådhus. On the way Jamin and I stopped at a bakery along the Storinget park for coffee and a cinnamon roll. I went down the building’s lower level where a sporting goods store was to find a restroom. While browsing their hats a store clerk approached me and asked if I needed anything in Norwegian. As I responded in English he realized I wasn’t Norwegian, smiled and apologized with a friendly pat on the back. Not to overgeneralize an entire population, but everyone here was extremely friendly and helpful. This was only one example.

The visit to Norway was very enjoyable. It was great to see the beautiful countryside and experience the quaintness of Bergen and neat urbanism in Oslo. The contemporary architecture of Norway is handsome and sophisticated, but not overly conservative or boring. Oslo has a delightful combination of old and new, existing more or less harmoniously together. It was a very nice change of scenery from Rome where there are very few examples of really attractive contemporary architecture.

See all my Norway photos here.

Umbria Trip

February 15, 2010 / Brady Dorman / Comments Off

Last weekend was full of travel. Last Thursday to Friday (Feb 4-5) we had a short overnight class trip to Perugia, Umbria, followed by a three day weekend for travel on our own. I headed up to Norway with three others and it was a blast, but I’ll talk about that in my next post.

We left Rome around 8am on Thursday aboard a double decker charter bus, which was kind of fun. It was my first time out of the city since arriving about a month ago, so I was looking forward to seeing the countryside and just somewhere else besides Rome.

On the way to Perugia we made a few side stops along the way. First in the small hill town of Bagnaia to visit Villa Lanta (16th century) with an elaborate formal garden with fountain and water features flowing down the hill above the town. We stayed there for a little over an hour to explore and do some sketching. Our second stop was at Palazzo Farnese (photo to left), an enormous 16th century mansion in a very rural town Caprarola. Similar to Villa Lanta, it sat above overlooking much of the small town. On the short walk from the bus we had majestic views of the deep valleys and hillside dwellings (photo at top). We only went through one floor of the Palazzo, which were all elaborately decorated with frescos painted on just about every wall and ceiling surface. Then we made a quick stop nearby for food tasting of a few different local foods, wines, and naturally carbonated water.

The next leg of the bus trip was longer, going through very hilly and forested areas. The road had very sharp turns, switching back and forth up and down terrain. The countryside was beautiful and a nice change of scenery from the dense grittiness of Rome. Despite winter, much of the ground was still mostly green.

We arrived in Perugia around 5:30pm, just as it was getting dark. Outside of town there were occasional small industrial buildings along the highway. Entering the city was actually quite sudden. I was surprised by the size and modernity of the newer areas, with more towers, glass and steel than can be found in Rome. But this certainly did not characterize all of Perugia, which originated as a medieval fortress atop a hill. The old historic center remains a vibrant place, connected to the newer city below by MiniMetro, an automated people mover system, as well as an extensive escalator corridor going up the hill.

A wide pedestrian street Corso Vannucci at the top is flanked by several tiny “streets” that crawl up and down the terrain, winding around agglomerations of buildings. Unlike most of the medieval streets in Rome, the majority of these were completely inaccessible except on foot, many only a meter or so wide. A lot were also built over, either partially or completely, making the typical meaning of street even more inapplicable. They were very foreign, especially since they are all still functioning, providing access to operating businesses and residences. The multidimensional, multilayered urbanism here simply cannot be found in America.

Hilltop Perugia was very posh with several stylish outlets along Corso Vannucci. It was very clean compared to Rome and the small side streets were very well lit. The paving material was also a lighter stone and brick compared to the standard dark gray cobblestone used most everywhere in Rome.

Our hotel (Hotel Priori) was just off Corso Vannucci on one of these side streets. That evening we had a group dinner with all students and professors at All Mangiar bene (translates: “All Eating Well”) located down one of the side vias. It was a multi course Italian dinner with two appetizers, soup, spaghetti, salad, turkey dish, pork chops and sausage; followed by dessert, coffee, and a lemon liquor. Needless to say, it was intense and very filling. A brick arched ceiling characterized the dinning room, with only a few small windows at one end, giving it a very medieval, almost dungeon-like vibe.

The following day on Friday was left for exploration and sketching. I walked down the hill first to find the train station with a few friends who needed to catch a bus there later to get to their own weekend travels. I then wandered around the modern city around and took the MiniMetro back up to the top. It was drizzly, gloomy and cold that day so everyone was pretty much ready to leave when we the bus came back around 3pm. The bus trip back to Rome was pretty uneventful with one quick stop at an AutoGrill truck stop. Back in Rome it was pouring rain, not making for a fun way back to the apartment. We were dropped back off at the Piramide Metro station where we had met the bus on Thursday, despite driving right by the apartment where the majority of us live. Waiting ten minutes in the pouring rain for a local bus to come was no fun at all, but hey, its Rome.

Perugia was a nice short trip outside of Rome and neat to see a smaller Italian city. See photos here.

Letter: TrueNorth Site Best for New Library

February 3, 2010 / Brady Dorman / 3 Comments

Below is a letter that my friend Spencer Barnes and I wrote to Cedar Raids Mayor Ron Corbett, City Council members and the Cedar Rapids Public Library Board of Trustees. The Library Board will make a final site recommendation tomorrow at their 4 pm meeting and the City Council is expected to vote on Feb. 24.

To the City Council of Cedar Rapids:

The new library is arguably the most important city facility to be rebuilt from the flood. It is not only a place to store books and information, but it is a place of community engagement, interaction and participation. The new library will have a profound effect on its surrounding area, therefore site selection should not be taken lightly. We feel the issue of parking has been unreasonably prioritized above other equally, if not more important criteria. Furthermore, we have concern with the way parking availability has been defined at certain sites, in particular at TrueNorth.

The alleged problem with providing parking at TrueNorth is hard to accept, with two large city parking garages so close by. Further, the library board’s demand for 315 free parking spaces is also unreasonably excessive. Even Library Director Bob Pasicznuk said that 200 is plenty for our peer libraries, and Des Moines’ new downtown library, for example, only includes 30 spaces.

By asserting such an extreme and unnecessary parking requirement, this ultimately becomes the main determining factor for site selection. If the city is serious about actually being “vibrant” and “urban”, we must strive for the types of places that are accessible and stimulating – that bring together people from all walks of life for all kinds of activities. Alternative means of getting around need to be recognized and encouraged – biking, walking, and transit. Incentivizing private cars is counterproductive to this goal and is unfair to those who cannot drive. Additionally, as the old library was once labeled as downtown’s biggest attraction, maximization of synergistic benefits needs to be prioritized. The library should be placed in a location by which visitors can easily utilize other downtown services including local businesses struggling to gain a foothold after the devastating flood.

Therefore, we believe that TrueNorth is the perfect location to foster community engagement and continued rejuvenation of downtown. A new library at the TrueNorth site could reactivate the fading Green Square Park, creating a truly cultural community green space – bordered by the art museum, former Carnegie Library, and the First Presbyterian Church. With proximity to the established downtown core, yet on the edge of more sparsely built up blocks, the new library here would promote further urban development in this area. The site is also responsibly far from the river, taking on very little water during the flood, so slightly elevating a new library here could mitigate any risk.

We ask that you take a more balanced approach in choosing a final library site and consider which site has the greatest potential to foster a real vibrant and urban hometown. We believe that site is TrueNorth.

Thank you,

Brady Dorman
Senior in Architecture
Iowa State University

Spencer Barnes
Senior in Finance
George Washington University

Save Sinclair Smokestack

February 3, 2010 / Brady Dorman / Comments Off

Following the flood in 2008, and two fires this past year at the old Farmstead / Sinclair meatpacking plant, Cedar Rapids is moving forward with demolition plans. After the most recent fire in December, it was announced that the smokestack would have to be demolished due to structural instability. But last week the City Council decided to hold off for the moment in response to a plea from the Historic Preservation Commission to study stabilizing and restoring it first.

Details aside (not really the point of this point), I got to thinking after browsing through the Gazette online reader comments. Some people feel it is an important part of Cedar Rapids history and needs to be preserved while others simply see it as a waste of time and money.

I’ve been in Rome for nearly a month now, living and going to school in buildings that are 400-500 years old, surrounded by other buildings and structures well over a thousand years old. Over the centuries, most buildings in Rome – many that were once very significant – have not survived. They’ve either been abandoned and looted for building materials, or modified for different uses. Only more recently (last century) has there been such a strong preservation push for buildings and sites of antiquity. So being here really puts into perspective what old actually is, not to mention historical.

Personally I would like to see the smokestack saved – I agree it is an important part of our city history, as well as a neat landmark. The difference in “scale” and “significance” from Cedar Rapids’ history and that of Rome is interesting to consider once experiencing both.

Photo credit: Jim Slosiarek / The Gazette

General Update + Weekend

February 2, 2010 / Brady Dorman / Comments Off

It’s been a week since my last post about Rome – nothing too significant has happened. Last Wednesday for Arch 528 (Italian design) we visited Richard Meier’s Ara Pacis Museum which currently has an exhibit on Italian industrial design. In lecture beforehand we discussed how many everyday consumer products came about through integrating designers into production. Quite interesting.

Friday in the morning was the weekly urban history walk – we stayed fairly close to studio in the Field of Mars area and visited the Crypta Balbi Museum. Our professor / guide Linda emphasized how this area in Rome has essentially been continuously inhabited since the beginning, contrary to common belief that Rome was near deserted during the middle ages. Rome did lose political significance in the Roman Empire with Constantine making a new capital Constantinople (Istanbul), but the city itself still remained largely intact.

Saturday I did a little bit of shopping on Via del Corso before the national saldi (sale) ends. On Sunday Jamin and I went to church and met more interesting folks during coffee following the service. We talked to Peter and Carmella from Australia, a friendly older couple that work on organizing Bible fellowships. Peter asked me how big my church was at home, having heard of the large new churches we have in America. Afterwards Jamin and I went out for lunch with Sooba at his favorite Chinese restaurant. It was quite good and inexpensive too.

This week now is a bit of a transition point in the semester. The Italian language course concluded today with a final exam, and Monday was our last former drawing session. Today we had an introduction to studio and a tour of the Jewish Ghetto area (our neighborhood by studio) with a guide from the Jewish Museum of Rome, located at the synagog. This area has an incredible and dynamic history from ancient Rome up through the 20th century. We have already learned much about this area from urban history (Jan’s lectures) as well as the Italian design course. For studio we are doing four short week-long projects, focusing on this area through the four elements (earth, wind, fire, water), to be followed by a larger final project.

On Thursday and Friday we have a class trip to Perugia, followed by a three day weekend. I am going with three others up to Norway. We are flying to Oslo early Saturday morning, taking “the best train ride in Europe” to Bergen on Sunday, flying back to Oslo Monday morning, and back to Rome Monday night. It should be a fun week of traveling – I’m looking forward to seeing more of Italy outside of Rome and especially excited for Norway.

ISU Bridge Studio ideas for Oakhill Jackson / New Bo

January 29, 2010 / Brady Dorman / Comments Off

Neighborhood Network News has posted video of last Saturday’s (Jan 23) “Imagine a Vital Neighborhood” urban design conference in Cedar Rapids. Architecture students from Iowa State University’s ~~Bridge~~ Arch 601 Graduate Studio presented design proposals and strategies for sustainable redevelopment in Oakhill Jackson and New Bohemia. I haven’t watched the videos entirely yet, but there were a range of ideas from more abstract and statistical to more specific design proposals. One intriguing idea was very ambitious, proposing a residential high rise and retail complex including a Target store – on par with mixed-use urban big box developments found in several larger US cities. A common theme was to reuse building materials (like from Farmstead) for new construction in the neighborhood.

The videos are definitely worth a watch. Special thanks to Robin Kash for posting these and other community meeting videos on Neighborhood Network News.

Neighborhood Network News: Urban Design Conference Videos
> 1 – Intro, Overview and Opening Discussion
> 2 – Student Presentations
> 3 – Discussion of Student Presentations

Rain in Rome

January 26, 2010 / Brady Dorman / Comments Off

Trajan's Market story board sketch

The past couple of days have been pretty rainy in Rome, making plans to sketch outside for class difficult. Monday we walked in the rain to the Pantheon, about a 5-10 minute walk from studio to sketch for about half hour before the profs decided to return. Today my studio went to Trajan’s Market to draw (inside) quick “story board sketches” with a series of vignettes showing movement through the space. I rather enjoyed this exercise, but would be more valuable outside to illustrate movement through a particular urban space. Tomorrow we meet at Termini Station in the afternoon to draw people in motion.

This afternoon we had the last of three lectures from historian Jan Gadeyne about the development and redevelopment of Rome. It is interesting to realize that Rome today is not what it has always been – most places have been built over older structures or modified from them. Only recently (past century or so) has preservation become so strict, arguably turning the city in to a museum. My friend Jamin is working on a guest post that will go into more detail. In the meantime, check out Jan’s appearance on the History Channel documentary ROME Engineering an Empire.

Frugal Architecture

January 24, 2010 / Brady Dorman / 2 Comments

This past week I, along with ten or so other classmates, participated in the For a Frugal Approach in Architecture International Symposium and Design Workshop, sponsored by the Bruno Zevi Foundation. The focus was frugality in architecture, specifically for post-disaster emergency housing. The symposium started on Thursday (Jan 21) with a day of lectures from a number of international leaders in the field, including Nina Maritz (Namibia), Jorge Mario Jauregui (Brazil), Giorgio Goffi (taly), Sarah Wigglesworth (UK), Eko Prawoto (Indonesia), and Danny Wick from Auburn’s Rural Studio in Alabama.

It was held at the Citta’ dell’Altra Economia (“City of the Other Economy”), a part of an old slaughterhouse complex converted into exhibition and meeting space “for the promotion of the economy” related to agriculture, trade, and renewable energy, etc. It was a neat conversion but for this event the space was a bit too small (not enough seats) and did not seem to be heated. Logistics of the event was interesting since every speaker had to be followed by a translation between Italian and English. It also started at least half an hour late and presenters tended to go over their allotted time amounts – but punctuality certainly doesn’t seem to be common in Italy. Admittedly the whole day seemed to drag on, but I particularly enjoyed Giorgio Goffi’s work, and Danny Wick’s presentation on the Rural Studio was especially interesting.

On Friday we met at the Faculty of Architecture (department of architecture) at Sapienza University in Rome for the design workshop. American students from Northeastern University and Roger Williams University also participated. We were each paired with an Italian student to design a proposal for an emergency housing unit for the Abruzzo region near L’Aquila in response to the April 2009 earthquake there. We began at 9am and had until 7pm to finish, which ended up being extended to 8. The night before I had familiarized myself with the Abruzzo area and the extent of the disaster. My partner Marcella came with a basic design layout and some thoughts on materials, so we just built off of that. The language barrier was at times challenging (we referred to Google Translate on occasion) but she spoke English pretty well so it wasn’t really a problem.

We decided on a fairly simple L-shape with a half courtyard space in the SW corner. Each adjacent dwelling was set back halfway from the previous to permit ample direct sunlight to the courtyard windows for solar heat gain in the winter. For the east and west walls we decided to use thick stone walls (available from building rubble) to create thermal masses that could absorb solar heat during the day to be redistributed during the cooler night. There were some issues we didn’t get clarified and were not optimal for environmental conditions. My partner told me most of their curriculum is design-based and didn’t really have classes on building tectonics or passive design for environmental controls. It was a nice realization of how much I have actually learned at Iowa State about not only design, but also how buildings go together and how to harmonize them with environmental conditions.

Some of the architects who spoke the day before came for a while and walked around to check on the progress. Nina Maritz talked to us earlier on when we were still clarifying specifics of materials and orientation. Later one Giorgio Goffi stopped by, but only spoke in Italian. He had suggested considering our L-shape as a starting point and how they could be used to create a variety of different sizes and forms. This was not a bad idea, but it made it more difficult to clarify specific decisions regarding solar orientation, tectonics, and of course organization. We attempted to show both ideas – the variation that Goffi suggested, and the more specific possibility of one L. However the new abstract L variety got rid of the original relationship between adjacent units, making several material and orientation decisions less significant. In the end we sort of ran out of time and had a less than stellar presentation – we both agreed it was not good graphically and did not represent our ideas well. But we discussed a lot of interesting strategies during the day, so it was a really good learning experience.

The program wrapped up Saturday morning with visual presentation of the proposals and discussion from the panel of speakers. Unfortunately it was extremely unorganized with slides out of order and starting half hour to an hour later than scheduled. The discussion was interesting and informative, but like many professors and experts, almost everyone had to get the last word in, even if it was simply to agree with and over reiterate someone else’s point. Following the discussion orderves and champagne was served in a small courtyard next to the auditorium, so all was good.

Overall “Frugal Architecture” was exhausting, but a great experience. Getting insight into architectural education in Italy and the different perspectives and approaches the students bring was extremely valuable. It was also a terrific opportunity to challenge my own communication skills and knowledge of architectural and environmental systems.