wandering down the street at 1am, after another night in the office, i came across these lights, it was almost as if they were going to burst out of their hideout and chase me down the street…… maybe i was a little delusional at the time though.
Well this is the view from the studio where i am working. in the distance you can see a mass of cranes creating David Chipperfield’s “City of Justice” on a major arterial road connecting Barcelona and Hospitalet de Llobregat, due for completion in 2007….yeah right! On the left you can see a tiny white spire which is Santiago Calatrava’s Montjuic Communication Tower.
hola all, well it seems as though my adventures in london have been interrupted by a much welcomed sojourn to barcelona. it is wonderful here, weather, people, city! i am working on a competition for a small young practice called MYAA. the little red dot in the map is where i am living, right on the edge of the raval (the old city) in one of the blocks (called apples) which are part of L’Eixample (la shampla), designed by lldefons Cerdà in 1855 to relieve the overcrowding present in the old city. As you can see for yourself it was an amazing modernist vision that changed the shape of Barcelona. I haven’t had much time to explore the city yet, placa catalunya, la ramblas, the raval and the diagonal in fleeting glimpses, and i saw my first two gaudi buildings! yay!… no sagrada familia yet…..
I recently attended a lecture by Francois roche (aka R&Sie(n)), for those who dont know him check out his website New Territories. The lecture was held at the Architectural Association. Possibly the only lecture i have attended thats starts with a 15 minute guided hypnosis video! Inspired by Jacques Lacan. The lecture covered a broad spectrum of Roche’s multidisciplinary studio. From installation pieces with animatronic albino penguins (coming to the tate modern soon) to a small power plant driven by elephants in thailand and of course this fantastic carpark in japan. Roche adds elements of humour and the fantastical to his work, in this case if you arent careful your car slides off the carpark into the neighbouring field.
copyright to the artist