Siena Studio Final Presentaion

Today we had our final presentation.  We were up late last night. We had actually had 90% of our presentaion ready, we were just fine-tuning some of the diagrams and stuff.  We started the installation, but the light on the terrace turned off at 1130.  So instead of worry about things and try and make it work, we descided to wait for the morning since we would have an ample amount of time to do the installment and plan it out.  The presentation went very well.  We planned for the crits to take a kind of journey though the building so that they could understand our process.  we setup little colored water bottles around the building and gave them a map to which they had to go to each one in order to get to the end.  They said things like oh this map is a little incorrect or this fountain isn’t supposed to be here.  That is exactly how we felt when we went looking for the fountains. We led them to the terrace where we created a fountain and reflecting pool.  These helped make the earlier part of the presentation make more sense. High Resolution Pictures of our Final Presentation

Video of our 1st half presentation

8/16 PALIO!!!

A lot of spectacle goes into the Palio. They represent not only the contrada participating, but also the contrada who are not AND the five or so contrada that don’t exist anymore. Some guy was up on the top of the tower ringing the bell in the tower for about two hours.

That’s about 30,000 people crammed in

We got there at about 5 pm and the race was supposed to start at 730 pm but some of the jockeys were not able to control their horses and they kept stepping out of line.  There were three false starts.  The contrada I was rooting for was Giraffe.  He had his horse under control some of the time.  When the race finally began at 9pm, everyone started screaming and cheering.  All of the horses took off except for Onda who was stuck looking in the wrong direction.  I really did not wanna be that jockey.  However around the first turn, the jockey for Giraffe fell off.  A lot of craziness insued there after.  The Owl won and there is hardly any way to explain the passion and excitement.  The some of the people from that contrata were crying and just constantly hugging eachother because the hadn’t won sinse 1979. So I found a video on you tube which shows the experience.  The long awaited victory

After the Palio, made some dinner because it would be too crazy to go out to eat.  Afterwards we went to the Owl’s party.  Their piazza is really small and I don’t know how that many people crammed in, but I guess it was for the free wine.  They were still hugging and laughing and celebrating.  Someone kept ringing the bell on their church until the early morning.  They didn’t stop celebrating from the time the race was over until we  went to bed.  Josh and Matt were rooting for the owl, so they stayed out until I think 430am.  Somehow they got back into the dorms.

8/15 Plan C

So today Caitlin and I decided to take a day trip to the beach.  We had talked to Aris and Josh about it a couple of daysago and we had decided to wing it to the beach.  I know that Caitlin wanted to get away even if it was just for the day.

However Italy did not want our beach plans to work.  Today was a holiday and most of the trains were not running.  We then bumped into Zach at the internet pub which was also closed and he told us about a city in the Chianti region.  Needless to say this entry is name Plan C for a reason.  So since the trains or buses were not running to the city we wanted to go, we decided to go to San Gimanano.  Caitlin was fed up with the prior plans not able to work out and decided to stay in Siena for a day to herself.  That just left me and Zach to go to San Gimanano.  Our bus left about an hour from when we bought the tickets so we headed back to the dorms to drop some stuff off.

As soon as we got off the bus to San Gimanano, we decided to walk around the city to look for a good place to get steak.  We looked at most of the restaurants in the main part of the city and then decided to walk along the wall to see if we found anything else.  We found this one restaurant that was really nice inside and very well priced.  We weren’t hungry at that point and then walked around the center of the city some more.  We found this one gelato place that supposedly were the gelato world champions  for the years 2006-2009.

We then found this book vendor and found some really interesting architectural books.  There is this one publishing company that does case studies on architects and firms.  We then went to the execution museum which was linked to the torture museum in Siena.  On the way to the museum we found this couple that played muppets really well.  Everything synced up just as good too.

The execution museum was the same style which was gruesome.  I think Zach was a little more skeeved out than I was because he had yet to go to the torture museum.

And then Zach fought a werewolf!

We went back to that restaurant which I had talked about earlier.  However we went the other direction and found this wonderful over look of the country side.  The same restaurant owned the outlook and had tables set up right at that perfect point.  We asked if we could eat out there, but everything was reserved.  DAMN!

It was ok though because we went inside to eat where it was a nice atmosphere.  Not as nice as outside but we made the best of it.  I had the best steak in a long time.  It was a marrowbone steak with vegetables and a salad.  After we finished dinner, we shopped around for a bit and then headed back to Siena.  And that was my day trip to San Gimanano.

8/14 Florence revisited

Today we took a mandatory group trip to Florence.  Did I say Florence?  Done! Some of us did that 2 weeks ago and its kinda cool that we saw some of the things that were on today’s itinerary.  We started at Santa Maria Novella which ironically is where we slept homeless style on the benches.

We were given about 15 minutes to sketch the façade of the church while we waited for our other tour guide, Andre.  Side note: I think that Andre is a really cool guy and will be a good professor.  He is really into architecture and sharing his knowledge with anyone who will hear him.  It is something that a lot of the students at NJIT are not used to which is a shame. I am actually liking the way my sketches have been coming out lately.  I know that before the trip I was a little scared to sketch because I did not think my sketches were good enough.  I am slowly conquering that fear and its making me a lot more confident.  Once we realized that Santa Maria Novella was closed we decided to head towards the duomo and continue with our itinerary.  Once we got there we had a short time to sketch before we were told to meet.  We were given a history on Santa Maria del Fiore and the craziness that ensued between Brunelleschi and Ghiberti.  We then headed to the Piazza Signoria, where the David replica was along with a lot of amazing statues.

We were given some time to take it all in and I noticed the same guy playing the guitar from the last time we were in Florence.  He was playing again and I was really tempted to buy both of his cd’s Caitlin convinced me not to and the journey through Florence continued.  The next destination was San Lorenzo.

The line was long but we made it into the church.  Once inside we were approached by this lady who gave us a lot of information on the history of the church and told us that Medici was actually buried in the church.  The exterior was never finished for some reason but the interior was very well done Romanesque style.

Some of us wondering how they could make a car that was half the size of a smartcar

Next up was Santa Croce and this is the place where people disappeared.  I was very amazed with this church because of the tombs that were in the church and the surprisingly simple yet appropriate trusses supporting the roof.  I the tombs which I took a lot of interest in were Michelangelo and Ghiberti.

Once we were done in Santa Croce some of us went and grabbed some food.  I wanted to check out this one pub down the street because I’ve been craving a hamburger for a while. Don’t get me wrong, I love the food that I have been eating.  It’s just I need a steak or I’m gonna go insane.  We then decided to go to the Duomo.

The good thing about the church is that the entry was free.  We just had to pay to go to the top and down into the basement.  One cool thing about the basement is that they discovered what used to be the old church under the foundation of the current church.  The old church was miniscule compared to what is now Santa Maria del Fiore.  Some of the frescos and grave markers are surprisingly still intact.  It’s pretty funny how small it is not only in plan but also in height.  Josh had to keep his head either tilted or he had to crouch in some parts.

One thing that I found incredibly remarkable was the discovery of Brunelleschi’s tomb!!! No one is allowed to walk up to it.  They kept it behind a wall with a grate.

We then headed up to the dome where we climbed 463 steps.  In some parts we literally had to climb because of the narrow staircase and people not wanting to wait to go down.  I kind of lost my bearings because it was a little dark and the stairs were going in all sorts of vertical directions.  Some of the stairs were even cut into the lower dome! Once we made it to the top we hung out for a little sightseeing all of Florence from one point.  Zach and I were the last ones from the group to come down.  We met Caitlin down at the bottom and she told us that Aris and Josh ran to try and get the bus so they could see the second Palio Provo.

The three of us then hung out around Florence for a bit looking through the markets.  I bought some gloves for my mom since that was the only thing she had asked for and I figured Florence would be the best place.  After that we headed back to Siena where we basically stayed in for the night. REVISITED

8/13 Lottery

We had class in the afternoon today because in the morning they were having the horse selection for the Palio.  Here is how it works.  They bring six different horses out at a time, for six different runs. They shoot a cannon, and the horses run the course at a relaxed pace. Then they line up the horses again and the horses run the Palio course, three laps around at a much faster pace – though not nearly as fast as the Palio itself. When the first horse crosses the finish, BOOM they shoot the cannon again.  The horse I saw that was most on its game was 25.  Alex and Zach were writing down the horses numbers and we gave them scores on speed.  After a while we started making up names for the horses to make it more fun and interesting.  Later on in the day the horses were assigned to their Contrada.  I wasn’t able to make it because our group decided to do some mapping and we lost track of time.  Once we got back we all went on to work on our individual popup piazzas.

8/12 Pop up Piazza Due

I started the pop-up piazza before the analytique.  I kind of knew how I was gonna do it from my site visit.  The church is a little interesting along with the fountain.  It’s not working though so I was a little bummed out about that.  One really interesting thing about my piazza is that it includes Santa Maria Della Scalla.  It’s actually the rear side of the old hospital and you can see where they added levels over the centuries.  There a different shades of bricks from the different extensions.  The main thing that I noticed about the piazza is the incredible change in elevation.  It has to be at least a 30’ or about 10 meter change.  Yeah I have to get used to the metric system here.  I bought a tape measure the other day and was really confused when I started measuring out some parts of the piazza. Site

I made the buildings as detailed as I could in the final product.  The elevational changes are estimated because I really don’t have nor would I know how to use any surveying tools.  Before I started I decided that I should make a bunch of study models so that I didn’t mess up the limited watercolor paper that I had.  I made study models on how each building would attach to itself and stand.  I think it came out very well. DONE

Folded up

8/08 Duomo di Siena

Today was very long and boring in the beginning.  Once we all decided to go to the Duomo it started to get better.  Caitlin, Jason, Zach, Alex and I all decided to go together. We lost Jason on the way up to the Duomo but he caught up with us.  We bought the tickets for the Duomo but also got the package where we could go into the Baptistery, and Crypt.  The view from the top of the wall was unimaginable.

I’m really glad that we went.  It was perfect because for a short time we were the only ones up there.  From up there we could see the small towns on the outside of the walls and further into the Tuscan mountains.  It was one of the places where I could just stand up there all day and just listen to the wind passing me by.

Going up and down the spiral stair case was a story in its own.  The first time we tried going up, we got about halfway up and then had to go down because there were other people coming down.  I believe that the general rule is that the people coming down have the right of way.  When we were going down some German family was going up and we met a little more than halfway.  We explained to them that there were a lot of people behind us and they had to go down, but they kept saying as Jason quote “but vee vant to go ahp!” I really didn’t care what he was saying and just stood there in front of them until they turned around.

Later that night we all decided to go up to the terrace and hang out in the large group.  Cory had actually bought some absinthe from some liquor store in Venice and everyone was a little psyched up to try it.  We did the whole procedure:

1. put a sugar cube on the spoon
2. pour the desired amount of absinthe over the cube and into the glass
3. light the sugar cube on fire
4. let it burn out
5. pour water over the melted cube and into the glass
6. pour until the absinthe is diluted to the desired level
7. DRINK.

It was much better tasting than I expected it to be.  It tasted like sambuka but a little warmer.  After that, some people went to the Campo.  I had a slice of pizza and a couple of beers and then called it a night. DUOMO

8/06 Operation Analytique attempt 2 & 3

So yesterday I went back to my church with a drawing of the elevation.  I was planning to tell the people there that I just wanted to draw and show them the sketch.

When I went there and showed the same guy the sketch he still said “no entrata.”  I was really confused at this point and was about to give up. I decided that I would go back the next day.  When I came back the next day there was a letter on the door saying “l’adorazione eucaristica e sospesa riprendera a settembre.” I later translated this and if I am correct it said that the eucharistic adoration is suspended until September.

I had no clue what to think at this point and I knew that I would just have to improvise on the rest of my analytique.

8/04 Oh the Analytique

The analytique that I was assigned was San Giorgio.  Everybody pretty much went to their church on their own time. I went this past Monday and it was very difficult to analyze.  First of all the church is on a very narrow street so I cannot really get a detailed elevation.  When I tried to go into the church some guy said something what I guess was only one person at a time or not while people are praying.  I understood this and waited for the people inside to leave.  When I went back in the same guy yelled at me again and said “No entrata.”  I was very confused and did not want to upset anyone so I left and decided to come back another day.

These are some guys who are also being kicked out

The next day on Tuesday I decided to go to the Siena Public Library to see if I could get some information on the church.  I found almost everything else on Siena except for my church.  The only thing I found was a one paragraph description with an axonometric drawing.

This did help in a way because I figured out the proportions of the elevation and an estimated roof plan.  Another thing that I found which would be very helpful was the church plan typologies of Siena.   Later that day I spoke with Julio and Lorenzo about not being able to get into my church and they said that I should analyze the piazza the church is in, because that is just as important as the interior.  I thought this was very interesting and decided to do that and take another shot at getting into my church.

8/04 Derive walk with Lorenzo

Today each group went with Lorenzo out to their paths and Julio stayed with us in the studio to talk about what we were focusing on individually and as a group.  I have noticed that Julio has such a passion when he critiques people on their projects and ideas.  It is completely different than what I am used to in Newark.  If you are having a problem with something he will sit down with you and help you make sense of it.  In Newark, my experience has been if you have a problem with something some of the professors will just look at you and tell you to figure it out or just save some of their time and drop out of the program.

When we went for our walk with Lorenzo we were talking with him about our project, Italy and the culture as we were on our way to our path.  We got to a certain point along our path and then Lorenzo so this open door and just walked in. It was actually kind of cool.  We found one of the stables where the Contradas keep the horse before the Palio.

He told us to follow along and it was this house that was under construction. It was pitch black inside and he started to walk down some stairs. We didn’t know what to think so we just followed him. I used my camera flash as light and it was actually an amazing place!  Some people who worked there stopped us and Lorenzo went and talked with the guys in the native language and then they gave us a tour around.  It was pretty freakin awesome and I wish that I spoke fluent Italian at that moment.

After we left we walked off our path along one of the major roads in Siena.  We walked through another doorway to this place that looked like it was abandoned for a couple months.  We had to walk up a short hill of dirt and glass but it was kind of like hiking so I didn’t mind.  One really amazing thing was we could see the rafters and the way Italians do constrion from this debris.

After we walked around there we found a set of rooftops and saw outside the walls.  It was an amazing space and it was a shame that it was not put to use.  We joked around about making a new contrada that was for tourists and this could be their neighborhood.

We then walked back to the studio and exchanged stories with the other groups about our walk.  I find it fascinating that Lorenzo just goes along with his curiosity and finds so many interesting things. DERIVE=STALKER