Saturday, April 2, 2011

A Day Full of Modern Architecture

Well, on Wednesday we had a pretty busy day. We started very early in the morning and made three site visits. The first, was to Richard Meier's Jubilee Church. Now, we've studied this church a lot, but to actually see it was pretty incredible. The church is exactly like pictures look, but there is so much about it that you cant understand from pictures. We spent about an hour sketching there and I am very happy with the way the page turned out, I think the entire day was one of my best for my sketchbook.








Our next stop was to the construction site for Santiago Calatrava's Citta Dello Sport, which is two twin buildings, one a stadium and the other a pool. At this point in the construction, the foundational arches are poured in concrete for both stadiums, as well as the bridge that connnects them. Also, the structure for the roof of the pool is on, with the actual roof yet to be assembled. The roof structure is so intricate and was definitely one of the coolest designs we've seen yet. In fact, the entire complex that Calatrava designed is awesome and I definitely want to come back to see it when it is done. I love stadium design, and this may be one of my favorites once it is completed.










Our third and final stop was to the MACRO Museum, the museum of contemporary art in Rome. Except for one really funny exhibit that was just doodles on the wall, the art wasn't very appealing, but the building was very nice. It was an extremely modern in fill building. The best part about the building may have been the bathrooms, which were completely mirrors (except for in the stalls and the doors to the stalls) and when you went to wash your hands, the white sink lit up red and all the lights around it shut off, so that was all you could see. We spent some time setching, mostly on the roof until it started raining.









All in all, it was probably one of the best days for site visits yet. We saw three great sites, all three which I have wanted to see for some time, got some good sketching done, and saw some very successful modern architecture, which is a nice change from the city center. Our trip to Southern Italy is next week, so I'll be away then, but expect a post about when I return!

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