Danish Adventures

A few more travel photos

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 07:38:39 -0400

at the Amsterdam Eye Film museum

inside the Blood Spill church in Russia

near the Red Square in Russia

A few more travel photos

Some photos from my two-week spring break. I traveled with DIS...

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 07:27:25 -0400

model of the Schroder House in Utrecht

admiring Rembrandt's painting

preparing food with Russian friends

they made us wonderful pies

Some photos from my two-week spring break. I traveled with DIS to St. Petersburg and Moscow in Russia, and on my own to Brussels and Amsterdam. I enjoyed seeing a drastically new culture in Russia and visiting beautiful small medieval parts of European cities in Brussels and Amsterdam.

Continuing to work on my studio project, as the semester is...

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 07:23:21 -0400

Continuing to work on my studio project, as the semester is quickly wrapping up!

A fantastic countryside meal, eaten at the Samso brewery. Best...

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 07:22:09 -0400

A fantastic countryside meal, eaten at the Samso brewery. Best was the fresh butter, the corn was sweet and carrot and beet salads were fresh and delicious.

Organic brews from Nordby brewery in Samso

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 07:20:44 -0400

Organic brews from Nordby brewery in Samso

Hiking in the rollin hills, with the ocean not far away, in...

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 07:19:59 -0400

Hiking in the rollin hills, with the ocean not far away, in Samso

Photo

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 07:19:17 -0400

Photo

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 07:18:57 -0400

Lounging in the sun, in the beautiful samso countryside

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 07:18:10 -0400

Lounging in the sun, in the beautiful samso countryside

Inside the windmill shaft

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 07:17:23 -0400

Inside the windmill shaft

Climbing up a windmill

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 07:16:43 -0400

Climbing up a windmill

Making Snobrod by the campfire in Samso

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 07:15:47 -0400

Making Snobrod by the campfire in Samso

I just came back from a weekend of biking, hiking, and learning...

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 07:15:16 -0400

I just came back from a weekend of biking, hiking, and learning about renewable energy initiatives in Samso, an island in between Zealand and Jutland in Denmark. We got into our hostel late Friday night, enjoyed good carrot cake, and got a good night’s sleep. The next day, we started the trip off with a leisurely bike ride through the southern part of the island. We visited the Energy Academy, biked through farms, and visited a modern windmill. The highlight of the trip was definitely climbing up the 50 meters to the top of the windmill and looking down from the top. It was an idyllic and slightly strange mixture to be in the Danish countryside, on an island where we thankfully got a lot of sunshine, and to be among some of the premier renewable energy systems in the world. We learned about closed loop systems and ways that resources could be burned and transferred into heat for district heating. Straw, for example, was burned and converted into energy for heating water in pipes, which in turn heated homes in Samso. We ended the night with Snobrod, dough roasted on sticks over an open fire, and eaten with jam or kethup. The food on the trip was fantastic, and we ended the trip with an organic meal in the Nordby brewhouse. The second day of the trip we visited a District heating plant, hiked to the top of some gently rolling hills that overlooked the sea, and wandered in the world’s largest labyrinth, which felt like a very long hike among coniferous trees. Though the weather report announced rain on both days, we were quite lucky and enjoyed some hours of glorious sunshine. I really enjoyed this trip, and getting to know some new faces. I learned a lot more about sustainability (personally, I learn a lot more through experiential learning on trips and visiting sites than I do through textbooks). For now, it’s back to Helsingor, where I will catch up with some homework. The next weeks will be spent largely on developing my final studio project!

A more refined model for the site

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 07:14:02 -0400

A more refined model for the site

Some sketch models for the subterranean design

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 07:13:30 -0400

Some sketch models for the subterranean design

I am learning a lot from Interior Architecture at DIS. Johan, my...

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 07:10:12 -0400

inspiration-Tadao Ando's water temple

using Sun Calc to calculate sunlight

I am learning a lot from Interior Architecture at DIS. Johan, my instructor, is very passionate about his work, and very open-minded when it comes to our projects. My studio is a blend of Pre-Interior Architecture students (most of which come from a studio art background in their home university) and Interior Architecture students (who come from an Interior Architecture program at their home university). I am an unique case where I come from neither; my program in the States is Environmental Design, where I have enough architectural knowledge to no longer be pre-interior, but where I have never really tackled an interior design assignment before. I really enjoyed this combined studio so far. While Johan doesn’t inherently lecture, he helps create a functioning studio environment where we can learn from each other. One major thing I’ve picked up on are sun diagrams. Our current project is the design of a subterranean portion near Frediks Bastion in Christianhavn. The path and accessibility to natural sunlight is increasingly important. I’ve learned by talking to my peers how to understand and use online sun diagrams by plugging in the latitude and longitude of the location in question.

Elaborating a bit more on our group project, the...

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 07:04:56 -0400

cutting and modeling

model focus-the spiral staircase

Elaborating a bit more on our group project, the Kulturhuset:

For one week before long travel break, my architecture core class was gathered into small four-person groups to do a section model precedent study for a building we will eventually see on our trip. My group focused on the Kulturhuset in Stockholm, Sweden. For this group project, a perfect working model was not the end goal. I really enjoyed getting to know my group mates and adapting myself to a working group dynamic. We divided up the work of making parts of the model, but always made sure to meet at the same times so we can still be working alongside each other. We made sure to easily see what each other’s doing, to give each other a hand or feedback. It also helped to have each other’s opinions and to be on the same page going forward. I never had such a cohesive group project working experience. I felt we were productive during the meetings that we set up. And, while we were focused on our task, we never got too uptight or too attached to what we were doing. We were always flexible and willing to hear out each other’s ideas, which made the presentation at the end of the project a success. When we were presenting to our four different groups of jurors, we bounced ideas off of one another, and were clear and articulate in explaining our project and intentions. The group working sessions never felt long and boring. We made sure to get to know one another, and to keep a positive working attitude along the way. I had a lot of fun with my teammates on this project. I think that just focusing on building a model really took some stress off the design process. Since we weren’t authors of the design, and were just demonstrating a small section of it, the project never felt too overwhelming to deal with. Instead, it we approached it with a more lighthearted attitude and enjoyed our time working with each other.

walking through the Woodland Cementary in Sweden

Sun, 18 Mar 2012 07:30:49 -0400

walking through the Woodland Cementary in Sweden

Arriving in Turku, Finland on the cruise

Sun, 18 Mar 2012 07:22:05 -0400

Arriving in Turku, Finland on the cruise

a secret staircase in Alvar Aalto’s home for when he wants...

Sun, 18 Mar 2012 07:05:11 -0400

a secret staircase in Alvar Aalto’s home for when he wants to escape from public visitors and clients…it leads from his downstairs office to a ledge on the private second story. Got to appreciate these built-in escapes!