Jumièges

Soaking up the abbey

We kicked off the semester with a field trip to Jumièges Abbey combined with a short design project using that site. Our decision to take a trip so soon in the semester (eight days after the students' arrival to be exact) certainly put some strain on the profs since we didn't quite have everything ironed out for the design project. However, the trip was a resounding success, and the design work thereafter achieved what we intended: an intensive design workshop that allowed the students to meld, share ideas, get to know one another, and also get us profs into gear after a relaxing (or not?) summer.

The abbey itself has a typical "old-church history," in that it was built, burnt down a few times, rehabilitated a few times, changed hands a few times, changed function a few times, and is what it is today, which in this case is an interesting mix of architectural styles displayed through the ruins of what remains after the French Revolution.

We asked the students to design a roof over the nave and apse of the church, considering the (arguably preposterous) scheme of using the church for live performances of a sort. Their designs provided a wonderful assortment of proposals and approaches for what was a very focused challenge. I hope over the semester, we'll see the creative processes continue.

On the way back from Jumieges, we stopped into Rouen to see some non-ruinned cathedrals, crash for a night, and enjoy the city. Our last additional to the trip was a quick visit to Château Gaillard, which I'll simplify as the remains of a fortified castle perched atop a hill overlooking a valley, river, and town. The sun was setting as we climbed over ruins, walked between actors reenacting the chateau's activities of its day, and sketched away the site.

Not too shabby for the first weekend.

Full set of pics right here.

Sunflowers, Pigeons, and Shakespeare

Lauzerte (we're somewhere in the middle of that)

I have described Lauzerte to people as "a medieval village on top of a hill surrounded by vineyards and fields of sunflowers." This is no exaggeration, and the past few weeks, especially with the hot weather, have seen the flowers turn dry and saggy. Luckily, I snagged some photos of the fields during one of our hikes around the countryside, just before they really turned ugly.

Besides taking their seeds for munching, their oil is harvested and very common in the grocery stores alongside the many other types of vegetable oils for sale. They're happy plants:

While on that same hike, we came across a funny looking building:

After some research, Bridgette later found that these were used as pigeon houses 200+ years ago, which explains the sparse, thin, tall, openings and a simple interior. The farmers would use the pigeons for food (yum?), but also for their droppings as fertilizer. Now, why raise the coop off the ground on mushroom-capped columns? To prevent your local prey from taking your delicious, feathery dinner! (The mushroom caps prevented clever climbers from outsmarting the farmers.)

Lauzerte features much live entertainment, as we've mentioned before. Recently, a travelling theater group, Antic Disposition, came through the square and put on Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream," which we happily took a seat for and enjoyed on a beautifully calm August evening, right outside our door.

That play is "stupid," as one of our new British friends remarked. And I'd have to agree that it achieves a special level of silliness, and one that goes to explain where Brits get their unique sense of humor. This same person also commented (something along these lines) on her fellow Brits as looking completely ridiculous lining up for tickets before the play's start. "ah, you can tell the Brits are out once you start seeing a queue forming. Look at them looking like idiots, all standing there waiting while no one's even at the table to sell them anything..." (The French don't know the concept of lines. You should have seen the mad rush at church when it came time for communion. Everyone piled out of the pews at once like it was a free-for-all. I was astounded, and a bit scared of being trampled) Regardless, the play is completely entertaining, hilarious, and the production we saw was very well done for a travelling, outdoor group.

Stade Charlety

I was hoping to take the students to visit the TGV station at Charles de Gaulle, but to keep that story short, I'll simply suggest that the recent horrors in Toulouse resulted in tighter-than-usual security and an eventual refusal.

Maison Louis Carré

I intend to put up a few posts on the buildings we visited for the first week of history classes this semester. (This is the same week Bridgette spoke about.) Instead of a typical history course, the students succumb to two intensive weeks of non-stop lectures and field trips with renowned architectural historian, William J.R. Curtis. The second week will occur later this semester.

I joined the students for a visit to Alvar Aalto's Maison Louis Carré. I've been a fan of Aalto's work since going through architecture school, and this home was still under private ownership when I was a student, so I was anxious to see the thing up close and in person. And of course, take some photos.

The day was cloudy, windy, and frigid, and I'll be impressed if any of the students' sketches turn out with decent quality. The house, on the other hand, was comfy, cozy, and warm, and the architecture, excellent and certainly of its time. It's a good exercise to distill what I observe down to attributes to perhaps apply to my own home some day. For instance, I can pretty much ignore the servants' quarters, psh! But the sequence of spaces, skilled control of vertical voids, and choices of natural materials are all items I have locked away in the back of my memory. From far away, the painted white brick looks nice. Up close, however, ... it looks like a old pair of white gym shoes. If only you could run a building through the washing machine.

Meet the Author

Yep, all you archies. Remember this book?..........

Last week, the SAPV program invited author, William J. Curtis, to participate in a two week intensive history course for the students consisting of lectures, tours, and sketching exercises. Last week introduced some big names including Mies, Wright, Alto, and of course Corbusier, with me tagging along for the tail end of the week for tours of La Maison Suisse, Maison de Brazil, and Corbu's Apartment. How surreal to experience all these buildings once again now with a better knowledge of architecture accompanied with quirky and thought inspiring narratives from a man who probably knows more about Corbu than anyone else in the world. Curtis' book is apparently one of the most acclaimed in the realm of modern architecture and has been written in a dozen languages (both legally, and illegally). What's more, it was crazy to hear him chat over lunch about the stirs he's created in the profession as an architectural crit (especially when he needs to 'bring out the big guns'.... namely the controversy over the new Steven Holl building near the Glasgow School of Art). What was even more shocking (considering most items on the agenda were about buildings abroad) was his final lecture on Corbu's Carpenter Center on Harvard's campus. He explained that he got into this whole historian gig from that very building where he was given Corb's sketches, plans, etc. and was to piece together the reasoning behind the man and the design. What's surprising is that Adam and I happened upon this building this summer as we were out visiting friends in Boston literally 2 weeks after breaking the news to everyone we were moving to France. And here, we had no idea Corb even had anything in the US. Nope, only this. And there we were, taking pictures on his ever-so-monumental ramp, the exact place William himself used to tell all his friends to meet him before galavanting around town. The world is all linked in very crazy ways.....

Part two of intensive history week will continue this spring where Curtis will pick up with trips at Ronchamp, La Tourette, and others.

Discussion at the Maison Suisse

Left: Hanging out at Maison Brazil before lecture.

Right: Lecture at Corbu's apartment

Vinci Conference Center

(Continuing our field trip...)

We stopped in Tours to see the Vinci Conference Center. This building took us back to 1993 when Jean Nouvel designed this structure-with-a-baseball-cap that overlooks a major intersection of the city.

I think this played a key role in the weekend to keep things balanced with the many "old" places we were visiting (churches, abbeys, cloisters, that sort of thing).

One of the interesting aspects of the building is that it hangs the interior assembly areas, and therefore provides column-free, multi-level interior spaces.

That shiny "ceiling" is actually the belly of a large auditorium. Kinda cool huh? And of course, more sketching:

More pics here.

And the field trip continues here...