Il Girasole and Villa Giulia

Sculpture: People's interpretation of people

As I was looking through my pictures today I felt inspired by my pictures of sculptures. 

They are beautiful to me because, each sculpture not only is a work of art but turns into a different sketch, photograph or painting when put into a 2-d work of art. It's tangible, it's closer to the art of architecture and  buildings, that you can see from all sides. 

the doors in Venice

While I've been in Italy the doors have really stood out to me. Ever since I was a little girl, my mom and I have always talked about what we would change about our house in New Jersey: Higher ceilings, Less interior walls, a little more counter space, arched hallway openings, open stairs, and of course the front door. I'm not sure if we usually talk about what makes a good front door but I know my front door at home has some good personality. It's solid wood, painted basically Kelly Green, with a gold door knocker. But even better then that depending on the season (temperature) the door shrinks or grows within its door frame. You can tell because in the winter it squeaks when you open it and in the summer it's as if nothing was ever wrong. It has personality to me, and I like it. It has stood the test of time for my life (since I've lived in the same house my whole life)

However, you can imagine my mother doesn't like the fact that it squeaks during the winter, which started us on the topic, when we go somewhere together, about beautiful front doors. I guess we both agree (my mom and I) that the front door is what makes a building, it's usually the first thing the someone who's entering the building is going to see up close and touch. The front door has to stand strong to the test, of, does it work or does it make you wonder why would you pick that door. 

So through out my whole time in Italy I've been picking up on the little details and been noticing every door in Italy is different. They aren't as a majority, mass produced. Each on of these pictures have a strong personality, I mean I noticed them. And I always have my eye out for the best doors. 

On the water front in Venice, the weather of the metal and the contrast of the flowers is what really got me to notice this one

This door was to the Guggenheim Museum. It was beautiful, the metal intertwines the stones and makes a transparent entrance way 

This door wasn't really a door, but i imagined it as on once. I thought it was kind f funny where you could play a trick on people, Oh yeah come on in off of so and so street. It was a Non-door.

This building's simitery was what caught my eye, and the detailed rod iron on the doors and windows

The rod iron was so intricate that the door began to look like lace 

This is a mirrored door that reflected the grand canal and me as I snapped the picture of it

Graffiti door rusting it was beautiful in its own way

Pink and Blue doors they were almost like a painting

Pictures of the day

These photos are from the Ara Pacis Museum in Roma. Katie, Claire Jojo and I all posed as statues of the Caesar family. This is one of my favorite museums in Roma so far. The Alter of Augustus, in the center of the floor, is really the main focal point of the primo piano. Drawing attention to something so large and historic inside a modern building is sometimes hard to do when an architect designs a museum. The architecture is attempting to highlight and enhance  the language and art of the altar which I really admire. The building structure doesn't over power the beauty of the ancient history settled in the center of the room.  

Many Romans don't like what is considered modern style in their city, but change takes time. I think if you have time to go into this museum and really take a look at the revealing of the floor to the walls, walls to the windows ect. ect... you start to understand the amount of care that was put into the designing process. In this case, Meier's plain white architecture is really highlights the contents of the museum because it comes from something greater then itself. It has reason and meaning behind every detail, which is something that comes internally. Yes, the outside of the building  may contrast with the ancient Roman designs and thus stick out in the city fabric, but doesn't it make so stop and look at what is there? I mean to me, I think it's a pretty successful project.

The Ara Pacis Museum also has fantastic natural lighting. We stayed until dusk and the sunset. The shadows are very dramatic and its almost as if there is a curtain falling on the Alter before the spot light comes on at night. This was a cool field study class where we had to diagram the space. It really made me understand that my sketchbook shouldn't be just pretty details and perspectives but also diagramming and thinking about space. This day taught me a lot. Reveal, connections, space, lighting, material, patterns, rhythm, details and meaning.

celebration of mosaic and columns

Derive 16/02/2011

2 weeks have gone by; since, we got back to Rome from northern Italy.
I just finished my field study Derive project, which, was basically a snapshot map of where my group and I got lost in Roma. The path was our thoughts and was used as a diagram as well.  The path used three different fonts to show which person thought what.
I think our weakest connection to the map were the actual sketches. We placed the sketches on the project to emphasize where we stopped and rested They seem to hang off the map as an after thought and for my portfolio I might remove the sketches and see if the project reads better.

Vatican Museum

Milano

Vincenza

Images of Verona