exped(isi)ons

Tampa Bay

2010-09-07T11:38:00.000-07:00

Who knew that Tampa is a bunch of islands? I guess I never did. You can kind of see them from the above picture taken from an office building downtown. As a result of this spread, you drive over water half the time you are there. Just watch out not to take 275 the wrong way....

Then you have to drive for about 20 minutes over water and no exits... about 7 miles away. However, the drive is beautiful. I really enjoyed Tampa as it seems to me to be the Hawaii of continental America. For two reasons: 1) the tropical weather and plants like the one below...

... and 2) because of Clearwater beach that reminded me of Kailua beach so much. The sand is just as white, sugary, and soft (just the water is not as clean).

I like the last picture a lot because it shows how white the sand is with my white towel and also what I was doing there. At sunset, a lot of people came to fish and enjoy the view...

...and these big birds came in to eat the fish remnants that people would give them. It was all beautiful.

I didn't see anything architecturally interesting but what I noticed is that people love to write on their cars. Here are some examples that I captured :-)

Talking of cars... the radio stations were really really bad and they played the same music over and over. I need the car rental companies to have a radio station guide. Another very annoying thing that kept on happening is that the car thought that there was someone sitting in my passenger seat and it was constantly beeping for them to put the seat belt on but it was only my (very heavy) purse :-(

How can you fix that cars?

PS: no BP oil spill had reached Tampa when I was there and I don't think it ever did because of a current that pushes waters away from the bay. That is cool!

Detroit and almost Canada...

2010-07-22T14:24:00.000-07:00

...put your hands up for Detroit!

It's kind of like Chicago but smaller and more french (that's why this bridge to Belle Island looks like it could be in Lyon). Here we go:

USA is clearly taller. I don't know why but I was expecting Canada to look different... however it is pretty similar to the US.
Anyways, back to Detroit. Very many abandoned houses like expected but not so bad after all. I guess the fact that I had a friend show me around could have made the difference. Some random images from driving around:

This last one is taken on the back of a really cute and delicious little restaurant. I forget the name...maybe Millers?
My friend bought the house below on the left for really cheap and will fix it himself.

Across the street a professor from the Art Institute in Chicago is already doing that. Is this the new thing to do? Everyone lets just get houses in Detroit! Some of them though look like this:

Enough with the conventional stuff. Here comes Mies and Lafayette park, aka IIT in Detroit. If I crop this picture the right way no one will be able to tell the difference.

I think, more than anything else about the park, the landscaping was amazing. It put you in a totally different mood than the rest of the city and it was just gorgeous. Way to go Caldwell!
One of the saddest things to see in Detroit is the abandoned central train station, the Depot. It is so big and so destroyed that looks kind of fake. I guess people are trying to save it and a lot more people are trying to take pictures of it, just like me. I think Hollywood should take advantage of such opportunities for horror movies or concentration camp movies or whatever and help the city's economy. Just throwing some ideas out there.

Houston

2010-07-05T11:17:00.000-07:00

...aka "no-signal town"

This image probably best describes my impression of Houston: Highways, highways, highways - with so many of them you would think people would know how to signal - but no. And if I don't think of Houston as a bunch of roads put up on columns then this is the next best image:

I visited a bunch of these as they employ most of the town's population. This one specifically made plastic. Yay!

One good thing about all the highways is that there is no traffic really. But while you drive you might see these amazing things:

The 80 or so foot cross is quite impressive but I don't think it served any other purpose than the symbol that it is. And then everything is stamped with the Texas-shape. Even our waffle-maker at the hotel - unfortunately I don't have a picture of that.

Probably the single most interesting thing to do in Houston is visit the space museum and the NASA headquarters there. Jump on a tour tram, get your tickets, and explore the tools of space.

We did have quite first class tickets!

This last one is "Saturn 5" or "Apollo 18", not sure anymore - but it is one of the ones that never went to space obviously. I have no idea how to describe the size of it but the tour guide definitely did not warn us before entering just another warehouse at the space center. This thing is gigantic.

"-Houston we have a problem! Can you hear me Houston?" Yes, this is historic mission control. I got goose bumps seating there. Apparently the red phone on the right is where all the important decisions used to go through.

Finally, the tour stopped by this tree site - every tree is planted for a lost life in the different space missions. I think it is a great idea - we should just plant a tree for our loved ones instead of a stone...

After the space center, we headed to the art district of Houston - very cute little area. Here you discover Renzo Piano's Menil Collection museum. It was a nice fresh break from the heat and it has some interesting ground digging artwork upfront.

Another typical Renzo Piano detail but what can I say - it works!
Unfortunately, no good cowboy or cow pictures - but went to a very fun movie theater/restaurant with great and affordable food.

And my last image from Houston will be that of the multiple electrical wires running through the sky. They have multiple electricity companies which makes for great competition if you ask me, no monopolies, and cool looking skies.

DC

2010-06-29T13:37:00.000-07:00

Yes DC, not Greece - although maybe not from the above view point. The sky is the same everywhere :-p

~.~

DC was so pretty from the beginning, from the airplane view. I was just too lazy to take my camera out but the streets looked painted and the houses like little doll ones. There is a lot of vegetation everywhere and it doesn't feel like continental America.

Although the traffic does feel like continental America and I thought the drivers were pretty aggressive, too.

Nonetheless, I managed to get to the Mall and experience the monuments. Here are some representative ones (My favorite is Lincoln looking down at everyone)

And the white house! There was a tour going on inside, tons of people taking pictures on the outside (from where this picture is), and someone told me you have to stand in line from 6am to actually get in. So I never went closer than this.

At the mall, there was also the National Portrait Gallery with the Foster roof - nothing too impressive on the inside and I thought there was no good air circulation, but here it is.

DC had really cool train stations - that I have to admit. The concrete was just gorgeous and it was well lit. Way to go!

Was Foster trying to copy these ceiling forms in his museum roof?

And finally the real reason why I flew into Dulles. I love this airport. And Saarinen.

Why don't they make them like this anymore?
By the way, last note, the metro map for DC was amazing - very clear and understandable which is hard for something with that many lines (and a fact that I can not say was true for Miami - blog entry to follow). This one is a little dirty cause it was one from the street - but I think you can still see the great design.

LA baby!

2010-06-02T22:43:00.000-07:00

I have taken forever to update this blog but tonight is the night! ***Note my Macgyver skills with the GPS hanging.***

Probably one of the most exiting things about the LA trip is that I got a free upgrade to a convertible!!! It was really cool and it had a sweet sound system in the back. I feel that I truly experienced LA just because of that.
And of course Hollywood - which by the way I did not get to see the whole thing and I am going back - but so far it was kind of disappointing. I did not really find any stars with famous names on them and kind of had to run away as we were chased by this weird guy that wanted to make a portrait of me?!?!?!

In any case, it was generally dirty - even the star names! and so much pollution you could see it in the air. Sad :-( On the bright side, my job took me to Corona Del Mar which is probably one of the nicest places I have been to: Cool houses, sunshine, marinas - the life!

That's right - solar panel facade. LA is one of the places where this can work...Chicago not so much... I really liked this building though.
So in search of architecture I went and even thought I didn't have much luck with the case study houses, I did find Eames, Frank Lloyd Wright and Schindler.

The Eames house was really tiny on a huge property and closed to the public except for one day a year which of course wasn't when I was there. It had a nice overview of a big beach.

This FLW home was for sale for $5 million! It was huge and definitely very cheap for one of his designs. I think I heard that it went even lower. Oh economy!! The cubical concrete block with perforated and not decorations was amazing and allowed for flexibility in design. I really liked the concept. Same with the one below that was actually inhabited.

And yes - this one above here is the Schindler house or whatever you can see of it. Apparently whatever society is preserving it decided to grow prairie grass around it - which I am convinced served the purpose of not letting me take pictures of the outside. Below is as close as I could get.

Above is the dining room with Schindler's furniture, the best idea for sink/shower design I have ever seen, and this stupid sign they had put outside the house. It looks like it should be able to rotate and spin - but no - it does not move at all. I tried.

On the modern side, I visited the Getty center up on a hill. The views were beautiful and the center was interesting. As always, I took the tour of the outside building and did not even get to the inside exhibit. I am an architecture student after all.

I am now realizing that I don't have a picture of the entire place but it was huge and probably impossible for my little canon. Last comment for this entry - the bottom picture is of what is called fossil limestone that covers pretty much the entire enormous Getty Center. According to the tour-guide, the stone came directly from Rome from the same quarry as the stones that built the Colosseum. I don't remember the exact amount of stone brought to the top of the hill for the center but it took them about 6 years to bring all of it. However, according to the guide and the big round sign on the entrance doors, the building has a silver LEED rating. Anyone see any conflicts here? Just wondering...

old town Boston

2010-02-23T10:43:00.000-08:00

Le Carbusier's Carpenter Center

~Truth vs. Myth~

Boston is not colder or windier than Chicago.
Boston drivers are nicer than Chicago which makes the weird Boston streets not as dangerous.
No taxes on clothes? Yes yes yes!
and yes Boston has the only Le Corbusier building in north America, the Carpenter Center
and the best cocktail lounge ever (thank you for taking me Maje!) - Cuchi Cuchi
also it seemed to me that everything was on Mass Ave. why do you need the rest of the streets?

So going to Boston I was a little bit anxious. Everyone I know and the people I was going to meet told me I will get lost driving around there. The GPS will not work and people usually give up rentals and just take taxis. So I am basically freaking out. Fortunately, everyone exaggerated and I was fine. What was true is that there are a lot of little streets, rotaries that throw you off somewhere unexpected and maybe no lanes? :-p Drivers though were definitely nice and let you in no matter how short of a notice your request was.

Driving in the described conditions I ran across many architectural wonders. My favorites from Saarinen at MIT: The auditorium and the chapel.

Another true thing about Boston is that it reminds me a lot of Europe; with its small scale, everything is more together and organized in squares, and there is a lot of modern architecture.
Ah Frank Frank! Why do you leak so much? ...and then the dorms by Steven Holl.

One sad story is that I didn't get to see the full power of the cantilever at the Boston Art Museum. When I finally arrived at the computer room hanging off of it, it was already dark and all you could see was the reflection of the macs :-(

Last but not least, why don't we have service stations instead of gas stations in Chicago? That was the best treat! You don't have to get out of your warm car - someone puts in gas for you. Thank you Boston.

a little bit of stats

2010-02-23T09:52:00.000-08:00

TripIt is the reason that I know exactly where, when, and how I have been places. This amazing site organizes all my information and bookings for my trips, keeps track of my miles, and also makes this beautiful map of all the places I have been and the places I am going. I love it!

Also, I wanted to make a list of the cars I have driven so far and where and so here it is:

Chevy - Lumina - Chicago
VW - Jetta - Chicago
Toyota - Corolla - Chicago and Hawaii
Toyota - Prius - Hybrid - Chicago
Honda - Civic - Chicago
Dodge - Avenger - San Francisco
Dodge - Caliber - Dallas
Pontiac - V6 - Kansas
Chevy - Aveo - Minnesota
Kia - Spectra - Boston
Mitsubishi - Eclipse - LA
Chevy - HHR - DC
Chevy - Cobalt - Houston
Chevy - Malibu - Tampa
Kia - Soul - Denver
Chevy - Impala - Philadelphia
Chrysler Sebring and Ford Fusion - LA again (change of cars ahhhh)
Hyundai - Elandra - Indiana .....and then they just repeat from here.

18 different types of cars (or 19!) not bad!

O'ahu - HI

2010-01-31T17:22:00.000-08:00

What is this?

A tree that grows roots from every branch and so it expands in all directions. Oahu was full of these and they are all very impressive. I hear there is one of these that is a mile long. wiki

~.~

Hawaii Hawaii Hawaii was so beautiful. Everything one hears - it's all true. It is like paradise on Earth and I think it is not fair that some people get to live there and others can only dream of it. The ones who live there though are pretty nice and hospitable people. Everyone makes you feel welcomed and if you happen to visit someone's house make sure to take off your shoes and they will have a snack waiting for you.
I only went to the main island of Oahu but there is so much to see there that it was great. I stayed close to the famous Waikiki beach in downtown Honolulu which is very touristy but still friendly.

To go places you take this one highway called H-1 and you can take it east or west. On the way you might get to go through the mountains and the jungle. It looks kind of like this:

~While going through the middle of the island, in Manoa, I discovered the most amazing little sandwich place that is always packed. It is called Andy's Sandwiches and Smoothies and both of those menu items are cheap and delicious.~

Probably one of the most amazing experiences in Oahu is Hanauma Bay. A natural preserve where you get to swim with the fishes and turtles and just be amazed.

The entire time I was there I kept on wondering why Hawaii was the rainbow state. I had not seen a rainbow for a week and a half. The second to last day it rained. And of course that is when rainbows appear! This rainbow was the biggest and most vibrant I had ever seen. My camera can not quite capture the amazing-ness :-(

And of course there is so much more than I can include here. All the touristy things; diamond head crater, pearl harbor, north shore, and surfing. As far as the architecture goes, I was very impressed by the cool houses that do not need air conditioning and, as I was told from an architect there too, they have their own characteristic style and the people try to preserve it.

Dallas, Fort Worth, and the nation of Texas

2009-12-23T17:26:00.000-08:00

Guess what this is:

Yes, that is right. A mouse on a cat on a dog. Only in Fort Worth.

~.~

Of course, it was unusually cold when I was there, but still warmer than Chicago. Dallas was really cheap and so full of modern architecture that it makes it a great trip for a poor student. Some things that happen in Dallas:

The sixth floor museum, the site where JFK was shot and his memorial
The Texas State Fair which happens there since a long time ago and takes place inside history museums which is really cool cause the history is part of the present, too
Apparently it is a really great place to shop

So when I went to the fair grounds I met this guy (who was kind of the curator but not really), Tom Hood, who was a Texas lover and a great person. He personally escorted me through the Texas State Building which is an art museum and talked about every single detail of it. This is the guy you need to talk to if you want to know all about Texas. Below are the Texas State Building and the Women's Museum:

If you ever go here and you feel the hunger coming, you should check out the Meridian Room which has a really chill atmosphere, great food, and a huge selection of beer.

~.~

The Dallas downtown has this new theater district that is full of sleek buildings by famous architects.
OMA:

Renzo Piano:

I. M. Pei

So on the trip to Dallas I could not miss Fort Worth where two of the most amazing museums ever designed lie side by side. The Fort Worth Museum of Art by Louis Kahn and the modern art museum by Tadao Ando. They are splendid!!!

They also have this little traditional and very touristy area in Fort Worth where you can see how things are not anymore in Texas.

Lastly, on the way back up, many things happened to me. I spilled gas all over me trying to refill the rental - so I had to change at the airport not to stink up the place, for the first time ever finally talked with the person next to me on the plane (this is very good to do on long flights - I encourage everyone to try), and finally saw all the snow that was going to come down on Chicago...

Kansas City -- KA and MO

2009-12-01T20:42:00.000-08:00

I decided I am going to start every entry with a guess-what-this-is picture that I have taken wherever I go. I do these a lot lately and this will be a great way to maybe get some people to guess. And if you can't guess, then just read the rest of the post and you will be able to know what it is by the end of it. So here is my Kansas City - guess what this is:

~.~

Kansas was just like a remembered it from being there five years ago - flat, vast, sunny (most of the time), and just relaxing. Well, Overland Park where I stayed is mostly like I described, but OP is a suburb after all. I love these clouds...

The cities are small and cute and filled with bars. The power and light district is great for a long night out, when the weather is nice.

Must-go-to restaurant in the city: La Fou Frog. They had kangaroo meat!!!!! But pretty much everything you ordered was great. The chef had complimentary little cute dishes for you and then the waiters even accompanied you to the parking lot. Totally worth the price.

Of course went to the after Thanksgiving shopping which was great in Kansas - cheaper and more room to park. But thrift store shopping was also great. In the one below, we saw that the bibles were free while you had to pay for the other books.

Architecturally speaking, the Bloch Building was pretty amazing. Both Casey and I decided we want to design a building like that in the future. The light in it was just amazing that we could not help posing for silhouettes in renderings. Also, channel glass is one of my favorite building materials.

Another cute little community center was the Nerman Museum of Contemporary art. That's a screen underneath the overhang.

Also, I am pretty sure this is the original AMC - the one they show before the movies start (where the little teenagers walk into!) Downtown KC, that's right.

I also have to mention the speed limits in Kansas (according to my post tradition) - they reach 70mph!!! Impressive! I tried to take a picture but I was going too fast!

And to finish this post off... our new friends! We had a blast hanging out with Edward and Jake - they are just so shiny!

Things I am glad for in my life (right now)

2009-11-08T20:36:00.000-08:00

my family
my friends
my washing machine
my oil painting class
my job
holidays coming up
fall (picture)
gone with the wind
shows on CW
CTA bus tracker

While in Chicago, I live like other everyday people. I am also building up a list of all the cars I have driven so far. It is going to be good.

San Francisco - 3, Interesting stuff

2009-10-29T09:09:00.000-07:00

The first day I went to downtown San Francisco they had this market with cool art and I took a video that I got to figure out how to post on here...But also saw that the cable cars were like the ones in Milan with the Lombardia flag! Weird...

They also have these beautiful trees everywhere that are so symmetric and fractal looking... lol I wish we had them here too but they probably can not survive in Chicago cold.

Also, this next picture is for my brother. I hope he reads the blog. I found it in the middle of the worst area of San Francisco. Its perfect.

This chess set ( at the SFOMA store) was so cool and cost like $200 but I bet it makes playing the game so much more exciting :-p oh also it came with a table / stand.

And here is my last interesting picture from outside the SFOMA. Don't they already have that?

San Francisco - 2, Architecture and Design

2009-10-28T19:56:00.000-07:00

The weather is mostly beautiful, the people are mostly relaxed. San Francisco has the most complicated highway system I have driven in so far with seven different levels and crazy traffic.

Unfortunately, I only took pictures of the Bay bridge and the Richmond bridge (I saw a rainbow while there) but the camera died for the Golden Gate bridge :-( However, I drove through it and it is definitely the most impressive of all three; wider, taller, and red...it's a real thrill!

I went to visit a couple of architectural landmarks I could not miss - the church from Pier Luigi Nervi: amazingly beautiful and grand. Pictures can not really describe it. Also, the San Francisco Modern Art Museum (SFOMA... lol) by Mario Botta that is so consistent in its design and so massive. Also went to the Frank Lloyd Wright Civic Center in Marin County but it was raining so bad that day..ggrr!

This is the longest post I have ever written but I have to add some more things about design. Things that I can't avoid noticing! These bathrooms signs that have groovy people on them and also these chairs by the pier.

San Francisco - 1, Facts

2009-10-20T15:18:00.000-07:00

The houses on the hills and their ceramic shingles remind me of Greece.
Sour dough bread is the number one choice. I like this place.
The fog is obsessed with the Golden Gate Bridge. I have the best perspective from my hotel but can never actually see it. It is sad.
As soon as I got here it rained more than it has never rained before.
Expensive, expensive, expensive. To go into the city you can chose to pay 6 dollars by BART, 5 dollar toll if you drive and then good luck parking, or 7 dollars by ferry each way. Walking?
Trader Joe's are all over the place - dare I say more than Starbucks.
And so are homeless people - the weather favors the outdoor stay I guess...
A lot of people that live in the suburbs have no idea of what goes on in the city.
The fire hydrants are white!!! What??

Twin Cities...

2009-10-19T18:24:00.001-07:00

...as in Saint Paul is the one to work in and Minneapolis is the one to party in. I wish someone had told me this before I went. **Note for the future**

Things that surprised me about these two:

1. Street parking is more expensive here than in Chicago and really hard to find. But parking garages are relatively cheap.
2. In Minneapolis they actually have open bar until 11:30pm and it's not a scam.
3. Every building in the downtowns has a sky-way level which are these bridges that connect all the buildings so people walk through them and don't even have to go outside. Why didn't we do this in Chicago?
4. Speed limit is 65 mph - I am pretty sure that is illegal in Illinois
5. No tolls anywhere! Yay!

Nature is really pretty and the Mississippi is everywhere and also many many lakes. I wish I had spent more time going around, I barely went to the Mall of America but at least I saw it.
I went to the University of Minnesota where I encountered these two interesting buildings. One is the alumni center and the other for the college of design.

Next time I need to plan more time for tourism out of the work time.I would definitely go back but stay in Minneapolis instead of Saint Paul, so there is more interaction with people.