Month: June 2018
Kenneth Frampton received the Golden Lion Award at the Venice Biennale
The architecture critic/theoretician who wrote so eloquently about Carlo Scarpa – see this weeks available texts – wins a lifetime achievement award.
Venice Biennale_Architectural Record
A weekend in Milano
This week had some great highlights. Some of my favorite places we visited were the Armani Silos, The Triennale, the Fondazione Achille Castiglioni, and the Ballet at La Scala. It’s really amazing to see such interesting designs by different people. At Armani, the reoccurring trend seemed to be the intricate beading on many of the dresses. Castiglioni said “Function, what a beautiful form” and this remained relevant in his designs. Another great week filled with many design lessons.
On our own time, we explored the city. One night, we decided to check out the club scene and danced the night away. We ate dinner at the authentic Trattoria da Mauro and had amazing pasta. We also went to some vintage shops and scored some sweet souvenirs for friends and family (as well as some things for myself). I downloaded an app called “LOST iN”, which also does publications, but the app is much easier to use on the go.
Also just a fun little story: One of the nights at our apartment, our electricity went out. We had no idea how to get it back on. We tried all the switches that our CA had told us to try. Pamela went knocking on our neighbors’ doors but no one opened. Finally, on the floor below us, an older woman named Lorenza came up to help us. She was extremely sweet and reminded all of us of our own grandmothers. The next day we bought her a small tiramisu cake. She (and her husband) were absolutely delighted. The day after that- she made us homemade spaghetti!! It was SO good. How lucky are we to get homemade cooking from a real Italian grandma???!
Alessi
Week 2 passed by so fast. By the end of the week, we went to the Alessi Museum. We had to wake up early and take a bus ride from the Cadorna station to there. The weather was cool and refreshing that very woke me up when we arrived the Alessi Museum.
These sculpture and building really caught my attention when we first got there. I didn’t know that it was a real project until later. But later, we were welcomed by Alessi’s stuff with a free hot drink which was a totally a plus to my personal experience at the museum. After the small break with my Italian cappuccino, the staff gave us a long but impressive lecture about the history and goals of Alessi as a company:
“A true work of design must move people, convey feelings, bring back memories, surprise, transgress… It must make us feel intensely that we are living our one single life.” —— Alberto Alessi
The criteria formula that they mentioned was interesting for me too:
SMI (Sensoriality Memory Imaginary) + CL (Communication Language) + F (Function) + P (Price) = SSS
For Alessi, it is almost impossible to make something that can be perfectly scored using this criteria test. Therefore, Alessi would prefer to sacrifice the price and the function of the object to have a more personal and communicational product: “For Alessi, Design is not a simple formal project for an object but it is a sort of “overall philosophy”. ”
After the visit to the Museum and the lunchtime, I took a small walk with Moira in the city Omegna which was a really nice ending to my second week in Italy.
Picture of the week
History of the Triennale
https://www.inexhibit.com/case-studies/the-international-exhibitions-of-the-triennale-di-milano/
Archibio Sacchi
The protoyping archive we visited June 12th.
http://www.archiviosacchi.it/
Holla at La Scalla
The highlights of my third week here were most definitely going to see the ballet at La Scalla and seeing the production process behind it at the set and costume warehouse.
I worked on sets for shows in high school and have always loved the technical aspect of theatre, so having the opportunity to see how the professionals do it and see it done at one of the most historical opera houses in the world was an experience I will never forget. I really appreciated how they made almost everything by hand even in the high-tech age we live in now. I think it shows how highly they value tradition and take so much pride in their art forms here especially.
Walking into La Scalla felt almost like a dream. I’ve been in many theaters and seen many different performances, but nothing compared to this. Being escorted to a box and sitting down in such a beautiful and luxurious arena was hard to believe and honestly made me feel kind of important for that hour and a half. What made it even better was that a lot of the music selections the performers danced to were some of my favorite pieces of classical music.
As my sister is an opera singer, and has never been to La Scalla, it was really cool that I was able to go and see it for her. I hope I can come back some day and see an opera, maybe even one with her in it!
That’s Where We Wanna Go…Way Down In Lake Como
One of my favorite experiences this week was getting to go to Como and see not only the archives and famous pieces of architecture but also the beautiful scenery that the city has to showcase.
I enjoyed our first stop at the archive because we were able to see original versions of chairs we studied. It was also interesting to hear some additional historical context about the designers and how they went about completing their process.
Another aspect of the trip I was intrigued by was the Monument to the Fallen. The design seemed extremely futuristic, especially when thinking about how it was only constructed in the 1930’s. I found the feature where visitors could climb to the top to be especially interesting as it allows you to find a spot overlooking the water and the hills and gives you an environment to reflect on those lost.
After learning about it in lecture, it was particularly cool to see the Casa del Fascio and experience it in person. As the architect mentioned, while it was smaller in comparison to surrounding buildings, its design did make it appear larger than it was through very strategic techniques, such as the reflective aspect of the marble.
Week three: visitors and adventures!
CHRISTINA (my old roommate) COMES IN TOWN!
I have never been so excited to see a friend in my life!
Saturday morning we woke up early to catch a train to the lake district at 7:20. When we got to Varenna we hopped on a fairy boat over to Bellagio peninsula and found a little coffee shop. We got some coffee and hit the town. We then hiked over the Bellagio hill and spent the rest of the morning sitting with our feet in the water, watching the boats. For lunch we asked a local for pasta recommendations and we had some risotto, pasta with pesto, and blueberry pasta… its pasta made out of blueberries! After lunch we decided we should try to head back over to Varenna to have some time to walk around there before our train home. When we were on the fairy ride back my friend Martha spotted a small river tucked back in the hills of the town and recognized it from one of her travel books. She told us that she was pretty sure it was the “Milky River” which is the shortest river in the world and has extreme rapids. Naturally, we decided we needed to find this river…
At the source of the river there was a naturally fed drinking fountain and it was the cleanest, coldest water Ive had in Europe yet! While we were enjoying our time at the top I got a facetime call from a friend back home and I answered with a view of the river and the lakes behind it and was like “hey look where I am” and it was pretty sad when I realized he was calling me to show me his view of Canyon Lake and I totally one upped him on accident.
Needless to say, Italy has endless beauty and spontaneity is key. I have been so inspired this weekend!
