Jeffrey D Dahl

Studio Work

2008-08-24T20:00:00.000-07:00

Now that I am back in states and our projects are done, here is some of the work I did. Stay tuned for a blog entry on my sketching from Rome and Paris.

Here are my presentation boards for our China studio in Nanjing. The site was located in a region in Nanjing called Xiaguan located along the Yangtze River. The first board is our analysis of the site that we completed in China and was primarily not changed back in America.

The second board is a compilation of our design in China and how we developed it while in America. It is what we called a "Topological Armature" which basically means that it is an infrastructural addition to existing conditions along a Xiaguan street that manual adapts to the needs of the residents. Constructed of local bamboo, it provides needed shading as well as a water catchment system and smoke ventilation for barbecues.

This is the final design for our Rome studio. The main concept of this project was to take the existing retail boutiques that are scattered throughout Rome and adapt them in a way to better navigate a lost tourist. This photo is of the famous Campo de Fiori - a popular tourist piazza known for its fresh fruit market in the morning and its top notch bars for the night crowd.

Here you can see how we re-designed the existing boutiques in a way that uses an existing condition to deal with a contemporary problem - navigating through a city of small streets and piazzas flooded by tourists who are just as lost as you are. This design incorporates fold out city maps, up to the minute bus and metro information, weather forecasts, and a "Big Brother" style screening of other boutiques around the city as a way to see what are the popular areas and which areas lack a public presence.

As you can see, its been a busy summer full of foods I can't pronounce (aka I don't know what it was), 12 hour hikes in the sweltering Roman heat, and awkward (perverted) French men. In the end, it was a summer I will never forget, full of stories I will tell for years.

On to the Fall semester - which just so happens to begin in 12 hours! Hooray for a 12 hour summer break!!!

The End is Near

2008-07-31T22:51:00.000-07:00

Well, after a long 2.5 months, today is the day I begin my journey home. This whole trip has ben a lot of fun and really eye-opening into the way that people live everyday life. It has made me think differently about many aspects of not only architecture, but also life. I will be coming home with many new ideas and viewpoints into the way the American society is failing (underutilized public transportation, sprawl, and social interaction to name a few).

It's time now to head off to Dublin, Ireland where I'll have a 13 hour layover, then on to LAX for another 5 hour layover, and on to the final destination, SFO!!!!

See you all soon!

--Jeff
(anxious, yet sad to leave)

Paris Part 2

2008-07-31T22:39:00.000-07:00

Here is what I've done and seen in Paris since my last post.

The Eiffel Tower at night - illuminated with blue lighting:
The Eiffel Tower during its hourly night time light show:

Arub Institute:

Marcel Duchamp's "Urinal" - seen at a museum inside the Pompidou:

Piet Mondrian:

Playing soccer with a local kid at Parc Andre Citroen:

Spiral stairs and processional ramps lead the circulation through Villa Savoye:

The exterior of Villa Savoye, displaying Le Corbusier's "Five Points of Architecture":

Paris Part 1

2008-07-23T14:48:00.000-07:00

First studio review for Paris is in the morning, so here are some photos of places in Paris I've visited within the last week. Paris is going by really fast (never a good thing) - only a few more days left until I return to America.

I forget the name of this structure, I think it is famous:

From atop Tour Montparnesse which 47 meters shorter than the Eiffel Tower (shown above):

Atop Tour Montparnesse:

Studio Site @ Night - Pompidou Center:

Random guy on the street peeing in a corner while talking on the phone and holding his cane - some sort of magician I guess:

Notre Dame:

St Chappel, just a stones throw from Notre Dame:

Bibliotheque Nationale - National Library for France:

Catacombs under the streets of Paris consisting of REAL skeleton bones:

Paris sewer system (le poo poo):

Le Grande Arche - intersection of 12, yes 12, chaotic streets:

Le Louvre:

La Defense - new urban development on outskirts on Paris to help boost the economy and jobs. This building is a perfect cube with a giant hole punched out of the center:

Pompidou Center:

Parisian Flea Market. It is reportedly the largest flea market in the world (took over 3 hours to walk with only looking at a few booths - it completely takes over all the streets in a whole neighborhood):

More to come soon...

Sistine Chapel

2008-07-19T11:40:00.000-07:00

It's been quite a long time since I've posted a blog on here, busy with school and exploring cities. Here is a video I took while at the Sistine Chapel. Ssshhhh, don't tell security. ;)

More to come once Blogger/my internet connection wants to allow me to upload photos, not only videos.

Florence

2008-06-28T12:39:00.000-07:00

Today was our day in Florence, Italy, and from our advice for anyone who wants to rent a car here - Don't do it. We experienced more road construction and one-way streets than any street in San Francisco, along with Vespa's and bicycles speeding around. After spending 30 minutes on city streets trying to navigate the small streets crowded with pedestrians, we finally found an underground garage to park our car.

Our first stop here was to visit Michelangelo's Statue of David at the Galleria dell'Accademia. After seeing the Statue of David, it was time to drive and find our hotel - yet another adventure of European driving we will never forget. Not being from Florence, and not having any knowledge of their driving laws, we didn't realize that on a Saturday, most roads are turned into pedestrians walkways with access only available to emergency vehicles. After being told by the police that we couldn't park on the pedestrian walkway, we realized that not only did we park illegally while trying to find the hotel, but we also drove through the main plaza, Piazza San Marco.

Not being able to spend as much time here as other cities we have visited, it does not seem as interesting or intriguing, but we sure have as many stories of innocently breaking laws and walking up 80 stairs to get to our hotel.

Short public bus - only way to navigate narrow cobblestone roads:

Statue of David (don't tell security):

Statue of David, exquisitely detailed from veins in hands to curls in hair:

Statue in Piazza Della Signoria near our hotel:

Ponte Vecchio bridge with housing hanging off the side - currently used as a tourist trap with commercial stores selling fake jewelery and bags:

In the morning, it's on to Rome for 2 and a half weeks!

Venice, Italy

2008-06-28T12:02:00.001-07:00

Venice was a masterpiece of a city to visit; from its exquisite buildings to its labyrinth canals, it produced more and more surprises around every corner. Piazza San Marco, the main piazza in Venice, had more pidgins than tourists, but was still just as amazing as movies portray it. For being a city built on 2 meters of water, being able to see houses that are over 600 years old is hard to believe that they are still standing.

Pictures below explain our time in Venice.

Traffic after a toll plaza in Italy where 20 lanes go into 2 lanes (As you can see, there are no lane stripes on the ground here):
The famous Piazza San Marco in Venice:

Campanile Bell Tower, within Piazza San Marco:

Placard above the elevator doors on the way to the top of Campanile Bell Tower:

Piazza San Marco and Venice from top of Campanile Bell Tower:
Some random dude relaxing at the bottom of the Campanile Bell Tower:

Piazza San Marco colonnade:
Church along back of Grande Canale in Venice:

Gondolier strolling along a canal in Venice:

Gondola race in Venice: (I put my money on the motor boat)
Burano, a small island north of Venice was a fishing community known for its vibrantly colored houses as a way for fisherman to identify their house after a long stay out to sea (tower in the background is leaning):

Murano, another small island north of Venice, is known for its glass:

Big Bird inspecting the Grande Canale:

Yes, we did take a gondola ride (100 Euros for 45 minutes):

Our last view of Venice before leaving:

On to Florence!

Switzerland

2008-06-27T13:20:00.001-07:00

Even though we only spent 48 hours in Switzerland, it was one of the most beautiful places I have ever visited in my life. Luzern, known more commonly as Lucerne, is a city everyone must visit as it is just breathtaking to see from ground, water, and sky.

Mt. Pilatus, Switzerland:

View from restaurant on top of Mt. Pilatus:

Houses along Lake Luzern:

Boat ride along Lake Luzern:

Continuing the boat ride:

Drinking water:

View from gondola going up to Mt. Pilatus:

Mt. Pilatus looking at Luzern:

Austria

2008-06-27T13:09:00.000-07:00

Austria, or as I like to call it, Tunnel-land, was a 30 minute journey on our way from Munich, Germany to Zurich, Switzerland of which we spent 20 minutes in a tunnel. After crossing the Germany-Austria border without stopping at the checkpoint (illegal?!?!) we entered a tunnel that seemed to be endless. Before we knew it, we were saying goodbye to Arnold and hello to Switzerland.

Austria-Switzerland border:

Munich

2008-06-24T12:37:00.000-07:00

Here are some photos from our time in Munich.

Olympic Stadium from Observation Tower:

BMW Welt from Observation Tower:

Inside BMW Welt:

BMW Welt:

Inside BMW Welt:

Pay toilets at pitstop along AutoBahn in Germany:

Beginning of cut off word was "Oldtimersfarhten":

Don't cry :(

Hotel in Munich surrounded by casino's, adult theaters, and adult shops:

Munich Olympic Stadium (1972):

Berlin Day 2

2008-06-20T21:51:00.000-07:00

Today, we decided to take a boat tour along the Spree to get a different perspective of Berlin, as we heard that a boat tour is a must when in Berlin. After being told it would be a German/English speaking tour, we came to find out that the language split was hardly 50/50. What seemed to b paragraphs in German appeared to be single sentence in English, leaving us to try and decipher German to understand the words of the tour guide.

The image below is of a museum along the Spree which still shows evidence of the war as it is covered with bullet holes.

After the tour, we decided to go to another architectural masterpiece, the Jewish Museum designed by Daniel Libeskind. About a 10 minute taxi ride from where we started, this building is unmistakble with its large steel facade with slat windows.

Inside, it is yet again another powerful museum where the architecture overwhelming adds to the experience. The Holocaust Tower, a special room designed by the architect, is entered through a large, heavy steel door - inside is a void with a small window nearly 50 feet up allowing a minimal amount of light into the dark, cold concrete space. Open to individual interpretation, Libeskind described this space as a commemorative place for the victims of the Holocaust.

Continuing along our World War 2 themed day, we walked several blocks to Checkpoint Charlie - which given such historical importance was quite a disappointment to me. Not only is the area filled with consumerist junk and fake historical replicas, there are large Hewlett Packard advertisements covering the entire sides of buildings and the so called "American soldier" at the checkpoint is actually German!

Just around the corner, we found a remaining piece of the Berlin wall. Next to it, there is a partially submerged museum "Topologies of Terror" recalling the Nazi regime and German political history dating back into the early 1930s.

After ending our personal tour of Berlin and World War 2, we walked over to Potsdamer Platz, a fairly large plaza and downtown district throbbing with a mixture of lost tourists and angry locals. Finally finding some good 'ole German food, we sat down for dinner and had Haagen-Daz! It took us 2 days, but we found German food, and boy was it good!

We then decided to experience Berlin from a locals viewpoint, so we took the SBahn Underground transportation system. This dropped us off a few blocks from our hotel where we ended up for the night.

Berlin Day 1

2008-06-20T21:37:00.000-07:00

For our first day in Berlin, we decided it was best to do a bus tour of the city so that we could get acquainted with Berlin. It was an on and off bus that had 15 stops, allowing us to get off and on at any stop we wanted to. After riding it for a full loop, we got off to see Peter Eisenman's Holocaust Memorial - one of Berlins most famous architectural designs.

After visiting the memorial and underground museum, we took the bus back to our original starting point and tried to find some authentic German food for dinner (not any easy task we came to find out). After walking for a good 30 minutes, we decided to just stop at one of the abundant Italian restaurants. Coincidentally, the German soccer team was having a game in the Eurocup 2008, so all the restaurants had setup outside table with large tvs to watch the game, so we sat down and watched the game with screaming Germans and there jugs of beer.

The Great Wall of China

2008-06-18T22:43:00.000-07:00

Wow, talk about an amazing experience!!! It is beyond what words can describe, such a powerful piece of architecture and defense built by man, to protect man. Instead of trying to describe it with words, here are some pictures that tell the story of The Great Wall of China.

On to Europe

2008-06-18T22:38:00.000-07:00

China was an incredible experience that I will never forget, but now it is time to live the life of a European. We made it to Berlin safely late last night, and are ready to begin exploring what Germany has to show us. Today will probably be a bus tour around Berlin to get acquainted with the city before we go exploring on our own.

I'll try to put more images on my flickr account as soon as I can so you can see where I have been for the last few weeks.

China Time!

2008-05-16T10:08:00.000-07:00

The time has finally arrived. I leave in a few hours from SFO to LAX and then after a 10 hour layover, on to Beijing and Nanjing. Today has come so fast, I remember signing up for the study abroad like it was yesterday. I'm going to try to update this as much as possible with where I am around the world so everyone can see, but I also have a studio assignment, so I might not always have the time.

See you all in 2 and a half months!

Jeff

PS Here is where I will be visiting this summer - so exciting!!

Nanjing, China
Shanghai, China
Beijing, China
Berlin, Germany
Munich, Germany
Zurich, Switzerland
Lucerne, Switzerland
Venice, Italy
Florence, Italy
Rome, Italy
Paris, France
Amsterdam, Netherlands (Possibly)
Dublin, Ireland