Anything and Everything

"Portebello road, Portebello road
Street where the riches of ages are stowed.
Anything and everything a chap can unload
Is sold off the barrow in Portebello road.
You’ll find what you want in the Portebello road."

The past week has been so exhausting that I took a much needed break today and slept in. A morning off felt so good! In the afternoon a group of us went to Portobello Road. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but the street market was an adventure. The prices here are much cheaper than anywhere else I’ve been and there is a little bit of everything here. You can do all your grocery shopping, buy a new wardrobe, and shop for antiques here.









Click to see a larger view of this photo. Harry Potter, Michael Cain, Einstein and Stevie Wonder are their examples of eye wear fashion.

I picked up a few gifts and bunch of incredible vine ripened tomatoes. I still have the song from Bedknobs and Broomsticks stuck in my head.

Getting to and from Portobello requires a transfer at Paddington Station. I looked, but could find no bears.





Jane Austen was my date for the rest of the night. The thought of reaching a point where I will never be able to read a Jane Austen novel for the first time makes me so sad that I ration her books carefully. If there was ever an appropriate place to read one of her novels, London is it, so I broke down and brought along a copy of Mansfield Park. I took some time this evening to sit next to an open window overlooking a row of townhouses and read.

Modern Design

At 9:30 this morning we had to have our three carpet patterns on the wall ready for a critique. That made for a late night for almost everyone. These are mine:



Natural History Museum



Victoria & Albert



Science Museum

We need to have them reworked and ready to present to Brinton’s carpet by Tuesday.




Graffiti on Tower Bridge

More museums were on the schedule today. A Tube ride and a walk across Tower Bridge brought us to the Design Museum. I love the concept of their collection, to celebrate great design in our lives. Chairs, books, cars, clothing, and even tv programs made up the collection. The problem is there wasn’t much of it there. This should have been a much larger museum.









The next stop was London City Hall. I love this building. It is very playful for a government building. Why can’t we do something like this to the Utah State Capital? Because in the US we are afraid to try something new and different. Maybe they are much more open here is because they’ve already done everything. There isn’t much point to building a city hall that looks like Parilament.

We then headed to the Tate Modern. This is the most incredible museum I’ve ever been it. The collection of modern art is stunning. It was Calder, after Warhol, after Rothco, all mixed up. I saw the most stunning Jasper Johns and my favorite Picasso, Weeping Woman. I had no idea it was there and when I saw it across the room I ran to it! I stood there for several minutes studying the color and brush strokes. I once painted a master copy of it and I think I got it right. Out time there was too short. I wish I could have been there all day. But we had to get back, by way of the Millenium Bridge.



We had tickets to see Mary Poppins.



I’ve never been a big fan of the movie even though I grew up with it, and I’m not big on musicals in general. But the stage production is a lot of fun. They expanded the story, making it more about the family than about Mary, which strengthened the characters. The sets and costumes were very creative and it had more of a fairy tale quality than I expected.

Museum Row

The funny thing about exhaustion is that I often reach the point where I am too tired to sleep. This was one of those nights. While I felt better in the morning, it came too soon.

We were given our first assignment, to design a broadloom carpet pattern based on our sketches throughout the day. One pattern each needs to be inspired by the Victoria & Albert, the Science, and the Natural History Museums.

The first stop today was the Victoria and Albert Museum and we are only a few minutes walk away. The V&A is amazing! The building is so beautiful and you are met by a Chihuly in the entry way.



It is a striking piece in the context of the historic building. The collection spans everything from Asian art, to medieval sculpture, to fashion design, and there is so much there that it feels like you could never see it all. The textile design was beautiful as well.





The Science Museum is as sharp a contrast to the V&A as I can imagine. Across the street from the V&A, and in an equally historic building, you walk through the doors into a giant, interactive science experiment. The exhibits are contemporary and progressive. One particularly interesting display dealt with the way we perceive materials. This play on the Marilyn sofa is actually quite comfortable to sit on.



Also featured was a display on life-cycle assessment. I never thought I would see that!





Then it was off to the Natural History Museum next door. Back in Spaceplanning, when I was a little sophomore, we had an assignment to design signage for a building. I thought it would be easier to do something for a real location and happened across the web site for this museum. I designed new signage for them complete with their logo. Now that I’ve seen their signage in person I have to say, with all humility, that I like mine better.



Natural History is a very cool museum that is more like a amusement ride than a series of displays. One room even simulates the Kobe earthquake in Japan with a shaking floor.



This is a hand-drawn map left to tell family members where to go to find each other. The approach to the design of this museum makes science an emotional experience.

We took the long way back to the flat and walked to Hyde Park. On the way we passed the Imperial College of London which features a new façade designed by Foster and Partners, the firm of Pritzker prize winner Norman Foster.



I’ve noticed that the English (and I assume Europeans in general) are not afraid to try things. They mix contemporary with historical architecture, their advertising and graphic design is edgier, food labels have vegetarian labels on them, and their news headlines are extreme. They seem to be more progressive and inclusive, but at the same time they are quite politically incorrect. I would hate to be disabled in this country. Nothing is accessible. How would you get anywhere? Warnings on tobacco products are bold and graphic, but everyone smokes anyway. I wouldn’t want to have children here either. The traffic is very scary. Pedestrians do not have the right of way. And some of the ads I’ve seen in very public places are not things I would want my children to see.

In Hyde Park we saw the Prince Albert Memorial and the Serpentine Gallery. The gallery featured an exhibit by Thomas Demand who builds entire rooms out of paper and then photographs them so that it’s difficult to tell that they aren’t real. This summer the architectural exhibit outside the gallery is by Rem Koolhaas, another Pritzker winner.





This guy hanging out in the corner looks a bit like Karim Rashid.



Nearby is the Princess Diana fountain. I remember when this opened it was a slipping hazard and children playing in it were getting hurt. The problem seems to be fixed.







Dinner tonight was a trip to Leicster Square and Wagamama’s, a fabulous Japanese restaurant that I was told I had to visit. Zach, you were right. The ginger chicken udon is incredible. I wish we had these in the states.

Arrival

Our flight finally arrived at San Francisco and we were off. I don’t mind flying. The food was pretty good and the in flight movie (Failure to Launch, oddly appropriate don't you think?) was ok, but it was long – nine and a half hours. It was also a red eye flight and I didn’t get much sleep.

Heathrow Airport is a huge contrast to San Francisco.



It might have been nice once, but now it is run down and dirty. It reminds me of Tomorrow Land in Disney Land when I was little. It was such an outdated vision of the future that it was laughable. In both places the once modern white surfaces and glass panels were dirty and in disrepair. This is not a welcoming place to enter the country. It also didn’t help that the first things we were greeted with after baggage claim were a liquor store and a small casino. The last thing I wanted to see when I arrived in Great Britain was a slot machine. But the grimy nature of Heathrow was an oddly appropriate setting to be reminded of Las Vegas.

We were met at the Meeting Point by Corrine, one of our instructors, and taken into London on the Underground. Once again, grimy and rundown, in large part due to the heavy traffic. It was also hot and humid. It’s a 40 minute ride into London and with luggage it is not fun. It is even less fun to drag that luggage through the heavy traffic and narrow streets of London, but we finally arrived at our flat.

[photo of flat will go here]

I am in room 17F, on the third floor (61 steps!), which I have all to myself. My flatmates are Megan R., Audrey, Susie, Janelle, Kelly, Una, DeAnne, Susan, Tim and Marty. There are six bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a common room with a kitchen. Remember everything I said about my little basement apartment in Salt Lake? I take it all back! This place is a dump with a rat problem. At least here this is my view out the window:



If I lean out far enough I can see the top of the Victoria & Albert Museum.

When we arrived we were given just enough time to drop our stuff, and grab a sandwich before we were led to Sainsbury’s, the grocery store, by Darrin and his daughter Kelsey. It was quite a walk, and I bought only what I knew I could carry back. Everything is so expensive here! We are incredibly spoiled in the US.

Back at the flat, once again, we had just enough time to drop off our stuff before we headed out on a walking tour of the city. We jumped on the Tube at South Kensington, which was quite a feat. There are over 20 of us and the trains are crowded. You have to be aggressive or you will never get anywhere. This is the London Underground:



And this is Trax.



Trax isn’t usually this empty, but once again I realize I’ve been spoiled. Trax is clean, air conditioned, and very quiet. The Tube is hot, stuffy, and loud.

We got off at Westminster and walked out in front of Big Ben and Westminster Abbey.





We were right on the Thames and across from the London Eye, the world’s largest ferris wheel. After a quick walk through the streets, and traffic, of London we were finally taken back and allowed to sleep.

I'm Off

I am not usually a procrastinator. I always try to get things done early, but beginning my month in Europe on a relaxed note has been impossible. I finished my internship on Friday, moved out of my apartment in Salt Lake and came home on Saturday, unpacked on Sunday, and couldn't start preparing for this trip until Monday. My flight left Salt Lake at 11:23 a.m Tuesday morning. Or at least it was supposed to. The plane was 45 minutes late due to heavy air traffic. I travelled with Tim, Susan, Wendy and Megan P. We finally arrived in San Fransisco, rushed to the international terminal, and got through security in time to find that our connecting flight had left 6 minutes early. Thanks to a flight attendant telling us the wrong gate we missed the connection to Heathrow by a few minutes. The next flight to London didn't leave until 7:00 p.m.



Six hours is a long time to wait in an airport, but it could be a lot worse. San Fransisco is a nice airport to wait in. The building is well designed. It's bright and contemporary, comfortable to be in, and easy to find your way through. The high ceilings let in ample daylight and the white Richard Meier-esque corridors contrast with black granite partitions. It was well past lunch time after we got on stand-by for the next flight, so I broke down and paid $8.61 for a plate of penne pasta with tomato cream sauce and goat cheese. The tables in the food court have a playful Modrian pattern with a curved metal band. The chairs was utliltarian and plastic, but they had a nice shape and were surprisingly comfortable. So I picked one up and turned it over to see who made it. It's the Genoa chair.



The airport map had a room labeled as a mediataion area. You don't see that often so we went expoloring. It is called The Reflection Room and located in a corner of the terminal overlooking the hillside. You enter the room through a vestibule with a large compass inlaid in stone on the floor. The room is situated north. I wonder what the symbolisim behind it is, and whether it was the architect or the designer who planned it. Inside is a collonade of maple columns with metal beams. It creates a wonderful transition from the outside world. It is a peaceful space with comfortable chairs and a glass encased room for religious services. We went in and sat down, but we were not the only ones in the room. The tranquility of the setting was broken by a traveller in one corner, and a homeless man in another, both snoring away.





Time passed quickly and we made our way to the gate. The gates are a level lower than the concourse which is a nice seperation of space. You feel more protected and the space is much quiter than the usual airport waiting areas. The carpet is the same pattern as it is ay GSBS, with an arc of a contrasting solid cut through it. I think I'm doomed to notice details like this for the rest of my life. We are now scheduled to leave at 7:23 p.m. PST.

Utah Arts Festival

London and Paris: A Tale of Two Cities

Assignment 2: Royal American Design Program

In three weeks I will be in London. I'm so entrenched in my internship at the moment that its hard to imagine that it will soon end and I will fly to the other side of the world to study design in an entirely different way. In a previous life I was a history major and I have studied the histories of both London and Paris in depth. It will be impossible for me to disconnect from the knowledge I have while I am there and it will be interesting to see if this will enhance or detract from the experience. I expect this will only add, but there is something to be said for not having preconceived notions.

I've never been to Paris, but I once spent an afternoon in London. I was on a layover on my way to Athens and had enough time to ride the Tube in from Heathrow, jump on a double decker bus, and take a quick tour. Oddly, the thing I remember most were the flower boxes. It seemed they were on every building and all were in bloom. London was a beautiful city, and a fascinating contrast to Athens.

The thing I would like to do in both cities is to walk the streets and explore. I believe in spending time getting to know one place rather than running all over Europe trying to see everything just to say you were there. I also want to see contemporary architecture and design. The offices of Norman Foster and Zaha Hadid, both Pritzker Prize winners, are in London. In spite of my love of history I'm not the type who is in awe of it. You study the past in order to create the future. Having said that I've always been obsessed with cathedrals and would love to see as many as I can.

My family is English from long before there was an England. I am a descendant of Old King Cole, several lines of Scottish royalty (including Duncan, the king murdered by MacBeth), William the Conqueror, and the Plantagenets. It's not always a group to be proud of, but it makes for a colorful pedigree. The most recent of my great-great-great grandparents to come to America left England in the 1860s from Northampton. I need to pull out my genealogy before I go.

I'm looking forward to this opportunity to learn and experience something new, and I hope it makes me a better designer.

The Key to Success

"No matter how efficient a building is with its resources, if you don't inspire the community, it will get torn down and thrown away. We can't just be considering if it's good for the earth. We have to think: Is it good for the people?"

-Linda Burnett, "Sustain Me," Contract Magazine, April 2006 p. 60

Crowded House - World Where You Live

Sorry I haven't had time to blog. Until then enjoy the best music video of the 80s!