Panorama-Lama-Ding-Dong

Okay, I couldn't resist. Here are some panoramas from the Scandinavian trip. They're all complete 180 degree photos, some even more so. Feel free to click on them and take a more detailed look. There's a lot going on in these pictures!

This was taken right before visiting the Vasa Museum, while waiting for our ferry to arrive.



This is a little port in Stockholm, taken during the beautiful walk back to our hostel from the Vasa.



Another Stockholm. I guess I was just panorama crazy while I was there. I think, though, that since Stockholm is a city just riddled with canals and the architecture is just kept so low, the whole city seems to spread out horizontally.

This was taken while waiting for the group to make their way to the bus.



This was taken just before disembarking on our second overnight ferry.

Day 8: Helsinki to Stockholm

Thursday, July 17th, 2008

Both Ellen and I woke up normal time this day, just in time for fresh rolls to be placed out at the buffet. As usual, we stuffed ourselves before heading out to the bus. I was bold enough to try the oatmeal, which was actually very salty. Luckily, there was a giant bowl of raspberry preserves sitting out, so I mixed up a batch of 1:3 oatmeal jelly, and it was quite tasty.

For the first time, lunch packs were pre-made so we just grabbed a bag and headed to the bus. Our first stop was Otaneimi University for a small self-tour of the campus and a few buildings.

Then it was on to Hvittrask, the home and studio of three architects: Eliel Saarinen, Herman Gesellius and Armas Lindgren. Our tour guide was wonderful and explained a lot of the interesting aspects of the house. The house is made up of three floors, but seven levels, which meant a lot of stairs. Also, Eliel designed the house to his proportions, and was quite short, so many of us had to duck as we went through the doorways. We were also told a story about the "Whiskey Rings" located in the living room. Eliel, having a taste for Scottish Whiskey, installed these so that while you were drinking, if you needed some support, you could just hold on to one of the rings. But if you let go and fell, you would be finished for the night.



This is a stained glass window located in the dining room. It actually tells a story about Saarinen, Geseillus, and Mathilda, Saarinen's wife. Saarinen was a workaholic, and Mathilda a socialite. She began to feel bored and soon realized that Gesellius was a better match for her. At around the same time, Geseillus' sister began working as an assistant in Saarinen's studio, and they fell in love. So, what was left to do? Eliel and Mathilda divorced and they had a joint wedding, Eliel to Geseillus' sister and Mathilda to Geseillus. Talk about weird.



I saw this set of books in the library and couldn't resist taking a picture.





We walked the grounds after the tour and made it to the lake front, where we had our sack lunches, containing two triple decker sandwiches, yogurt, an apple, and chocolate. The sandwiches contained ham (we think), shredded cheese (gross!), and some odd salad dressing that was bright reddish orange. Luckily, though, Dan the tour man brought extra apples for everyone. I think I ended up eating three apples, the yogurt and the chocolate. Not the best lunch, but I wasn't daring enough to finish the sandwiches. I didn't want to be sick for the amazing buffet that lay ahead.

After lunch, it was on to the Paimio, the TB Sanatorium, designed by Alvar Aalto in 1929. Like many of the houses we had visited, we were asked to put on these little booties to keep from tracking dirt into the building.



We were taken throughout the building, all the way up to the roof, where patients were/are taken to get a breath of fresh air and take in the view:



I have a few more multi-shots that I need to turn into panoramas. Yay for Photoshop and its amazing photomerge tool.

After the tour, it was time to board our second overnight ferry. As soon as we got on, we threw our stuff in our rooms and jetted to the Viking buffet. And it was just as beautiful as the first. I had most of the same stuff, but learned from Flemming and Bjorli about the best way to eat caviar, involving wheat bread, hard-boiled eggs, and mayonnaise.

Since we had boarded late and eaten late, by the time we got out of the buffet, it was about 11pm. We were told that sunrise would be at 4:13am, so I decided I would try and pull an all-nighter. The night was full of lots of adventures––dancing in a two-level discotheque, taking a blueberry shot with a Finn, taking a few puffs from a Cuban cigar just to say I had, wandering the halls of the ferry, and watching the sunrise from the back deck of the boat.

And it was the most beautiful sunrise I had ever seen. But it's technically part of Day 9, so you'll have to wait for the photos. The many many many photos.

Metal Shop: Day 2

Today marks the second full day in shop. Things are progressing well with the chair, although I haven't worked with steel before so I can't quite gauge when I'll be finished. I've still got quite a ways to go though. Here's a picture from end-of-day yesterday:



All of the 25mm structure was bent except for two pieces. I actually had a few goof ups (both mine and Flemming's fault) that resulted in 7 welding locations on the main structure. It kind of stinks, but it really shouldn't be that bad. A lot of people have that many welds anyway. Flemming and I wasted a bit of time bending in the morning, so I was glad to get as far as I did.

Today, I vowed to at least get my structure connected. Not welded, but connected. An interesting thing about steel tube is that you'd be surprised how many welds are actually in what looks like a continuous tube. And all those welding points need to be connected before they're welded. And in order to do that, you have to slide a smaller diameter tube in both ends of bigger tube. It stays in there, giving a small amount of structural support to the frame.

What sucks about using 25mm tube, though, is that it's 2mm thick, so you'd need a 21mm tube to use as a connector. We only have 20 and 22mm available. That means you have to slice a 22mm long-ways and bend it inward on itself. Not very fun. Although, now I consider myself pretty good at using the grinder.

And here's where I am as of 2:30pm today:





Tomorrow I grind each edge to get it ready for welding. Then I rig it up and start going to town. I may do a few practice runs before taking on my piece.

Here are some other pictures from throughout the shop:



First, the tube cutter. It's pretty straight forward. Through the door you can see one of the welding stations. The bright orange curtain keeps us from accidentally blinding ourselves when walking into the room.



And here's the tube bender. It's got about 6 million knobs that adjust tons of different things. It can sometimes take two to operate: one to pull the crank and one to keep an eye on the angle and make adjustments. I pretty much just helped to set up the pipe for bending and pulled the crank.



These are a few of the tables where we do detail work: filing, hack-sawing, cleaning.



This is the GINORMOUS laser cutter. I am sooo envious. Too bad I'm not doing anything that can utilize this baby.

It's starting to get a little exciting, seeing something I designed start to take shape. Although part of me is still a little nervous at how the dual tube spine and steel rods are going to go. Once the rods start going into place, I think I'll really be excited. And when I see it powder coated, I think I'll wet myself. But that's still a good 10 days off.

I'm absolutely loving having morning shop. I leave my dorm just after 6am, and I get to see a more peaceful Copenhagen. The sun is still low then, even though it has been up a while. I'm going to be kind of sad to make the move to evening shop next week, but it probably means that I'll be able to stay a little later or come in a little earlier if I need to. Plus, I'll be able to sleep. I'm having a hard time willing myself to bed at 9pm. I was made for the evening.

I've got a few more posts coming your way, hopefully later tonight. I still need to review Dark Knight, and I've got two more days of the Scandinavia trip to sum up. Stay tuned.

Why I Want Need a Kitten

Or 8.







Courtesy of the Itty Bitty Kitty Committee.

Instant Architect

This goes out to my architecture homies:

Day 7: Helsinki

Wednesday, July 16th, 2008

Ellen and I woke up a full hour before we were supposed to, but didn't know it until we had gotten ready, walked downstairs, and eaten breakfast. So what did we do? Nap, of course! And it was beautiful.

Then, right on time, we headed back down and picked up our itinerary for the day. We were to be on our own, no guides, no buses, no tours. Our itinerary laid out our plans for the DISorientation tour, an architectural scavenger hunt where the aim is to visit as many of the listed sites as possible and complete assignments for each one. The final requirement was meeting up at a designated spot at 5pm to go over our sketchbooks with Bjorli and Flemming, who would then decide the best individual and best team sketches. Ellen and I paired up with Spencer and Sarah and we were on our way!

First was the Senate Square and Cathedral. We spent way too much time there, but there were so many details, it was hard to stop sketching. the assignment was to "sketch the square" (which I did in elevation) and "create a section of the cathedral including the external stair."

This spot was close to our hostel, so most everyone hit it first. And as Ellen and I were busy drawing our elevations and sections, we saw everyone else running around, freaking out, saying "What's a section? I don't understand! What do you mean you're drawing an elevation–what's an elevation? You know what we should do? We should draw the front of these buildings without perspective. I suck at perspective." Nothing is more hilarious than watching a creative-type do something design-related but not major-related. Over-competitive and under-informed. And I'm no stranger. Just watch me when a teacher assigns graphic design work.

(And I apologize for the state of these photos. Lighting is not the best.)







Since we were so close to our next destination, the National Library of Finland, we decided to pop in quickly and complete the task. "Draw a diagram or write a short description of how the 'grandeur' of the classical style relates to the human scale." Blah, blah, blah. By this time, we could tell that the furniture professors had decided to just give us the day tour that had been made for the Architecture students at DIS.



By this time, it was nearing lunch. We all decided to head to our next location and eat while sketching. We found an odd little fast food place at Helsinki Central Station, and all ended up ordering the only thing we could recognize: a chicken pita. And it was so scrumptious, I sketched it too.









I enjoyed our long stay there, but when we were done, we realized that we only had enough time for one more place: Temppeliaukio (The Rock Church), which was quarried out of natural bedrock, which actually gives the church excellent acoustics. I wasn't quite sure what to expect before our visit, but the glorious irony could not escape me as I walked into the church. Every single wall was natural stone. Rockwork! I spent a good two weeks during my internship at PGAV drawing rockwork. Rockwork planters, rockwork waterfalls, rockwork lockers (yes, lockers), rockwork entryways, rockwork facades. And now, the true test. An entire interior made of rock. Thank you, internship! Just goes to show that even the most obscure assignments can be helpful.



These are some extra sketches that aren't from this day, but I figured it'd keep with the theme of no pictures.

This is an auditorium seat I thought was interesting enough to sketch. The space was nice, but the seat was cooler.



This is a very quick and unfinished sketch of Eliel Saarinen's home, starting with a detail I liked.



After the Rock Church, we had just enough time to get to the bar where we were meeting. When we got there, we realized that the place was TINY and that there was no way everyone was going to fit. They claimed to have reserved a room for us, but somehow one hadn't, so the professors bought each of us a drink and let us go on our way. You'd be surprised how many times the Bjorli and Flemming were like, "Surprise! Here's some booze! Have fun getting back to the hostel!"

I had a Fanta, though. A nice, cold Fanta with a ton of ice. After chatting a bit, a few of us left to do some shopping and get some dinner. I found some regionally appropriate gifts for some people back home. I hate buying tacky tourist stuff with the name of the country sprawled across the front, but I think I did well. Pictures of all the stuff I bought for people after they receive them.

Then we wandered around until we found a place that was open. It's amazing how early places close down in Europe. It was another Italian place (It was either that or Outback Steakhouse, and I am not kidding.), but it was very good. Pizza is like an art in Scandinavia. Except for Domino's, which exists in Denmark. I almost want to try it sometime just to see if it tastes the same.

We weren't quite ready to end the night after dinner, so we walked into a bar called "On the Rocks" where I sipped on a pear cider (Awesome!) and played on an Elvis pinball machine. And only then was the night complete.

Day 6: Helsinki

I apologize in advance for this day's photos and info. I had a bit too much of an evening on the boat the night before, so I spent much of the day re-hydrating between insanely long walking tours and trying not to walk face-first into vertical surfaces.

We de-boarded the boat after a buffet breakfast, of which I ate watermelon and water, the only two substances that I thought I would not kill me. It was either that or mysteriously bouncy eggs and more Swedish meatballs.

After an hour of walking, we reached Kiasma, the Museum of Modern Art, designed by Steven Holl in 1994. It was a very beautiful museum, full of very interesting exhibits. I managed one sketch, which actually turned out alright, but I didn't take a picture of it, so you'll just have to make do with a photo of me sketching it:





After Kiasma, we walked to Finlandia Hall, designed by beloved Finnish Architect, Alvar Aalto. On the way, we ran into a bit of construction and ended up straddling concrete barriers on the highway. Awesome!



Then we finally got back on the bus and headed to Alvar Aalto's residence and office, located only a few blocks apart. Both were very interesting buildings. It was very neat to see a home so completely designed. Everything in each room had a specific purpose and daily rituals were meticulously planned into each piece of furniture. Not to mention the exteriors of both buildings were beautiful and simple.





By the end of the tour, it was 5:30 and we were free to wonder the city of Helsinki. I tagged along with a small group of people and we were feeling not the least bit like searching out whatever the heck Finnish food was, so we had Thai. And for the second of the two times I've ever eaten Thai, it was the best! I discovered Thai tea, and I loves it!

But having had a long day, I was ready for some sleep on a bed that wasn't swaying, both from the waves and from the wine, so I took a leisurely stroll with Whitney back to our Eurohostel and for the first time in the past week, fell asleep before 9pm.

Metal Shop

Picture from early last week. I worked in 1/3 scale before beefing it up to full scale.

Today was the first day in metal shop. Since I'm in group A, I'll be in shop from 7am to 2:30pm every day this week. Then next week, I'm in shop from 2:30 to 10pm. We spent the first few hours going over the tools and basics for working with steel: Cutting, bending, rolling machines. Metal lathes (which no one will be using). Metal files and rasps. Grinding and sanding.

And finally, MIG & TIG welding. MIG is soooo much easier, but doesn't look as good on 90 degree welds, of course. If I'm super lucky, I'll only be doing 2, maybe 3 straight welds. I'm hoping to get some help from Hee (That's our shop helper's name, pronounced like 'he.' I know, confusing.) on the four 90 degree welds I have. Maybe I'll do the two that aren't as visible. It would be nice to say that I built the chair completely on my own, but I would rather have a nicer looking chair.

I wasn't expecting to get into the metal shop and be some sort of welding prodigy (far from it). And I know that welding is a craft and it can be studied for years and never fully mastered. I'm just hoping that the professors aren't disappointed if I ask Hee to do a few of my welds.

Here's my first and only straight weld from today:



It has a few problems: I missed some spots, which created air pockets that would have to be filled in again (i.e. welded, grinded, and sanded again) Also, I sanded it down too far so that it bows in a little. You can't really tell in the picture, but in person, it's pretty obvious. I'm happy with how it turned out, though, as it is my first welding experience.

The whole process of welding is kind of scary. If you hold it wrong, you could electrocute yourself. If you don't have a working mask, you could temporarily blind yourself. Touch anything too early and you could burn yourself. There are just a whole mess of ways in which to hurt myself, and I'm not the most graceful of people. In fact, I consider myself fairly clumsy, so my goal is to not lose fingers, my eyesight, or any years off my life in this studio.

I'll just be glad when the whole thing is welded up and I can just say, "Alright, go and powder coat it!" We get to powder coat our chairs if we so choose (I so choose), in either black matte or glossy white. There is also a possibility of a color. If they have red, I'm almost certain I will do that. Possibly if they have green. Black is slimming, so I may have to go with that as I'm using the fat 25mm tube. But that's a whole 2 weeks away. I have to get past the rest of this first.

All in all, I have a newfound respect for metal workers and their craft. The dexterity, timing, and total lack of self-preservation needed to do what they do is amazing.

I also respect them for their ability to walk around permanently looking like this:



I washed my hands for a good 10 minutes (taking off some skin in the process) and my hands are still a dull shade of gray.

I'm still not certain whether I want to show pictures of my final plans on here before I show pictures of my final chair. I'll think about it.

Oh, and to answer Stacey's question about the students at DIS: There are 76 of us from 13 countries and 18 universities. About half of the students are from Pratt University. Only three of the students here are actually from Kansas State University. Several spots a year are held for us as we have a history with DIS.

Tristan Thiel

As you can imagine, coming to a prestigious design school for a summer semester means meeting students with various different levels of experience and achievement. I've mentioned Tristan before, but didn't know he had a website until we were all talking about our various blogs, sites, and portfolios.

He has absolutely amazing photography, and his furniture is more like art than furniture. Personally, I am in love with the "fire hydrant cozy."

Day 5: Stockholm to Helsinki

Monday, July 14th, 2008

We were supposed to start off our day with a visit to two showrooms in the city, but one was closed for the summer and the other was mean and wouldn't let us take pictures or sketch, which was ironic because all they had were knock offs of originals. So everyone sort of wandered around. I found my way into an indoor market place chock full of meats and cheeses and taxidermy.





Sadly, that was the only moose I saw on the trip. I was bored, so I headed to our meeting place at the Royal Castle and sketched for a bit. Everyone was on the bus by noon, and then we headed to Woodland Cemetery to take a walking tour.



All the graves are placed between the trees, and all those buried here have been cremated.

This carving, located at one of the chapels in the cemetery, reads "Hodie Mihi Cras Tibi," which means "My lot today, yours tomorrow." Not the most positive of outlooks, but thought-provoking.



And this is the Angel of Death, well not the original one. It was stolen twice and recovered twice, but is now housed in a museum. This is obviously a replica.



The only grave here that was given special treatment (the idea of equality is very important to the Swedish) is Greta Garbo's. It's actually located right next to the children's lots.



After the cemetery, we checked onto our first overnight ferry. Then everyone headed up top to catch one last glimpse of Stockholm before departing. Off one side:



And then the other:



Then it was off to the Viking Buffet, where I stuffed myself full of meatballs and Jacobsen's Surprise, which is some sort of potato casserole, and free wine, and chicken nuggets (from the kids' buffet), and herring, and caviar, and bread, and cheese, and ice cream, and moose. Not the meat, but the dessert. And then I needed help walking...