Project 2 Urban Design at Villa Torlonia

For Project 2 Abbie and I worked together on designing urban space at Villa Torlonia, an area just outside the Aurealian walls of Rome.

http://rolandorome2009.blogspot.com/2009/04/project-2.html

Capri

The weekend before Easter, my class and I had the great opportunity to go to the island of Capri on the bay of Naples to visit Casa Malaparte. We arrived on Thursday night and had a relaxing evening. Friday I hiked around the island with some of my friends. Saturday we spent the whole day at Casa Malaparte, which may have been my favorite day of the whole semester. Sunday morning we took a boat tour around the island. We stopped to jump in the water which was chilly. We also went into the Blue Grotto, which is absolutely amazing.

Easter

Abbie and I got to spend a wonderful Easter Break in Ireland. First visited Dublin and then went to County Mayo to visit my family.

Northern Italy and Switzerland

We went on a fantastic trip to Milano, Tornio, Como, Vals, Zurich and Basel. There are a few fantastic buildings in those cities but the best is by far Peter Zumthor's Baths in Vals.

Stanley Hallet Photo Project

A few weeks ago Stanley Hallet visited us in Rome. He gave us an assignment to tell the story of a place in Rome...

This is the story of Piazza Farnese.

The Baths of Caracalla

My roommates and I went on a little adventure to the Baths of Caracalla recently. They were very nice and after having visited the thermal baths in Vals, Switzerland I have a new appreciation for the Roman ruins.

Spring Break

La Sagrada Familia, Nativity Facade










Park Guell

I spent 7 days of spring break in the beautiful Catalan city of Barcelona. There is a huge range of architectural style in the city, from the Roman Empire to the most modern. One of the more famous modernisme architects, Antoni Gaudi has captivated me the most. I got to see an incredible amount of Gaudi's work including La Sagrada Familia, and my favorite Park Guell. La Sagrada Familia has been under construction since 1882. At first this seems like a very lengthly construction project, but when you think about it Notre Dame in Paris took roughly 100 years to complete.