"You're Gonna Miss Me When I'm Gone" - France Adventures Part II

So skedaddling south, we find ourselves in Marseilles. Strange, but somehow like able Marseilles.

I had been to Marseilles once before and I'd be lying if I said that I loved every minute of it in 2011.

For the full survey - read here - Marseilles - 2011

 Marseilles, in a simplistic way, is a bizarro-land version of Paris. The architecture is reminiscent of a sort of second-empire, kind-of neoclassical that seems synonymous with the boulevard but with all the grandeur surgically removed. Marseilles is neither the center of the world, but neither is it completely obscure. It is, after all, the second largest city in France. However, there is something about the city that is both incredibly French and completely not. It is not the beret-wearing, french-bread-toting, bicycle-riding France that was made famous in movies like Sabrina or anything starring Maurice Chevalier. No, this is the France of Dumas, a revenge seeking, almost north-African setting which has a certain sun-drenched, slightly menacing feeling. Like a card game with people you don't know: the interaction could go either way.

A great description of Marseilles as it was (and a little bit of how it is now) can be found in the writings of Walter Benjamin, particularly 'On Hashish'.

Walter Benjamin - On Hashish


I highly recommend reading this with a scotch and cigar because minor vices are the bread and butter of such writing. But I digress.

BUILDINGS!

If you read my previous post on Marseilles you will be able to tell that

1) I thought the Zaha Building was at least interesting

2) I was not all that impressed with the Unite D'Habitation

To quote Willy Wonka

"Wait a minute. Strike that. Reverse it."

1) The Zaha building does feel like something out of the not-too distant future, in the sense that is not something that belongs in Marseilles. Upon second analysis, the structure feels like something that was conceived in a studio in London (after someone spent a weekend in Marseilles) and in no way relates to anything doing with the micro culture of the city. One of my colleagues who seems to have dedicated her life to hating Hadid's plan for Istanbul could not say enough bad things about the building, and for the most part, yeah. There are a lot of problems with it, though I stick by my assessment that to ignore it, is to ignore it on purpose.

2) Ok, so to be clear, I'm not ready to drink the Kool-aid on all Le Corbusier buildings yet, but when I first saw the Unite, it was as someone passing through: This time I got to stay there and it made all the difference. The genius of the Unite is in the sections and the details. Each unit is, relatively, pretty small but they don't feel so. The steps are done in such a way that a baby's hands could crawl up stair unassisted. There is a drop-box for staples (Bread, Milk, Cheese) that one can order from the store on the mid-floor. It feels like the kind of place that a child would want to grow up. Which makes sense, given it the design's post-war intentions. 

What I was wrong about before is the notion of subtlety. Where the Zaha building is indeed striking, what it is not is particularly clever. If we are to compare these two buildings (which we shouldn't necessarily do, as they are completely different programs but ehh...) it is a battle of 'Shock and Awe' vs 'Indie Cred', Britney Spears vs Bon Iver. Corporate vs Hipster, with all the obnoxious associations that connect those notions.

Which brings up our next topic. The European Capital of Culture.

'The European Capital of Culture' is an honor that has been created to promote cities in the EU which maybe have been ignored in the past, cities that are not necessarily on your typical tourist route. Some examples of previous years include: Porto, Salamanca, Lille, Liverpool, Turku, Cork & Bruges.

This designation results in various urbanization projects and in the case of Marseilles one might relate the followings buildings.

- Vieux Port by Norman Foster

- MuCEM Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilisations) by Rudy Ricciotti

- Villa Méditerranée by Stefano Boeri

Each of these buildings feel particular of this age and intent, which means that it may be a little too early to tell how these buildings are going to age. I could give my thoughts, but if Marseilles has taught me anything, it is that jumping too quickly to conclusions and opinions can result often in having to jump back from them. But for the sake of it:

- Like.
- Like.
- Meh.

As the end of the trip drew near, I was excited to return to London, even with it's miserable weather and soot. This feeling was somewhat deterred when I was almost vomited on when the tube reached the Covent Garden Station. (Which is what I get for being on the tube at 11:59 on a Friday). Upon my east-London flat, my counterpart went in for a hug and in a moment of hesitation, asked what happened on my journey: "People" I replied hopelessly. "And Buildings" which was when the smile returned. Then I took a shower with that regionally appropriate soap that dries your skin and dreamed of warmer weather.  

Complimentary NCARB Certification

Hi there.  I just wanted to post what I did not realize was an added bonus to getting your initial license.  NCARB offers complimentary certificates after you get your first license.  I thought I would have to apply and submit the appropriate fees, which was a major deterrent after already dropping like $2k on exams, extensions and applications and such.

Though I am not certain if I will ever need to be licensed in other jurisdictions, and therefore maintain my NCARB certificate every year, I won't say no to a free one now!  I think it expires late in 2014.  Maybe some doors will open between now and then that will make it a seemingly wise investment.  I have heard both sides of it - it's a waste of money, or it is the best investment you can make in your career (after licensure, exams, etc. etc.).

Any thoughts?  For now I will use the NCARB acronym in my email signature but that is about all I will be getting out of it for now!

One for you, one for youtube.

So I realize that I haven't shared like, any videos of my sorted adventures. Let's fix that now.

Tate Modern - London

 

Hills in Derbyshire

Lyme House, Derbyshire

Chatsworth House Picture Gallery

Kedleston Hall Ballroom

Edinburgh Castle View

 

Dunnottar Castle - Exterior

Dunnottar Castle - Interior

For me, for me, for me, formidable

I have just returned from the south of France and man does London weather look downright miserable in comparison. Now granted, I am not adept at warm temperatures. In fact, anytime it gets about 80 I start fearing for immediate implosion, but after several months of what seems to be the perpetual mid-November weather of England, a Mediterranean trip could not be turned down. Our first stop was Lyon, which is in the southern central part of France and home to some of my favorite street art. Including one which told me (in English) that : "Life is too short for soft porn". Thanks. Gross.

But what I found most interesting in Lyon were the three following places:

 1) Jean Nouvel's extension of the Lyon Opera House -  I liked it, for whatever that's worth. It's trying to be epic and sophisticated but in a contemporary fashion. Much like the loud break-dancing teenagers outside the opera house, it's an attempt at taking something historic and making it contemporary. Though the real success is how it meets the public space adjacent to it.

2) Le Village de Etats Unis (and corresponding murals) - This odd area of the city was designed almost entirely by Tony Garnier, and as such has an almost Utopian feel to it. Originally this was built, as the name implies, for Americans who had served in WWI, built between the years of 1920 and 1935, as affordable housing it's a remembrance of its time. Both beautiful and just a little off.

3) Halle Tony Garnier - You may be able to guess who designed this one. Sadly we couldn't go inside, but the exterior was quite lovely. In fact, I would venture to say it is the nicest slaughterhouse I've ever been to. TAKE THAT SMITHFIELD MARKETS!

After we left Lyon we made our way to La Tourette, or more formally, 'Sainte Marie de La Tourette'. Which is a Dominican monastery outside of Lyon, about 30 min by car. If you're reading this blog, I'm making a general assumption that you are aware of Le Corbusier and his subsequent effect on architecture both modern and contemporary. But for me personally, I always hated the work of Le Corbusier. I know that's blasphemy, but we're being honest here. For years I thought his work was enormously over-rated and, as little as it matters in the grand scheme of architecture, ugly. This ugliness comes from what I perceived as a lazy style of baton brut, clumsy forms and ideas which are overly political for someone who finds himself 'convieniently Swiss' every time a war breaks out. He may have had Sigfried Gideon and Colin Rowe in his pocket (which are indeed, pretty good gets), but not me.

Though I always found my hatred of this ugliness to be contradictory, I mean I loved (and still do love) Robert Venturi's work, and that is about as ugly as ugly gets. Why then so much Corb-hate? I suppose it's because I saw it as claiming to be more than it is, the product of a really good spin artist and a figure just arrogant and articulate enough to be believable. That is until I saw La Tourette. Cliche as it sounds, I think the monastery may have started to make a believer out of me. Do I think it's my favorite building of all time? No. Not even close. But being there, walking around, staying in one of the cells, I get it. There are theorists who believe that Le Corbusier's work was done in such a manner to make it more photogenic. I'm going to have to disagree. In photos La Tourette looks like a massive, miserable block of a building. Solid, impenetrable, unfeeling. But I guess what I never realized, not fully anyway, is just how hollow and empty the courtyard of the building seems to be, how green, how, well, peaceful. It should be noted that just about a 2 min walk away from the entrance of La Tourette is a graveyard. As the woman who runs the monastery stated 'it's a wonderful place to be deceased' and yeah, in a weird way, you feel almost like a ghost in La Tourette. It feels ancient, and you are merely the earth-bound shell of blood and bone holding, like a egg in a nest, a soul which emerges, fully formed upon your death. Or maybe that's the wine talking. Either way, it was better than I expected.

 

Though the skylights sticking out of the chapel are stupid looking from the exterior. That I'm never going to change my mind on.

The next step was the provincial town of Arles. Arles is the kind of place that you feel a Diane Lane movie should be set. You know the one I'm talking about, like a middle-aged woman moves to a small town in Europe after her crippling divorce to discover herself and along the way meets a gardener or like a mechanic or a wine merchant or whatever who teaches her to love again.

As a side note, I'm going to list words I hate that are used in movies such as this:

- Sensual
- Lover
- Wit and Wisdom (together, the words are perfectly fine apart)
- Rediscovering herself

Ugh - kill me.

However, to the best of my knowledge Lifetime has never actally filmed a movie in Arles, so I allowed myself the freedom to like it. And it is, really, really charming. Maybe it was the sun, maybe it was the entire pizza I ate by myself, but the connection of provincial, ancient and accessible just gets me every time. Sometimes I suspect that going to these places as an American means that you're going to see these places differently. In the US if there are 'charming winding streets' they are usually artificial and conceived of a Richard Sennett inspired urbanist, which is fine, by the way. But there is a kind of obsolete usefulness to these streets, like stubbornly using a type writer from the 1920s, even if the damn thing barely works. They have problems, they're not practical, but what can I say? Oh, let's just let 1990s Meg Ryan do it for me?

Stay tuned for next time when we talk about Marseilles, Unite D'habitation and various other sundries.

Initial License

For future reference, I thought I would take this opportunity to document this phase in the process.  I submitted my application for initial license on May 3 via USPS.  On May 28, I logged into the Department of State's website to check and see if I had be listed as registered yet, as I had done every day since May 3.  I was delighted to see that on May 28 my license was issued and the information was updated on the DOS website.  At present, May 30, I have not received the hardcopy in the mail yet.  If they sent it out on May 28, it is conceivable that I will receive it tomorrow.

As a side note, in PA, licenses expire at the end of June every 2 years.  I was curious how it would work for me with my initial license being issued so close to this renewal deadline.  As it turns out, they basically gave me the rest of 2013 so my license was issued May 28, 2013 and doesn't expire until June  30, 2015.  Now, as to whether or not there is some sort of additional pro-rated fee, I am yet to be made aware of it.

Additionally, on May 20 I submitted for AIA National's Jason Pettigrew Memorial ARE Scholarship.  The eligibility requirements are that you are either an NCARB record holder in good standing, or an Associate AIA member in good standing.  Since, once again, the timing is close, I'm not sure if I am any longer one of those things, or if it matters since that is what I was when I submitted the paperwork. Anyway, what I wanted to share was that my NCARB record was set to expire tomorrow, May 31, 2013.  I was reluctant to renew it, because I don't NEED the NCARB record any more, now that I have my license and it is a $75 fee.  However, once I entered in my new license number, it waived the renewal fee and offered me congrats on becoming an RA.  Now they are going to send me information to get the NCARB certificate, which I am still on the fence about.  That fee is significantly more per year than $75.  I think it is in excess of $200.

Anyway, I just wanted to share some fun facts before they fade into "I don't remember...."

Initial Licensure

I am pleased to officially report that I have submitted my application for initial licensure to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.  The process is pretty simple... complete your NCARB record, pass all the exams, fill out the application, write a check for the $40 fee and mail it in with the application.  I sent in the application last Friday (8 days ago), we'll see how long it takes for the state to send the license.  I believe all architect licenses in Pennsylvania are renewed in the month of June, so depending upon when they get around to actually issuing the license, I may have to renew like immediately.

I am not certain how the AIA upgrade works.  I have heard rumors that they let you ride out the rest of the year on your Associate dues, but bumped up to AIA member status.  I am also not certain if I need to complete CEU's for the first partial year.  If I do, it shouldn't be a problem because I have been completing CEU's since I learned what they were, in an effort to score more IDP credit as well as just because I am going to have to anyway, might as well get in the habit of updating my AIA transcript!

Code of Ethics: the AIA's "Prime Directive"

On some days, when the player-hating ways of the industry seem to wear more heavily, my brain conjures up new analogies between the struggles we face in the day to day, and the pleasures we employ after hours.  Today, that analogy was Star Trek with its Prime Directive and the AIA with its Code of Ethics.

While many of us AIA members (Starfleet officers) & AIA Associate members (cadets) honor and value the Code of Ethics (Prime Directive), and understand what it strives to protect in the construction industry (Alpha Quadrant... well, universe), there are those among us of a different professional affiliation (non-Federation species/civilizations) who do not understand and therefore do not seek to honor the code (Prime Directive).  It is our struggle to not only serve and protect the public's health, safety, and welfare while simultaneously creating attractive, sustainable, functional & economically attainable design, but to resist the pressures from other related industries to defy our own code.  (e.g. the Kazon who insist on entitlement to Voyager's technology and that Voyager "share" it with the "rest" of the Delta Quadrant)

Most notably, as in all series of Star Trek, there becomes a climax in the plot where the Prime Directive's black-and-white instruction becomes blurry or gray.  Similarly, there are times when the AIA's Code of Ethics seems unappreciative of the "changing climate" we face in the wake of a national recession.

I will have to expand on this later, as I must make haste for a previous engagement!