Vigevano, Italy

Visited an old mansion with modern art installations and collections of art of the family. The grounds had unbelievable gardens and I found the place where I want to get married. The green house had some of the most beautiful and delicate flowers I've ever seen...they probably don't  even grow in the US.  We had a pretend wedding in the hallway of trees. The day away from our studio competition was perfect.

Lucarno/Mogno, Switzerland

Went to a Mario Botta Chapel on top of a mountain and played on the hill...racing, cartwheels, spinning...ya know- adult things. Went to a Max Bill sculpture museum and walked around the lake to eat lunch in the sun. Got a little car-sick on the windy road....I'm turning into my mother. [sorry]

Switzerland Tour

[Vevey] 

Sept 24 - drove a 32-person bus for 16 students, 1 professor, and Lucy Ferrarri (founder of the school and amazing tour-guide--also 75 years old); drove through the Alps on mountain roads- unbelievable views; went to a Da Vinci museum; explored Chateau de Chillion - castle formally used as a prison; enjoyed Vevey's city + lake in the evening

[Bern]

Sept 25 - tour of USM furniture factory in the morning; outstanding 4-course lunch provided by USM (fish, salad, white wine, veal, red wine, dessert) - the best meal of my life; went to the Bern bear pit in the city and fed the bears; walked around the town and arcades that line the streets; ran through the fountains in the middle of town

Sept 26 - toured Naef factory (hand-made toys); visited the Paul Klee museum by Renzo Piano

[Solothurn]

Sept 27 - walking tour of Solothurn (Lucy's hometown); sketched around town

[Basel] 

Sept 28 - walking tour of Basel via Frank's architect friend; visited Herzog and deMeuron brain-injury recovery clinic, some other Herzog projects, as well as a Gehry and Diener&Diener project for a college in Basel

Sept 29 - art exhibit at Foundation Beyeler; Schaulager building + the train switching station (Herzog projects- their firm is based in Basel so a lot of their works are here + they're one of my favorite architecture firms)

Sept 30 - went to the Vitra campus (Vitra reproduces designer chairs once the designers no longer manufacture - there are also many buildings that are by well-known architecture designers (Herzog, Gehry, Zaha Hadid, and others); we toured the compound, some of the buildings, and show-room/museum; drove to the Tingley museum (artist that uses many components and mechanisms to make his junk pieces interact) 

[Ronchamp, France --> Zurich]

Oct 1 - sketched and visited Notre Dame du Haut in France (Corbusier's well-known chapel)

Oct 2 - IWC Schaffhausen watch factory tour; private showing at the Kunst modern art gallery with exhibitions by Sol leWitt, Bruce Naumann, and some other cool artists from the 60's until now; what was especially cool was the fact that some of these paintings (directly onto the wall) or exhibitions have been there since the 60s and will now move from their position as the world changes around them

Oct 3 - walking tour of Zurich via Lucy (in the rain); walked around Zurich to see a few buildings and see the Freitag factory store (company that recycles shipping bags into side bags, wallets, etc; ate an amazing turkish kebap (which the guys lived off of while we were traveling) - better than Greek food

[Bregenz, Austria -->Vals, Switzerland]

Oct 4 - Kunsthaus by Peter Zumthor for a ridiculously perverted art installation (we did not know about); visited a sweet waterfall on the way to Vals;

drove on barfy winding roads and I got wicked carsick and put my head on the seat the entire time; reached Vals Thermal Baths (Peter Zumthor project); went into the baths (which are tucked away in the Alps) until a 4-course dinner at 9 pm

Oct 5 - awoke at 7 am to go into the baths for a few hours (the baths consist of--for example--a lavender bath, a fire bath (107 degrees F), an ice bath, a meditation room, open showers with different heads, and a bath that goes outside with jets places; it was basically the most romantic, relaxing, and absolutely fantastical place I've ever been; it was a crazy feeling being in the water in the outside bath and outside in 40 degree weather IN the Alps with snow all around us; relaxingly drove to Sumvitg on the way back to Riva to see a chapel as well as more of the Alps countryside; the day was perfect and it was one of the best views yet on the trip; I found a patch of sunflower plants and spent some time relaxing on a rock

drove home through the Alps again...beauty at its finest.

Swiss Ambassador Visit

The Swiss Ambassador came for a formal event with wine, hor d'oeurves, and a very boring speech afterwards.  It was nice to see everyone dressed-up and enjoy the beautiful garden that is part of our property next to the Villa. I think the Swiss Ambassador was drunk during his speech. Actually, I think all of the adults were. Tsk Tsk.

Luzerne, Switzerland

Four of us girls + some of the guys went to Luzerne for the weekend. We walked across Switzerland's oldest timber bridge, went into a few beautiful churches, and explored the medieval wall that surrounded part of the city. We also checked out some contemporary projects by Diener & Diener. 

By far, my favorite activity of the weekend was visiting the KKL performing arts center where we girls saw a symphony orchestra concert (which was unbelievable).  When I was sitting in my side balcony seat in my jeans and north face jacket (while everyone else was in extremely nice attire) I couldn't help but get extremely emotional missing the art that is music. When you go to a school like I do, sometimes you get caught up in focusing on one aspect of something artistic, whether is is drawing, painting, graphics, architecture, etc...and I started to forget how music used to be my favorite of the arts.  After the performance, I had a newly-born appreciation for classical music--actually I guess realized that it had never left, but enticed me to keep exploring why it's so much an integral part of me. 

above: view from the top of the building under the cantilevered roof

Munich, Germany

A bunch of us went on a long-weekend 3-night trip to Munich (no, it wasn't Oktoberfest- though I wish).  During the 3 nights we went to an outdoor beergarten in the English Gardens, Hofbrauhaus where we sat with large beer steins and amazing apple strudel, and a crazy techno discotech. I will not go into those details, but the Munchens really know how to have fun.  During the day we visited historical sites like the building where Hitler recited his first haiku and the glockenspiel.  We also saw some contemporary pieces like a Herzog and deMeuron project that is now a major shopping area (mostly internal work), and a church whose doors (30'tall and the width of the building) hydraulically open at the conclusion of the service.

We also went to the BMW dealership/headquarters which is right next to the Olympic Park which was having a BMW rally that weekend.  Both projects are very progressive (olympic park more-so because it was conceived in the 70's).  

We went inside the Olympic swimming arena (which is now used for recreational swimming) and were a little awe-struck thinking that this was the pool that Mark Spitz set olympic records.  We pretended each of us had to be athletes from an olympic sport...mine was women's gymnastics...obviously.