jan 27 ~ bregenz/zurich ~ part 1 ~zumthor

taking a 6:30 train means being up at 5:30... here is our breakfast at bregenz!!! It took us 3 hours to get there... bregenz is in austria.. a city that borders swiss and austria... isnt the breakfast lovely?... matt's treat... thx!... as usual.. i had the hot cocao... and.. i guess what u see are austrian donuts... they are very good!!!

our architectural tour of the bregenz kunsthaus (art musuem) was at 11:00 ... the museum is designed by swiss architect peter zumthor... a very special gallery with no permanent collection... the building cladding is a double-skin system... bringing in natural light and ventilation.... the structure consists of 3 concrete walls... very simple and clean:

exterior glass ~
interior glass as it meets the concrete floor slab... from the basement level
inside the double skin system ~ (my first time inside such a space)
it was so cold and snowy... even the now got trapped inside...
the circulation and the main gallery space ~

stairway ~
3 levels of gallery space ... the top having a higher ceiling clearance
artificial lighting off... (the pic above is with florescent lighting on... this is with it off... )
only in the basement and entry level is the interior face of the double skin cladding glass... entirely glass... this is the staircase to the basement.. compare it to the staircase above...

after bregenz... we headed to zurich... >part 2

jan 27 ~ zurich ~ part 2

Arriving in zurich...attacked by a huge train station... through much confusion we finally found the train to the station designed by calatrava.. see part 3
after that, a stroll through the old town lead us to here:

taken from a bridge right outside the main station... we caught another train to arrive at an artist's studio: simone gugger

she's a goldsmith/jewellery artist... very talented... lots of amazing works

near the artist studio... freitag's zurich store !!! (a swiss brand of backpack/bags)

art work inside zurich bahnhof ~
again... to get to our hostel that night... we crossed the same bridge we did earlier... and i decided to take the same photo... looks different eh?
from our hostel's roof top patio... amazing view
staircase at hostel ~
our room... very luxurious for a hostel
highly recommended hostel/hotel: Hotel Martahaus Zurich... breakfast included in the morning...> part 3

jan 27 ~ zurich ~ part 3 ~ calatrava

Calatrava's railway/train station... its only one stop away from the main station... about a 20 min walk... or 3 min train... i studied this structure a lot last year... how the forces work... and the details of the joints... it was very impressive to me on paper... (books)... not so grand when you're there... but i'm still glad to see it:

very nice control joint~

underneath the station...

entry to underground... each gate is designed individually... with a hydrolic gate/mechanism... that i assume closes at night
not a very photogenic piece of architecture... seems very experimental... > part 4

jan 28 ~ zurich ~ part 4

ah... zurich... on a warm... sunny... quiet... sunday morning...
after a long day and night yesterday... matt and i got up at 9 for the free breakfast at the hostel... it was bread and cereal... (yum yum...what a wonderful breakfast.. hey.. its free)..so.. i'm not gonna complain... after a good meal.... we left sean and morgan as they continue to get their beauty sleep... and... set foot to explore the city...

clock towers... everywhere in swiss ~

a bunch of japanese tv/media/reporters...

lake/river in zurich... alps in the distance... not too clear....

true movenpick marche!!! ~ swiss style... yum yum... the apple cider/juice was sooo good... thx movenpick :)

> part 5

jan 28 ~ zurich ~ part 5 ~ le corbusier

this is le corbusier's last work... it was completed after his death... its not a private museum.. but only opens for 3 months in the summer... too bad

the modular man ~

water drainage ~ nice detail... hidden behind the column structure.. very clean
another drainage detail... where is all the water going?... i believe there is a cistrine underground... it only makes sense... too bad cannot go inside... but... loving zurich... i will be back :)

jan 26 ~ its been a design block

so stuck.. so stuck... but.. maybe i'm coming out of it... u guys tell me:

can u tell what these are?

i created these.. out of what?

can u guess?... good luck...

jan 24 ~ first snow

woke up this morning... and it was all white outside... yes.. very early in the morning.. still dark... but.. very beautiful...

outside my apartment window ~

very romantic spot ~

jan 23 ~ part 1 ~ burgdorf

its been a busy week... finally i've had some time to put some description onto the following posts...

this was tuesday... we visited 3 towns (burgdorf, biel and neuchatel)... part of our regional tours... the first stop that morning was burgdorf... and.. we came here to see the "museum franz gertsch"... photos below:

arriving from the old town of burgdorf...

uh....

these two in comparison to tadao ando last week... :

stair detail

concrete surface... formwork meeting

inside entry into the main circulatory space

the amazing thing is how this image have no sense of grounding... its only one of the many i took inside...

our train to take us to biel....