Photos from Todd Longstaffe-Gowan's home...

First of four lecture/ day trips with two landscape designers. Our first one began at Todd's home... he's a scholar, landscape designer, and collector. His house is a testament to those things and feels like a lived-in version of the John Soane museum....

I'm not including any of what we actually learned but I thought the photos would be a treat to see.

Matthew Barrows and have decided to open an ice cream shop on Brompton Road in Chelsea. Who cares about architecture or the San Francisco 49ers (... seriously who? did they win... what a bad cousin I am... I did not watch the game)? Anyway, after our dinner at a decently authentic Italian restaurant Matt and I strolled around trying to come upon some rocky-road.... to no avail. Any other Caputo cousins interested in starting an ice cream shop... we think we're going to really make a killing.

In all honestly we had a lovely dinner, chatted about are respective immediate families, and filled each other in on family gossip.

This week is going to be a bit hectic but I wanted to just send a link to this article:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/periodproperty/7926673/Period-property-in-London-Malplaquet-House.html
We're having our first of 3 landscape courses tomorrow and we're meeting at the house that the article describes. Out teacher will be the owner of the house, Todd Longstaffe-Gowan, who, as the article points out, is a renowned landscape architect here and abroad and is gardens adviser to Hampton Court Palace. The "class" tomorrow is also 5 hours long... so let's see what we're in for!

This week, besides that, I have to attend my regular courses, plan another series of autocad sessions for my classmates, write a paper, attend a planning meeting in Peckham about the station (and have my drawings ready for that), have a meeting with a recent acquaintance from The Prince's Foundation for the Built Environment, start applications for M.Arch, and get ready to go to Venice on Saturday!!

Happy November!?

BUSY

It's been an eventful week.

Last weekend was spent primarily paper writing for a final paper for one of our short segment courses: Environmental Assessment for Buildings.
I also visited Dave's house in Brockley--- we took a walk through an awesome park in his neighborhood (up on a hill with great views), hung out at the big house where he lives (and watched Notting Hill), then went out to dinner to a great little pub in his neighborhood, and then went to a party at his new friends' house in near Canada Water and the docks.

Tuesday we went to the Brunel Museum for class which is in Rotherhide. The museum is at the entrance to the first tunnel to go under the Thames which was designed by Brunel for moving goods. The museum building contained the steam engines for pumping the Thames Tunnel. It was pretty cool to go down into the shaft where the tunnel began but our professor wanted us to focus on how the building was saved from demolition and how the museum gained momentum and has worked as an adaptive reuse scheme.
In the evening we went to a great Lecture at the RIBA. It was about creating change and international development through architecture. There were two interesting speakers. One of them was Ashu Sharma of SEEDs, which is a organization that works to build disaster resilient structures in India. He talked a lot about localism in design.


Wednesday we went on an all day trip out to Ipswich and surrounding areas. The trip was organized for our Structures and Materials course taught by Brian Morton. He arranged a great day and had a little bus take the 14 of us around everywhere. We visited Cressing Temple and saw the oldest timber framed barns in the world (and of course how they worked structurally). Then went to an adaptive reuse project-- housing in Mannigtree at a maltings (which is where they used to make beer.) We visited an actual home and saw how they double level maltings space had been split up into units. We also visited a couple churches. One was mostly in ruin but one side of the ruin, one aisle had been turned back into a church. Brian's firm had also worked on the structure there. My mom would have loved it.
Brian treated us to a great lunch at the Anchor in his home town, Walberswick. We had fish and chips and local beer.





















home in old maltings building! _______ At Cressing Temple learning about wood structures


Thursday we had the second of three sessions at the Victoria and Albert Museum on the history of British interiors. We focused on 1500-1750. Next week its 1750-1900's. The sessions are based in the British Gallery and a specialist on the exhibition takes us around.
That evening we went to see "The Woman in Black" a supposedly scary play that was showing in Covent Garden in the Fortune Theater.NYU gave us tickets to go. It was pretty campy but fun to see some live theater and be in that area at night.

Friday I went out to Peckham early to meet with Benny and go over some drawing stuff. I came back to my neck of the woods for a fancy tea at the Kingsgate Hotel--- which NYU paid for, and then made it down to Westminster for Evensong. Which was beautiful and also FREE.

This Saturday morning I went to a meeting of the "Sketchmob" at Southwark. Sketchmob is a group of architects and other professionals who like to draw in their spare time. Today they were drawing near Borough Market and Southwark to encourage others to draw. Dave met me there. We drew for a while and then had hot soup at the market and headed over to the Tate Modern.

Then I went to church with Kathleen and had a quiet night. (Well we watched No Country for Old Men... Don't know if you can call that quiet)

Today was definitely quiet! All I did was go to the gym and then I met my friends at the pub for roast (Sunday traditional meal at the pub).

Matt Barrows comes to town this week... hopefully we'll meet up!!

A couple shots from King's College at Cambridge.



We visited Stroud this week. For our Economics of Reuse class we are to plan for a new use for an existing goods shed by the station, designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel in the mid-nineteenth century. Our use should have a greater impact and help revitalize the town in some way.
We learned about the nearby canal and they system of the Cotswalds Canals and how they fell into disrepair. The watercolor image imagines how they might be revitalized to bring new interest to the towns along them, like Stroud. Our professor showed us around the town and included an adaptively reused cluster of warehouses closer to the center of town. They how house artist studio and exhibition space.





























The canal in Stroud.




































Artist studio space in the converted warehouse in Stroud.
























The old good shed that we will reuse in our projects.


We have a big paper due next week so I spent my first full day in the library (the RIBA). But we treated ourselves afterwords by going to Benito's Hat! Our favorite little Mexican restaurant... good cheap tacos.

Tomorrow I'm going over to Dave's house to check out his house and neighborhood and meet some of his friends!

october

On Thursday I taught my first AutoCAD training session. I spent a lot of the time lecturing about types of architectural drawings and how they are created (aka with which programs etc). I saved some time at the end for a practice exercise on the computer. It went really well. My class was 7 students. I'll teach the same session again on Thursday for the rest of the people who couldn't make it to the same one. The following week I'll do session 2.

It was really a fun experience and afterward my classmates commented that I was easy to learn from. Everyone seems really happy to be gaining this skill.

This week we visited a site out near Cavendish road. We heard from a woman who has really made up her career. She works in refurbishment and does it basically "by hand" with her architect husband. She focuses on old factory buildings and converts them to workspace. The largest one, and the one we visited was the old "Omnibus" factory. It was really great to see a "bottom-up scheme" as opposed to one started by a large company or government organization.

Yesterday we went to Cambridge on a day trip just for fun. We had a tour and specifically took a look at King's College, the market square, and Jesus College. It was cloudy and colder than we expected but still a fun day. We had lunch in an old converted church, sort of cafeteria style. It was great food. I had a leek and root vegetable stew that had a béchamel base with grueyere... and of course, a cheese scone. Very cheesy lunch--- A Rick Steve's suggestion. Thanks Rick!

I went to two events for my independent study (we have to go to 14 and write about them during the course of the semester.) They events this week could not have been on more opposite ends of the academic spectrum while still pertaining to the course. I took a twilight tour of the Apsley House, which was the country home of the Duke of Wellington (who beat Napoleon at Waterloo, etc, etc) Amazing house, sometimes called "Number One, London" because it was literally the first house you came to when you came through the gates to the city at that side. The other event was a lecture at the RIBA by Edouard Francois. It was called Nature as a Building Block but Francois' buildings are ultra modern... I think some of them look like green blobs... just covered with plants, strange shapes VERY acontextual. I think he might be crazy. I believe in "nature as a building block" but maybe in a way that fits more into our existing built environments. Interesting none the less.





















Francois building (photo from quotesque.net) Apsley House (photo by TimeOut)

Another exciting week coming up. I've got to get some drawings done for Peckham so that we can get permission to save the Victorian stair and add our new modern one floating above it to give access to the great old waiting room upstairs.
We're taking day trips to Wakhurst, a house one of our Professors is working on, and we're going to Stroud to see adaptive reuse and refurbishment schemes that have turned the town around there.

Old and New

Yesterday as part of our Adaptive Reuse course we visited St Pancras. We have all been there at least a few times but this time we were taken into the construction site of the new hotel. They are conserving and retrofitting the listed Victorian building. We read articles in preparation for the day describing the controversy surrounding the building. Ever since it was built it seems there has been debate over whether to save it or tear it down. Quite soon after it was built in the mid-late 19th century it was considered gaudy-- a complete disaster. Luckily the tides turned (a few times) and it is now being saved and adapted.

In full gear.... we were given a tour by a true expert on the building and by our professor, Richard Hill who has had a hand in the development of the new spaces.
(his firm is called Richard Griffiths Architects... http://www.rgarchitects.com/) for any of my architect friend readers!



















Today we went to our final series of lectures at the 20th Century society. We had three lectures by architects (and one engineer) They were all presenting "Heroic Conservation Projects." So each presented on important (usually listed) 20th century buildings that were conserved and in most cases "greened."

Possibly the most interesting presentation was given by Patrick Bellew who is a principle at Atelier 10 (a consultancy that does mostly engineering work on environmental design.)
Bellew also teaches at Yale and talked a lot about the Paul Rudolph building on campus where their design students work.
His firm updated the 1964 building by completely redoing the facade and improving the HVAC systems. The building became LEED Gold. It was really awesome to see such a great updated building.

I do architecture

So we have been enjoying our surroundings but we have also been doing a bit of work and learning too!

I've been out to Peckham Rye train station quite a bit and thought I would share a few images. I'm working on a drawing of the facade (the night shot shown below) in order to help get planning permission to unblock some windows, get new windows, and renovate the beautiful dilapidated stair (also shown below) that leads up to platforms and a great old hall that might get to be transformed into a cafe. My measured sketch shows my drawing/ note taking process on site.
(the two photos aren't mine, they were taken by Benny O'Looney)

Bath

We went to Bath on Sunday and I wanted to get a few of the photos up before this week got to busy.
The trip was sponsored by NYU. They bused us out and had a walking tour set up for us. We also went to Jika Jika-- my favorite cafe there! We had a walk around the town and also toured the Roman Baths. It was a beautiful day.

Are you ready for the country?

I’m starting to miss the country! I’m having a hankering to get outside of London. Luckily Sunday (tomorrow) is a day trip to Bath which will have a little calmer feeling than our area of London. We’re also stopping at Stonehenge which is not my favorite just because of the crowds but at least we’ll be out in the fields!

This week was very busy. In addition to our normal classes, I attended an Exhibition about a sustainable school in India, went to a lecture about engineering UK buildings for zero carbon, and also went to a half day conference where a series of architects talked about retrofitting buildings in design as a way to reduce carbon emissions.

All of these events were really interesting. I started to realize how passionate I really am about this type of design in architecture. I am way less interested in new-build and would really like a chance to work to update existing buildings to make them more efficient.

We also did have some fun this week! On Thursday Kathleen and I met up with my friend Allison at a Josh Ritter concert at a big venue called the Barbican. I’m used to a smaller feel for shows like this so it was strange to be sitting in a set seat. Everyone was “polite” and no one was up and dancing. By the end though, Josh got everyone out of their seats. It was fun to see British people listening to folky American music.

Last night 5 of us from the program went out for Mexican food just south east of Reagent’s Park. It was a lot of fun and really good food. Then out to the Marquis (our usual pub) which was seriously hopping on a Friday night. Tons of fun.

Today I’m trying to get some work done this morning. Then I’m going to try out Yoga at the gym where I’m a member (right across from the Marquis!). A couple other girls will be joining me. Then there’s a food market every Saturday in the Brunswick Center, which is an open shopping plaza basically. So Saturday it’s filled with vendors and really good stuff—dumplings, crepes, baked goods, curry, empanadas, paella… really anything you want… all for pretty cheap. AND THEN I’m headed to Peckham Rye train station to work on the drawings for that conservation project (see below!).

Maggie’s friend Mike just got into town so maybe I’ll try to meet up with him this evening.

My Pants Are So "Pigeon" (from sitting on the ground to eat)

This past Monday we had a potluck dinner at Briana's flat in Chelsea. She has more room than any of us so we cooked in our kitchens and took our dishes to her house on the tube! We decided on a southern theme for some reason so I did "fried potato balls" that I found on a Paula Dean recipe site. Very delicious!

This week went really well. Through our independent study professor we were introduced to the Westminster Libraries which are smaller than the Royal Institute of British Architecture which is the other library we visited last month. We also had our first "Economics of Reuse" class with our professor who owns a very large sustainable development firm called URBED. It seems like we're going to get a lot of good information about revamping urban areas through adaptive reuse.

On Tuesday evening about 6 of us had a private tour (there would have been more NYU undergrads but it was raining slightly so everyone bailed) of Soho. It was great! We really got to see how close the Soho neighborhood is to ours. We learned that the name 'Soho' comes from when the rich brits used the area for duck hunting. They would yell "soho" when they released their dogs to retrieve the ducks. London was really a collection of small towns with a lot of open green space we are learning. There wasn't much "city" beyond the actual "city of london." We also learned that there are a lot of French living in Soho because many Hugenot's came to settle there as it was protestant.
Kathleen, Kirsten and Marlee- NYU girls


The highlight of this week was going to the Peckham Rye station with Benny O'Looney! --young-ish architect who went to Yale. He is big into conservation (the British word for our "preservation"). We met up on Wednesday morning where he gave me a tour of the town, where he lives and works. He told me all about the work he and the Peckham council are trying to do to save and restore the station. He bought me a "tea and bacon sandwich" at a local hole-in-the-wall and he gave me a bunch a surveying materials: a large sketchbook and triangle for drafting on site, colored pencils and a big measuring tape. It was so nice! Friday afternoon I met up with him to do some surveying. We did it together, he's working on the plan and I 'm working on an elevation. Then I should be able to do the work in CAD from home and he'll compile a report and request for funds to do things like refit windows etc.


Peckham Rye Station
















Rooftop bar at the top of a parking garage-- a design project for architecture students. all the wood is recycled scaffolding wood. Benny took me here after our work at Peckham Rye.



This weekend we went to "Open House" which is when the city opens it's doors to a lot of places that are normally closed off. We didn't do anything too famous but went to some cool converted architecture spaces. More on that later.

Last a group of the girls went out to a club called "The Social" it was small an intimate but had fun people and good songs. We did a lot of dancing.

And today we went to Shorditch for the weekly flower markets. Very beautiful and amazing how much was there. I'll write more once we go back and actually bring my camera buy some flowers.















This just reminded me of Chris and Zach from last semester.

pics of The Princess Louise... as promised

Emma and Kirsten!



Kathleen and me... blurry but cute.



Kirsten in our individual pub room



our girls.... Andi, Sarah, Kirstin.



awesome details, etched glass etc

one real week of school done

So our first "real" week of school did not start out real at all. We had an all day sketching tour of St. Pancras station and the surrounding area with a practicing architect and NYU-L professor, Benedict O'Looney.
This was a once in a lifetime experience, not only because Benny will not be our regular professor but also just because of the wealth of information he had to share with us about the development of the St. Pancras brown field site. We also spent a lot of time in the British library sketching the alto-esque interior. I was really cool to see Benny's professional-looking, watercolored sketchbook and to see some first time sketchers try it out.

Wednesday we had our first class at the john soane house. Our classroom is literally one of his drawing rooms. This one in particular is where his prodigy student, Joseph Michael Gandy did a lot of his work in the early 19th century. Our professor of our adaptive re-use course will meet us there for class every Wednesday and we have to guard the door and not let anyone un-authorized in because above our heads, in soanes other offices, libraries upstairs are tons of famous paintings and original architectural drawings by soane. It's a pretty cool place to be.

Thursday we had an introduction to the RIBA-- the Royal Institute of British Architecture. It's a beautiful building just south of Regents Park and it is full of different types of resources for us. The library there is one that will surely be a great study spot for us. We have also been given memberships to the AA which is closer and more exclusive... more on that once we actually go there.

Kathleen and I checked out our gym on the Univeristy of London campus and later that same day we had our first BREEAM course-- the UK equivalent of LEED. It was great to start on some more of the environmental/technical aspects of our degree. -- but LONG day. (oh because that morning, before the RIBA introduction I had already been to Whitechapel and back to check out an apartment for Dave) He will be here this month!

Friday I spent trying to find boots on Oxford street-- so many tourists-- not too fun. I did finally find something even though my feet are larger than any British female person. The largest size they have is an 8 (US equivalent is a 10) and I needed a 9 (US equivalent 11).

AND finally, last night we went out to the Princess Louise, one of the oldest pubs in London. It still has little compartment rooms that come up to the bar. I have pictures which I will put up later.

For now we are headed to Borough Market and the Thames River Festival!

a tour and a tea

Today was our first academic day. We had a private tour of Sir John Soane's House. Soane was a famous 19th-century architect and his house is kept as he left it (with a lot of work, for the most part) He bought three traditional English row houses in a row and changed and linked the interiors to his taste. What is left is a maze of amazing inferior spaces brilliantly lit by skylights that house relics and paintings that he collected for his and his students' benefit during his lifetime.

We were incredibly lucky because we had private tour with the deputy director of the museum for about two hours. The house is closed on Monday so it was even better. There were two other parties in the house though. One was doing a photoshoot for a catalog and another group was moving a "small" (huge) Canaletto painting from the house to the British Museum to be part of an upcoming Canaletto show.... yea...

So we felt pretty special. In addition we are to have one of the Soane rooms as our classroom for our studies. It is the first time that the Museum is working in conjunction with a university and we are the first to use the space.



This is our group outside the Soane this morning.


This afternoon a group of us girls went for tea. We decided it was time for us to do tea! Kathleen had researched and found a great affordable tea place called Bea's of Bloomsbury just a couple blocks away from us.

Today was our first rainy day so it was just what we needed. They did incredible scones and cupcakes. We're all feeling a little overwhelmed now by all the sweets but we have an hour break before our "inaugural lecture" this evening. The lecture to be followed by a wine reception where we will meet a few of our professors.


Bea's of Bloomsbury!


Kirsten


delicious!



Marlee and Kathleen