Oops...forgot to link these photos: Athens, Greece!

I took a trip to Athens at the end of October into the beginning of November. I went to take pictures of a building featured in the upcoming O'Neil Ford Monograph 3. I'll include some of those pictures shortly. Anyway, here's the link:

How should I cook this?

I bought this "beef" at the store today because it looked decent and was, well, cheap. Any thoughts on how I should cook this? It appears that the bone is still on there. Is the cut from the spine maybe? I really should start to learn these things...

The package says "Rinderhesse" which besides translating to "beef something" completely leaves me in the dark. 

Christmas "Tree"

I made a Christmas Tree for my apartment here in Berlin. Really its a Christmas "Tree" because I just went to the market in Leopoldplatz and bought a branch of some European fir that they had. It cost 1 Euro. Then I went to the Woolworth and bought some lights for 1.50 Euro. You can see the results. 

Unfortunately, it doesn't have any fragrance whatsoever, but it does look mildly festive, doesn't it? 

Christmas Nog

So I decided to make some home made Egg Nog because the German's don't seem to know of it. Makes sense. It's probably English or something. I've had my fill of Gluewine though and I had some time on my hands. Why not? Well, after I discovered a recipe that called for 2 cups of bourbon, I was sold. 

I even went as far as separate the eggs. Yes. I have too much time on my hands. I was happy here because I'm about to measure out some whiskey. 

I didn't take any pictures of the main mixing part. Here it is before I add the whipped up egg whites. Mmmm.

And finally we've got a nice glass of Egg Nog. Its pretty good too, if I don't say so myself. And strong! I think I'm a little buzzed after only two drinks. That could be because I haven't had dinner yet thought. Now I've only got to get through like 8 glasses of Egg Nog....

Miami Metromover Competition

In mid-October I worked, with Mike Start, on a competition to redesign a Miami Metromover station in downtown Miami. It was great to do some architectural design work again, especially under my own guidance. No professors giving deadlines or telling me what kind of work I needed to do. I was good to see the deadlines, read the final board requirements and then work from there. Our final product is pretty good, though I wish we had more time on the final renderings and entourage (as per usual). Anyway, here is our entry.

I really hope we win not only because, hell it would be good for the ol' resume, but also, I'd love to leave Berlin winter and visit Miami. Heat!

Oops. Dan gets busy and again stops updating.

I've just uploaded some pictures from the beginning of October. It turned out to be a busy month for me. My friend Stacy visited from New York (you might catch her in a few of my photos), I worked on an architectural competition with my friend Mike Start (more on that later), and I visited Athens to shoot some more photos for the upcoming O'Neil Ford Monograph 3. Whew! 

Anyway, here's a link to my Picasa page with some boring building photos. Or click through to the page below.

Early October

Another New Apartment

OK, so I've moved again. This time up to Wedding. North of Tiergarten and Mitte I am in some ways very far from most "hip" areas. I'm only 10-15 minutes away from work by Bike or Train now, so that's a whole lot better.

The new apartment is a basically above the U-Bahn and about a 5-7 minute walk to the S-Bahn.  Also, there seem to be a number of parks around. I might try and run again one day, if I can ever get my act together. They seem prime.

My new ride isn't too bad either. I can't compare with the awesomeness that was my first ride. On that ride I got to go through Mitte and ride past Alexanderplatz, Museum island and other great buildings. You can see in the picture pretty clearly Tiergarten in the center and the Spree River cutting and splitting through the city. This new ride is about half as long though and I do get to cut through a small corner of the Tiergarten on my way to work. It might be interesting to see the park change, especially now during Fall or Herbst, as the Deutch say. 

Until next time, Auf Wiedersehn.

Potsdam on a beautiful Sunday

Rode the train to Potsdam this Sunday. Perfect weather. 72 degrees and not a could in the sky. I was in a bad mood from the night before. Woke up on the wrong side of the bed. I rode my bike to the main park, locked it up and walked around. Sat in the sun for a couple hours and made some drawings. That made me content and put me in a great mood. 

Took a bunch of pictures like these. I've posted a new Picasa album here. 

Trying to figure out how to do some Illustrator drawings. As you might guess, I'm getting a little stir crazy, design-wise. All I do everyday is layout and editing work and while it can be fun and challenging I am really starting to miss design problems.
 
A crop of one of the Illustrator drawings I'm working on.
Music_As_Grid

Long time, no post.

OK, I promised myself I would post more here. I haven't. Instead I've been posting things to my tumblr page. If you haven't seen it, it is here. 


Partially, I have been sick as a dog unfortunately. I also suddenly "acquired" TMJ. Now I'm going to see a German physical therapist who massages my face and jaw for 30 mins twice a week. Jaw still hurts every time I eat but it is getting better. Hopefully it'll be fixed by the time my six sessions are up. 


I also haven't been out to architecture too much lately, nor have I had time to do any of my own work. I did go look at a Schinkel Mausoleum the other day located in the garden of Schloß Charlottenburg. Unfortunately, it was covered in scaffolding so now pictures or sketches. Going to try and get to Pottsdam this weekend if the weather is nice. I´ll let you know if I do.

New Address

Here's my new Berlin address. Though word of warning, I don't think I can receive mail here.


Reuterstraße 90, 12053 Berlin, Germany


The best, most consistent place for mail (I do love letters!) is probably work. 


Hoidn Wang Partner
Pariserstaße 6, 10719 Berlin, Germany

New Bike Route

Here's my new bike Route. It is a bit shorter (20 min instead of 30+) but I can't go as fast. There is a bike lane the whole way, which in some ways is good, but it also means I'm riding on pavers pretty much the whole way. And that is definitely not as smooth as asphalt. The trip isn't nearly as "dramatic" either. No Altes Museum, Berlin Philharmonie or various embassies. I like my new neighborhood a lot though...win some lose some. 

Stats:
Time: 20'52
Dist: 7.54 km
Av: 20.7 km
Max: 33.6 km

I have a new apartment.

I'm moving tomorrow into a new apartment. This one is in Neukolln and is also pretty nice. The neighborhood is a lot different so it should be interesting. It is a lot more Turkish in make-up, has many more bars and cafes and seems a little bit younger too, which is nice. Prenzlauer Berg has a lot of young couples and babies for example. Here in Neukolln there are some Turkish families and many younger people my age. 


Another bonus: there is also a huge park 2 blocks away where I can go running.


Anyway, here's a google map of it.

Bike Commute Stats

Put my computer back on my bike. Here's some stats:


Time: 26'16
Dist: 10.6 km (about 6.5 mi)
Av: 24.2 km
Max: 42.0 km

Pretty good commute on the bike. The trip takes about 40 min on the train, though I do get to sit, listen to music and read.


Again, this is the approx. route, though Google maps is a little off....


Of course, this will all change when I move this weekend. New sites to see!

Good News for Us Runners

From the NYT:


Well: Phys Ed: Does Exercise Reduce Your Cancer Risk?

By By Gretchen Reynolds

Published: August 18, 2009

Researchers recently concluded that, if you wish to ward off lung or gastrointestinal cancer, you might want to spend your leisure time jogging instead of picking berries, mushroom gathering or fishing.

Schloss Charlottenburg

The Charlottenburg Palace is across the Archives where I will be working Wednesday and Thursday mornings. 

Berlin's largest palace, it was named after Sophie Charlotte, the wife of Friedrich III and inaugurated 1699. Badly damaged in WWII it was saved from demolition and renovated in the 1950s

Tiergarten

I went to meet my friend Pete and his girlfriend Mary on their last day in Berlin last Friday. We met for a beer in the Tiergarten and he gave me his German phone.

The Tiergarten really is an enormous park and pretty quickly the city fades away. There are lots of people (at least in the summer time) and plenty of paths, bridges, lakes and streams. Also, the occasional beer gardens provide plenty of opportunities to rest.

Web Migration?

I'm going to try and split up this web log into two pieces. This one will stay my own writings, pictures and work. 

Sing the Funk Electric will mainly be highights of cool architecture, photography and design I find on the web.

PDF Version of Rakvere Competition

For those of you interested this is a slightly higher-res version of the Rakvere Competition (though not the Print Resolution Version).

Be warned: Bigger File.

KINDRED

Arvo Part Concert Hall Competition

This summer I worked with one of my professors on a competition to renovate an old church in Rakvere, Estonia into the Arvo Part Concert Hall. The church was designed by an Estonian architect Kolti and was consecrated in 1941. However, it was never really used as a church and shortly after it was finished WWII reached Rakvere and shut down the church. When it "re-opened" in the 50s Estonia was under the grip of the Soviets and it was turned into a gymnasium.

Anyway, the competition brief asked us to design an annex for the church to house a secondary performance hall and re-design the urban plaza in front of the building. If you are unfamiliar, Arvo Part is an amazing minimalist composer committed to primarily slow, sacred works. We just found out we didn't win (we SHOULD have) so now I'm going to post the work that we did. All these drawings were done with Fransisco Gomes, AIA.

Site Plan

Floor Plans


Floor Plan & Diagrams



Sections & Perspectives


Sections, Elevations & Perspective




All these drawings are scaled down quite a bit but I thought someone might be interested in seeing them.

HOIDN WANG PARTNER Offces

If you didn't know yet, I am working at HOIDN WANG PARTNER in Berlin through January. The office is in Charlottenbourg, which is a very nice part of old West Berlin. I think it was always a nice place but now, especially after reunification, it is very established. The street shopping is very high end. Lots of BMWs and Mercedes on the streets for example.

Here's a picture from the front hallway into the main office space. Barbara and Wilfried can be seen hard at work. I work at the spot, lower left next to Wilfried (you can barely see my laptop). There will be someone working across from me (at the iMac) at some point.

The office is in a renovated flat of a typical Berlin apartment building, a square "doughnut" shaped building, courtyard in the middle about 5 storys tall. The office is owned by Wilfried, with the offices being in the front half, the back half being Wilfried's living room, dinning room and bedroom. Anyway, its very nice. Plaster, 14ft ceilings, wood floors, old. You get the idea.