Day 43 (5/3/11)

This morning we had a lecture bright and early so we all rode the Metro to our studio. When we got there we had the best thing ever: second breakfast! They brought us some authentic Jewish-Roman treat, which was essentially Easter bread but covered in sugar. They also brought donuts, which were pretty fantastic. After eating and relaxing for a little while we all went inside for the talk. Francesco talked a lot about different projects that have happened in the area and how different cultural and historical factors have influenced the way that design occurs. We also learned about the way that context changes around historical monuments and how this evolution affects their usage. All in all it was a pretty interesting lecture and the exploration of design that utilizes history while breaking new ground will be important for our projects.
After the lecture we went and worked in the studio for a while, mostly just talking about things we are interested in. This project seems like it could be a lot of fun, and the way we are thinking about it is different than anything we I have done so far. Our exploration so far has been largely involved in open, public space with pavilions or other small architectural elements making up the design. The idea of more architecture plugging up this “missing tooth” within an already incomprehensibly dense area seemed like the wrong answer, so we are avoiding it. After we worked for a while our group left to go have lunch at the site and observe some more. Sadly, there is only so much you can get from looking through a construction fence, but we were able to begin to understand the surrounding area as well as the scale of the site.
From there we started our walk back to the school so we could work a little bit before Italian class. However, as is often the case, we were distracted by gelato. We noticed the smell first and decided to peek our heads in, which was when we saw the deal breaker: the lady before us had gotten three scoops of some new and delicious flavors, and when it was finished, the person behind the counter dunked the entire thing in chocolate!!!!! We got two flavors (only two euro!), mine were white chocolate with something else and their specialty: chocolate, cookie, and caramel (with a cookie on top!). This was some of the best gelato ever, and although the chocolate shell made it tough to eat quickly enough, it was the best addition to a cone since panna!
Once we got back we worked for a little bit before heading to class. Today we learned about conversations regarding time, how to describe people, and some more fun stuff! After class we went home, I stopped and got some Suppli for a snack before working on finally putting my life back together after the Barcelona weekend. We worked on studio for a while after that and got some pretty good ideas and diagrams done, so we feel pretty good about our meeting tomorrow. After some spaghetti and some more organizing, I finally went to bed!