THURSDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2006

After another overnight train, we were in Paris for a couple of days. We arrived around 9:30 in the morning, went to our hotel, the Hotel Royal Bastille, left our luggage, and set out for a short field study day.

Our first stop was the Cartier Center, by Jean Nouvel (yep, yet another Nouvel building). Unfortunately, it was closed. The exhibit that our professor had wanted us to see was being taken down. Needless to say, Selwyn was quite disappointed. The building itself was sort of interesting, though. It's glass, glass, and more glass. Unfortunately, the rain prevented a more glamorous photo of the project.

After that... class was done! However, some of us decided to take an excursion to the infamous underground catacombs of Paris. Now this was quite an experience! Imagine a long series of damp, winding, sometimes claustrophobic corridors a good 60 feet underground or more. Now imagine that they're filled with bones... lots and lots of bones. Skulls, femurs, ribs. All piled and arranged in artistic patterns. All dimly lit. Well, you have the Paris Catacombs. Delightfully creepy!

You enter by going down a very long spiralling stair. And I mean long. And dizzying. Because you're just going round and round and round.... down, down, down into the bowels of the city. You finally arrive at a little "lobby" that has several poster exhibits detailing the history of the catacombs. Basically, in the late 18th century, city officials decided to exhume thousands of corpses from mass graves that had been haphazardly made because disease was rampant at the time. The problem was that bodies were often carelessly buried, and besides creating a space shortage, it also worsened sanitary conditions. To fix this problem, the remains were moved to underground quarries that had previously been used to get the limestone that makes up much of the city's buildings. In a gruesome, massive undertaking, thousands of bodies and bones were moved and effectively dumped underground.

It took another couple of decades before someone decided that the catacombs could be used to illustrate part of the city's history. Eventually, one of the city officials reorganized the system and had the bones "repositioned," to create patterns, walls, and just a whole variety of things. The result was an eeriely beautiful display of human art. Literally.

Anyway, after the "lobby, you enter a long corridor.

It looks something like this. Except it turns a few times.

Eventually, you reach the bones. On either side, bones are piled up to form walls.

Indeed, it's not for the faint of heart. You might very easily become scrrr'd. (scared)

But if you're... um... me... you find it pretty cool. All around, there are thousands of remains placed artistically. It's really quite incredible. And surprisingly, it's not really smelly or anything. The remains are so old that any odor of rot has long since vanished. Going through the catacombs is like going through a dank cave. It's musky and damp, but it's not fetid. And the interesting thing is that even though we walked through a 5 kilometer section of the catacombs, there are actually hundreds of kilometers worth of corridors. These tunnels literall stretch throughout the city. Paris literally stands on hundreds of thousands of bones. I find that utterly fascinating. And you might find me weird for finding that fascinating, but hey, it fit the Halloween mood of the time. ;)

We returned back to the hotel and rested for the afternoon. In the evening, we re-emerged from slumber for a night out on the town.

I caught this moment of the Place Bastille at sunset time.

We went to Sacre Couer first. A beautiful church on a large hill overlooking the city, Sacre Couer has been a top tourist spot for decades. And it's certainly beautiful at night...

We approached the church from the rear.

The lighting is quite dramatic and showcases the clean white marble stone of the building.

The front is pretty nice too.

And looking across the great stepped lawn, you can see the beautiful city of Paris unfold in front of you. You'd see more if it was daytime, but unfortunately, we did not have a chance to visit during sunlit hours.

Afterwards, we decided to walk over to the Moulin Rouge. To get there, we had to go through Paris' red light district.

I wasn't aware Paris had a red light district, but apparently it does. Sex related attractions everywhere!!

The Moulin Rouge was pretty nice. I *think* this is not the original one, but it still holds shows inside.

We'll close with a nifty long exposure shot I took without the aid of an LCD screen, since my camera decided to go low on batteries right as we reached our destination. Fortunately, this was our last stop for the night.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2006

Today was a fuller day. In the morning, we visited Parc Andre Citroen (named after the car manufacturer and built on the former grounds of a Citroen factory). This is a pretty cool example of an urban park. For one thing, it's huge. And for another, it's got some great spaces carved by landscaping. And thirdly, it was a nice sunny day, which is always a good thing when visiting a park.

So here's a sunken garden. It's part of what's called the Black Garden, which features sectional changes with landscape on either side forming some really cool spaces.

Here's what I mean by landscape on either side forming cool spaces.

There's a couple of big glass greenhouses that double as exhibition spaces in the middle of the park. In the foreground is part of a massive lawn.

The parks's got some nifty fountains... and a giant balloon you can ride to get some aerial views of Paris if you're willing to overpay.

After lunch, we headed toward Maison La Roche, a Corbusier building.

Did I mention I love the streetscape of Paris?

Inside Maison La Roche, which features Corb's five points (piloti column support structure, free plan, free facade, ribbon windows, and a roof garden). The interior reflects the elegant, pure style of the Modernist era. And heck, it's nice to finally visit a building designed by the architect that every instructor has been shoving down our throats since first year.

The house has a nice central atrium space with bridges that connect the two halves. It's actually more of a double house. Corb's brother also lived there, I think, and today, it's home to the Corbusier Foundation.

This is the nice roof garden, which we were not allowed to access (the photo is taken thruogh a glass door).

The official school day was over at this point, but a few of us decided to visit Parc de la Villette, another modern urban park--on the other side of the city. No worries, the Paris Metro system is superb (as I've touted multiple times before), and we were there in less than 45 minutes. Try getting across Los Angeles in 45 minutes during rush hour. Not possible.

So the park is situated next to the Cité Museum. We didn't go in, but I hear it's got some interesting exhibits on science, industrial design, and the like.

The park has a LOT of sculptures and sculptural bridges and structures. It was originally intended to be completely hardscaped--no trees or grass or anything. Just pure urban materials. But that was a tad too extreme.

After exploring part of the park, we decided to hold our own Long Jump competition. Here's my friend, Amar, jumping over an imaginary river while we watch in amazement.

That concludes Friday the 13th, a day that didn't turn out to be so cursed. Tomorrow would be a free day in Paris. And that meant taking a pilgrimage to the holy shrine of architecture, Villa Savoye. Or at least you'd think it was a holy shrine, given how much every architecture professor at USC raves about it. Would it live up to the hype? Find out soon!

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2006

Half of this update is pretty much dedicated to the architecture people on this mailing list. The rest of you will probably just nod politely as you read and remark, "Oh, I suppse that's a nice house."

Anyway, Saturday. Free day. We can go anywhere in Paris we want. Well, I'd already gone to Disneyland Paris last time, so this time, I decided to be more scholarly and visit what is only the most famous house in all of architecture. Well, at least most famous European house. Yes, indeed, it was time to finally visit Villa Savoye, Le Corbusier's masterpiece of modern design. This is the building that everyone has touted since first year. It was practically built up as the shangri-la of architecture, the greatest creation of the greatest architect in the world.

Or at least that was the hype. Was Villa Savoye that good?

In a word, yes. Despite my high expectations, this building was incredible. And it wasn't just the pure exterior and diagrammatic layout and execution of the design that impressed me. It was the fantastic nature of the interior spaces, the quality of light in every room, the roof garden, the terraces, the flow of space that was truly impressive. And the gorgeous weather didn't hurt either!

The entrance takes visitors to the back of the building first. The house isn't actually set in a field in the middle of nowhere; Poissy is actually a pretty dense suburban town. But it is set in a field shielded from its surroundings by thick trees and foliage, so it does have the effect of looking like a jeweled ship anchored on a verdant green lawn.

You come around the lawn to arrive at the front, where you behold the money shot--one of the most famous photos in all of architecture!

"OH MY GOSH! I'M STANDING IN FRONT OF VILLA FREAKIN' SAVOYE!!!!!!"

Here is the main vertical circulation: a ramp that connects all three floors of the building. There's also a set of stairs to the side, but the main mode of circulation is obviously meant to be the path. It's also something that Corb-worshipper Richard Meier uses in his buildings. Here, you can see the incredible quality of light already. The interior practically glows with natural light, and it is truly wonderful.

On the second level, a living room opens up to an outdoor terrace to the left. It still has the original furniture Corbusier designed for the house (as he did for practically all of his buildings). How is a Corb chair like? Well, it's comfortable, at least.

This is the master bathroom. It's actually pretty elegant, and is accessible directly from the master bedroom. There's not really a door on this side of the bathroom.

The ribbon windows allow plenty of light to flood each room with plenty of sun. This is perhaps the most amazing thing about the house. Books constantly talk about the theory behind it, with the aforementioned Five Points, but it's also quite an experience as well. The natural lighting is my favorite thing about Villa Savoye, because it makes the quality of the spaces so much more incredible and enjoyable.

A shot of the outdoor terrace. The ramp moves outside at this level and continues to the roof garden.

We were so overwhelmed that we actually voluntarily sketched, even though this was not an official class trip, nor was there any assignment required here!

The roof garden is pretty nice. The crush gravel you see in the foreground is actually very common throughout parks and gardens in France. I think it'd be really cool to use this in the U.S., because it's a simple and neat way of giving an outdoor space a nice ground layer that's not too hard or too soft.

The stair is to the left, the ramp is to the right. And again, I emphasize how amazing the light is throughout this building.

Nothing like relaxing on a Corbusier reclining chair. =)

Finally, after a couple of hours, it was time to leave. But not before giving a hug to a dear friend.

"Villa Savoye, I've read about you for years, and it's been a great pleasure to finally meet after all this time. I hope I can visit you again. Signed, Albert."

On the way back, I decided to take a side stop and visit La Defense, a "second downtown" business sector on the outskirts of the city. I liken this area to Downtown LA... except better. This whole complex started as a result of Parisians being outraged by a skyscraper being erected in the city by Montparnasse Station. They vowed/voted to have no more skyscrapers in the city ever again, so when the time came to build a new business district to handle city growth, La Defense was placed on the northwest side. The development was basically office buildings and some retail at first, and for years, the area stagnated becaused no one really used it outside of business hours (sound familiar? the exact same thing happens in Downtown LA; that's why it's freaky to be there after dark) However, Parisians were quick to learn the lesson, and housing was added to give afterhour usage (also familiar; that's what they're trying to do in Downtown LA now). And now, it's actually a really cool place. Skyscrapers soar over a main esplanade. Buildings are glassy and modern, and the whole area feels like a modern U.S. metropolis than rich, historical Paris. But it's still really nice.

The centerpiece of La Defense is La Grande Arche. It is built at the end of a long urban axis extended from the Champes Elysses, through the Arc de Triomphe, all the way out to La Defense. The main esplanade is organized along this axis, which terminates at the Grand Arch. And it IS grand!

Some massive stairs take you up to the entry level. This, coupled with the previous photo, gives you an idea of how effing huge this thing is.

Here's a view back on the development. Everything is actually raised up on a plinth. The esplanade branches back, but underneath, there is parking and vehicular circulation. There's actually a main arterial road that leads straight to La Defense, but when it reaches the area, it branches out, bypassing it on either side. Thus, the main central linear space is devoted to pedestrian activity, which has also helped to liven up the area. Very smart, in my opinion.

If you go through to the other side of the Arch, you see this. So I guess you can say the axis continues, but it just leads out of the city.

For 6 euros (student price), I took a trip to the top of the Arch. There was an art exhibit as well, but obviously, I was here for the view. And it was certainly a nice one. See the Arc de Triomphe far in the distance? The Grand Arch was intended to symbolically face it, thus connecting La Defense to the heart of Paris.

Back on ground level, there are pools and fountains in addition to the modern buildings.

This one features interesting blinking lights.

Here's a view of the road that leads to La Defense. Metro line 1 is in the middle (that's what we took coming out and going back to the hotel). It's quite a nice view, I must say. Paris rocks.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2006

Alas, the following day, it was time to leave. Two official trips to Paris totalling a good two weeks and I didn't feel like I'd even begun to explore the surface of the city. Paris is so rich, and there's so much to see. It remains my favorite city of the trip, even if things are a bit expensive!

One last look at Place Bastille and our hotel around the corner. You were a cozy hotel, Hotel Royal Bastille.

And me on the train back to Saintes. *sigh* What a trip!