Last Night for the Group – Candles on the Pujada’s Steps

Before we scattered at the end of our Spanish journey back to Portland or other destinations in Europe, we shared stories on the last evening with a farewell dinner at a raucous Basque café. We then gathered on the nearby Pujada steps. As a fleeting group gesture, we created a temporary art installation by placing 100 lit candles on and up the staircase in various iterations. Locals enjoyed our antics as we briefly changed the nature of the space both for us and them. As we made our goodbyes, and reflected on great sights, great food and great company, vows were exchanged to continue design journeys.

A Revisionistic Legend of the Xuixo

Most of our group fell under the siren spell of Girona’s luscious Xuixo (I'm afraid some of us were seduced twice in a single day). Legend has it that this pastry evolved out of the civil coexistence of Girona’s multiple religions and cultures. As our retelling of the story, the French said, "we must use croissant dough," the Muslims said, "let’s deep fry it," the Catalans said, "but first fill it with cream custard," and the Jews then declared, "afterwards, why not roll it in coarse sugar." The rest is culinary history and the city lived happily ever after - especially our students.

The Steps of Girona - the Pujada de Sant Domenec

The Pujada de Sant Domenec

Continuing the study of public spaces, our group spent time investigating a unique elevated plaza, the Pujada de Sant Domenec. Geometrically complex and difficult to describe, the space has evolved over centuries and combines street and passive plaza activities with dynamic spatial characteristics unlike anything most students had ever seen. Buildings enfronting the space include a medieval palace multi-family houses, cafes, workshops, stores and a monastery, while use of the space changes dramatically over the course of each day, coming to its highest level at night. Sketching, measuring steps and levels, and people-watching in this complex space over several days provide valuable lessons for the students when they confront future design projects.

New & Old Coexists in Girona - The Result is Sheer Delight

Top: City Walls, a Remodeled House, a University Building and Riverfront. Bottom: Masonry Wall, Column Capital detail, Gothic Arches next to the Ramblas and a quiet cafe

Due to its on-going organic development, every street provides insight into Girona's past, present and future. The result is new next to old, metal next to stone, polychrome next to monochrome, prosaic next to poetic, and surprise next to sheer delight.

Arab Baths, City Hall, New Housing, Cathedral Cloister, Eiffel's Bridge and Reconfigured Streetscape

Girona, a Gothic Town That's a Place Apart

The Old Town of Girona on the River Onyar

We're winding up our study trip by spending a few slow days in Girona, a university town a little more than an hour north of Barcelona in the rolling foothills of the Pyrenees. As a welcome relief from the intensity of Barcelona, students are finding time to wander many of its narrow, gothic streets where there's always something to study around every corner. A major plus of the city is that it is filled with a plethora of contemporary insertions into its old fabric.

Life Lived Publicly in Three Barcelona Plazas

Placa Virreina, Placa Angel and Placa del Pi

People in Spain live life very publicly, and most of their public life takes place in neighborhood or district plazas. One of the assignments for the study tour has been to compare three different plazas - organic, medieval Placa del Pi, rational Virreina, and modern Placa Angel in from of MACBA. Each student then selected one of the plazas for more in-depth observation of that plaza's physical chracteristics and cultural patterns.

Las Ramblas - Is it the Greatest Street?

Called one of the greatest street in the world, Las Ramblas is actually a series connected streets that runs 1.2 km from the harbor to Placa de Cataluyna and then north another 1.5 km to the Diagonal. Once an intermittent stream bed (open sewer), the street divides the Gothic quarter from the Raval. The street is divided into segments for flowers, newspapers, pets, and cafes and is populated by throngs, both natives and tourists, day and night. The street reverses the traditional Portland proportions between pedestrian and vehicular traffic.