Bilbao

Today is the first day of a two day excursion to the north coast of Spain. We spent most of the day in Bilbao, and what I mean by that is that we spent most of the day in the Guggenheim. I don't mean any disrespect to the city itself, but there's nothing about it that sets itself apart from any other Spanish town we've been through other than the huge sculpture in the middle of it. Having said that I don't think the Guggenheim would have the same effect if it wasn't interacting with this quaint little city.

Most of my thoughts today revolved around Gehry himself. It seems to me he's a guilty pleasure for most architects. They poke fun in public, but behind closed doors they are in awe. Not necessarily because they think his buildings are so amazing, but because they wish they could get clients to spend exorbitant amounts of money to feed their creative whims. That's the one thing I think you take away from a guy like that, the idea we're not as constrained as we think we are. I think he also reminds us that architecture doesn't have to be so serious all the time. So for what it's worth, enjoy!

Olot

We took the train to Olot early this morning. The first thing on the agenda was to see the office FOA (Foreign Office Architects). One of the principals showed us around the office and had a great conversation with us in their conference room. They do a lot of great work and it was nice to see first hand the environment where all of that gets produced.

We then went to have one of the best meals I've ever had at Les Cols. The restaurant is a rehabbed historic building designed by FOA and it was pretty amazing. The restaurant made special accommodations for us as a student group and gave us a discounted rate of 20 euros a person.

The restaurant is also a hotel of sorts with really expensive outdoor rooms, but again quite impressive. Nothing like you would expect in the states.

We spent the last part of the day wandering through a remote part of town that had some stunning landscapes. We ended up enjoying it a little too long and some of us missed the bus ride home, mainly due to an incompetent taxi service, but the few that got left behind caught a train just a short while after us, so it worked out.

Last Day In Studio

Today was a last chance to get together and go over what we've been doing. I'll admit it went a little long for my taste, but it was really interesting to see what everyone had been hiding away in their sketchbooks. Even though it was a great night, it was kind of sad in a way; made me realize that we were that much closer to leaving. I can't complain, its been a pretty amazing trip.