Our last day in Prague is spent tying up loose ends and bidding our farewells to the city. A few of us go to the Jewish quarter to see the Jewish cemetery there. We decide not to pay the steep entrance fee and view it from a window from the street. Stones and markers lie askew in rows marking the final resting places of hundreds of Jews. Overgrowth obscures the stones and covers the ground. It is crowded, it is falling apart, but there is a certain beauty to it. The way the stones are arranged, the way the light hits them, there is something there that warrants an €8 entrance fee that people are willing to pay.
After the Jewish quarter, we walk around some more. We go to an architecture bookstore. I go off with Drew to photograph the Dancing Building. We split up to do some last minute shopping and have our final moments with the city before we meet to go to the train station. It is a sad parting, Prague has been so amazing in so many ways to all of us.
We don’t have class Tuesday morning; instead, we meet up at the institute in the afternoon to visit some firms. The first one we visit is Wolfgang Tschapeller. He has a fascinating approach to architecture that excites all of us. He digs into the ground, connecting nature and landscape and architecure with each other. His models are incredible to look at, and he has sound advice for us. “Architecture is for all of the senses. It is better to have fewer, better projects—there are far too many buildings, anyway. Get many things out of one. The more tools we have, the better it gets.” He gets us to consider what is possible.
After Wolfgang, we visit a firm called Rataplan. Walking in, I notice they have a good taste in music, and there are several Eames chairs in one room of the studio. The firm is named for a Belgian comic book character. When asked why they picked the name, one of the architects, Gerhard, tells us that the name had a good rhythm to it and didn’t have anything to do with architecture. Gerhard is incredibly helpful. He waxes poetical, and has so much to say. I fill four pages in my sketchbook of things he says. “Don’t have expectations of what you can or should learn. Learn by doing.”
One thing that sticks with me is his description of life in Estonia. He is fascinated by these people, and visits them once. He is invited on the spot to judge a landscape architecture competition. The winner is decided that day. A week later, all permits are obtained. Two weeks later, construction starts. A month later the project is finished. “It’s amazing,” says Gerhard. “They just do.”
I have come to realize the value of travel and why I like it so much. Travel allows me to get away from myself. At home, I have no point of view or perspective. Travel gives me a distance that is immeasurably helpful.
After the Jewish quarter, we walk around some more. We go to an architecture bookstore. I go off with Drew to photograph the Dancing Building. We split up to do some last minute shopping and have our final moments with the city before we meet to go to the train station. It is a sad parting, Prague has been so amazing in so many ways to all of us.
We don’t have class Tuesday morning; instead, we meet up at the institute in the afternoon to visit some firms. The first one we visit is Wolfgang Tschapeller. He has a fascinating approach to architecture that excites all of us. He digs into the ground, connecting nature and landscape and architecure with each other. His models are incredible to look at, and he has sound advice for us. “Architecture is for all of the senses. It is better to have fewer, better projects—there are far too many buildings, anyway. Get many things out of one. The more tools we have, the better it gets.” He gets us to consider what is possible.
After Wolfgang, we visit a firm called Rataplan. Walking in, I notice they have a good taste in music, and there are several Eames chairs in one room of the studio. The firm is named for a Belgian comic book character. When asked why they picked the name, one of the architects, Gerhard, tells us that the name had a good rhythm to it and didn’t have anything to do with architecture. Gerhard is incredibly helpful. He waxes poetical, and has so much to say. I fill four pages in my sketchbook of things he says. “Don’t have expectations of what you can or should learn. Learn by doing.”
One thing that sticks with me is his description of life in Estonia. He is fascinated by these people, and visits them once. He is invited on the spot to judge a landscape architecture competition. The winner is decided that day. A week later, all permits are obtained. Two weeks later, construction starts. A month later the project is finished. “It’s amazing,” says Gerhard. “They just do.”
I have come to realize the value of travel and why I like it so much. Travel allows me to get away from myself. At home, I have no point of view or perspective. Travel gives me a distance that is immeasurably helpful.
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