One last side trip The last full week of class began with thorough, individual design crits on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.   Thursday demanded a begrudgingly early start with a train to Marseille departing Gard de Lyon at 7:45am.  The rest of Thursday and until late in the evening Friday was spent wandering Le Corbusier’s Unite …

One last fool’s errand. In my final fleeting moments in Paris, Tara and I took the opportunity to introduce the last charrette for the semester: to propose new kiosk for the Bouquiniste along the Seine River.  These historic lockboxes have acted as bookshelves for the city since the 16th century.   Along with following the cities …

Are there even turkeys here? With Thanksgiving crowding the end of the 12th week, we focused Monday and Tuesday on the final assignments for our two electives.  In the classroom Monday morning, Tara walked through the complexity of Maison de Verre’s circulation and lighting systems.  As a possible final case study for one of the …

An Interlude of French Planners and a few Very Loud Italians. Etudes sur Parisun 1928 film de Andre Sauvage The eleventh week brought guests.   Professor Jennifer Buyck assembled a team of 15 french graduate students from the Planning department of the Université Gustave Eiffel as well as a few cohorts: Profesor Nicolas Tixier from …

Towards a New Shiny Corporate Paris With the Arenes de Lutece Charrette due Monday at 5 pm, we needed a day outside exploring the Historic Axis of Paris.  Instead of beginning in a familiar setting, the Louvre’s east end of the Axis, we met as a class just outside of Paris at the Arche de …

At the Drawing Board With the All Saints day on Tuesday, the remainder of the ninth week took place in the classroom with activities aimed at nurturing the upcoming charrette. Wednesday began with a drawing exercise that explored the influence that the composition of a board has on what is communicated.  With just two drawings …

Surprise Guests, Roman Ruins, and a visit to the Doctor’s Office. The complexity of Abesses’s double-helix circular staircase demanded an extra day in class to discuss proper drawing conventions.   Tuesday,  brought an injection of creativity as artist Marcus MCaliser (Member of Baton Rouge Gallery and LSU alumni) stopped by to give a lecture and …

A Normal Week? Monday was lost to a work session as the Lessons Learned charrette was due at 5:30 pm. In response, we dedicated all of Tuesday to our Scale and Assembly elective.  The three rooms we have access to at the CEA offices, allowed us to discuss the nuances of volume (length, width, and …

Recovery and Reflection The sixth week was dedicated to developing a presentation that communicates the lessons learned from the buildings we visited.   For a bit of background on why Tara and I decided to “leave the laptops at home”, the drawing lessons this semester are in response to witnessing upper-level students espouse that if …