San Francisco

Golden Gate Bridge

San Francisco, California, my first visit to this amazing city, and hopefully not my last. Located in northern California, the tech industry hub, as Silicon Valley is just south of SF hosting Apple, Google and Facebook to name a few. However, the architecture, starting with the Golden Gate Bridge, an amazing piece of engineering, and really quite stunning too, when driving along it, you really get a sense of just how huge those steel structures are.

 Pier 39

My hotel was located at Pier 39 a rather touristy area, but nonetheless a very nice location to be in. Famous for it's sea lions at the pier, and great views of the Golden Gate and Alcatraz, the old prison.

 Pier 39, sea lions

Alcatraz

 Closer view of Alcatraz

 The Financial District and Coit Tower

 Lombard Street (Wiggly Road)

 Coit Tower

Coit Tower was finished in 1933, built as a memorial to Lillian Coit. The tower is typically Art Deco, built from exposed concrete, designed by the architects Arthur Brown Jr and Henry Howard.

 A great view from near China Town, looking through the buildings at Oakland Bay Bridge

 The Cable Cars

 At the top of after a very long climb up stairs

The De Young Museum

The De Young Museum in San Francisco has used 'Tecu Oxid' copper cladding. Using a mixture of flat panels, mesh panels, and panels with perforations and embossed. The project was technically one of the largest copper cladding projects in the world. The mixture of the different styles of clad and the interesting dynamics of the buildings, make it a very exciting piece of architecture.

De Young Museum, in Golden Gate Park

The Modern side to Amsterdam

My previous blog about Amsterdam was recording the inner core of the city and the traditional architectural style. When i travelled this time for a uni trip, we were focusing on a building each, selected by the tutors at uni.

By the harbours there are lots of modern takes on the classic town house, this is a repetitive take on that, which I find very effective, and quite an attractive way of using classic brick, and mesh.

One of the chosen buildings to look at was this Silodam by MVRDV the dutch architect firm. This building is located in the North of the city. The building is in the water on stilts, as can be seen from the picture. The building is famous for it's multitude of different facades, an obviously unusual trait for buildings, but nonetheless definitely interesting.

Another focus was the Whale, this building is located in the South-East of the city, again by the water, hence the literal name the whale. By Cie. architects, another dutch architect firm.

The Westerdok building, located nearby to the Silodam building.

Nextdoor to the Westerdok building was this, I really liked the repetitive nature of the long windows, and the long thin brick.

The Borneo island is host to this exciting architectural street. A different architect was hired to design a terraced house along the street. This creating a dynamic stretch of different and influential architecture.

Stamford

Stamford is a town located in the county of Lincolnshire, upon visiting it certainly stood out for it's much untouched architecture. The infamous George Hotel in Stamford, has been recording to be older than 900 years, a certain monument for the town, obvious by it's beauty. The view in the picture is of the The Great North Road, probably Stamford's most famous attribute.

The main architecture in the town is between 17th-18th century, with the majority of buildings using limestone.

Unfortunately when visiting the English weather did not show much promise of any sunshine, however luckily their was no rain, and so the visit was still pleasant. Due to using limestone there is a similar feel to a cotswolds town.

The George Hotel in Stamford is particularly famous for it's historical beauty, both the exterior of the building and the beautiful inside, that has been mildly changed from it's original decor.

Portofino

The beautiful Italian fishing village of Portofino is one well known I'm sure by many, it has had countless films visit this location, as well as just being so picturesque.

The beautiful marina encloses traditional Mediterranean architecture, as the town has been built around the water front.

 

 My particular favourite aspects of the town is the roofline of the buildings surrounding the marina, the uneven heights, depths and widths of the architecture only adds to the charm of the area.

Vienna, Austria

The Natural History and History of Art museums

Due to an architectural project at university I had the pleasure of visiting the city of Vienna in February. The main focus of my trip was the Ringstraße, this is a ring road that circles the medieval core of the city.

The Parliament Building 

The Ringstraße was built due to the destruction of the original city defence wall. The need was expansion was necessary being the main contributor for the destruction of the wall.

From the destruction of the wall came the construction of many impressive structures around the city centre.

Historic maps of the city planning

The main focus of my trip was looking at the museums located along the Ringstraße. The two museums are located opposite one another, built in a Neo-Renaissance style.

 The History of Art Museum

Inside The Natural History Museum

The State Opera, Known for hosting famous balls

The Looshaus designed by the famous architect Adolf Loos

The beautiful St. Stephens cathedral located in the centre of the city

Archways into the State Opera

Outside the Natural History museum