So on Tuesday we had our first pin up as a group. It was a preliminary site analysis presentation, and I strongly believe that my group rocked it. We have beaten the analysis of the island and what we could remotely research to death in the states, and I saw this pin up as an opportunity to understand the culture in which our site exists; something that you cannot do remotely and must immerse yourself in to gain some frame of reference. We focused on experiential qualities of Murano itself, which I believe is an imperative trait to have as a designer. If you are hired to compose a site without any knowledge or understanding of the context, your site is simply going to fail. We explored the building and landscape typologies, the colors of the island, the ratios of building height to calle width, the different types of bridges the people of Murano use daily, and many other important aspects to the life and culture here.
A major reason why I took this trip was to open my eyes and discover a whole new perspective of viewing the world and the importance my profession holds with creating space for people from all over the globe. In just the four weeks I have been gone I’ve already realized the crucial importance of making acquaintance with the context of whatever project you may be working on, THEN you can move on to deciding what parts of the site itself are important or not, saying yes and no, making clear decisions, only after you believe you can trust yourself to speak on behalf of the people the place is for as the designer.
After the pin up, I made some pasta with vegetable red sauce and some melted mozzarella on ciabatta bread as a nice dinner by myself in my apartment. I worked on my portfolio for another hour or so then read myself to sleep (although Camus isn’t one to read while trying to fall asleep).
Yesterday we had language class, I wrapped up some errands and tasks, then we had a group dinner (which was amazing!) with lots of wine. Today was a bit disappointing with the vaporetto, we waited way too long for our boat and wasted almost two hours dealing with the public transportation here. Unfortunately, convenience is something that we take for granted in the States all too often.
Time to work on the portfolio a bit then meet with the group!
