american invasion

as you may have heard, some very dear friends of mine recently visted LONDSAY [from san di-ah-go: Craig, Kelley + Steve; and from pittsburgh: Matt + Michelle: though really all proper "midwesterners" from the start!]. of course, i forced them to eat fish and chips . . . and peas, but we didn't get the mushy ones! i was upset really :(

while i was doing some work, they managed to tour the town - in abnormally sunny and warm temperatures (perhaps following them from california) - from top to bottom, and i met up with them daily in time for beers, beers, and more beers! heee. We also went to the The-a-tre (insert funny snooty accent) and went to some really great restaurants and bars. You can view the rest of the pictures here (click on "slideshow"): http://picasaweb.google.com/lindsaycarol/MidwesternersLostInLondontown

it was amazing to have them here and i only hope they enjoyed their stay as much as me! the crazies also tagged visits to other countries in with their trips, so should have been officially exhausted by the travelling madness.

T3

term three of my bigwigeducation starts today. whooohoo.
yeah. vacation is so much easier. (i'm back from bellaroma . . . back, with better shoes!)

when in rome . . .

its amazing here, always. i am sitting outside on the terrace of Iowa State University's College of Design in Rome, with my laptop and wireless internet, no jacket, and a nice south breeze. ahhh. mi amore.

ahlora, dove mi vino?

you can view the other photos i took on my trip at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/lindsaycarol/ROMADue

vai a roma

[today] i am going back to roma - first time since 6 years ago, the infamous duemilledue! aaaaah!
can't remember how to say hardly anything in italian, ahlora! visisito mi scuola de arkitectura undergraduate-a. heheheheeee. no clue. really. crap.

UAEDRL day 5

DAY 5 dubai creek, the desert, and "dune-ing"

On our last full day, i took the morning and walked from the hotel back to the "creek" and took a water-taxi across from Bur Dubai to Diera and back. The whole ride cost 1 dhiram, approximately 20cents. Its a pretty quick way to get across the water, as there is no good public transportation in the city. However, by the time i got back to my hotel a couple hours later, i was sweating profusely from my "leisurely morning stroll" in the desert heat!

Then in the afternoon, we ventured out into the Desert on an arranged Dune-excursion. Some guys with 4x4s picked us all up and drove us out into the Dunes. They are amazingly beautiful and we had a ton of fun with the crazy drivers. Next time i will try "dune-surfing" which we saw some poeple attempting down the large hills, as well as Dune-bugging - something i've always wanted to try. I did get a chance to also ride with a random guy on his ATV and that was fun as well - unfortunately he wouldn't let me take it for a spin on my own! boo.

In the evening they took us to a bbq out in some tents and we had traditional belly-dancing and other crazy entertainers. Kinda fun, but cheesy. Oh well. When we got back, some of us taxied back to the fancy Marina district and went to the Buddha Bar, which was very posh and full of equally cheesy international high-rollers. Finally, however, a decent Martini and with the exchange rate, whoohoo! :)

http://picasaweb.google.com/lindsaycarol/UAE5

UAEDRL day 4

project site: Ras' al-Khaimah



DAY 4 we travelled up the coast to Ras' al-Khaimah, the northermost emirate of the UAE, where we are situating our design proposals. The city is very small, as compared with Dubai, with currently only 250,000 people - however, the population is expected to triple to 750,000 in the next 10 years - yikes!

The city itself however is relatively uninspiring. Large expanses of nothing with scattered amounts of tattered dusty low buildings. The most impressive thing about the city is the diverse landscape, as it stretches from coastal beaches on the Persian Gulf (very clear clean water) through an inland estuary or lagoon of sea-water with a curious amount of vegetated land within, across a sandy desert with a string of date-palms, to the abrupt rise of rocky hills and mountains to the north east. Ras' al-Khaimah (also referred to as RAK) is the only emirate with these mountains and they are somewhat its identity. Hoping to bring in tourism associated with these mountains, the city lies aproximately 4 kilometers from their base. Across the mountains is Oman, and the Indian Ocean. Together with Iran (across the Gulf) this small tip of peninsula land of the UAE and Oman share the entry and exit point to the Persian Gulf, making RAK (known as Julfar) one of the most important Pirate ports back in the day! Arrrrgh.

RAK is also known amongst the UAE as having retained some of its heritage, and still possessing a visable connection with its history and culture. However, we were surprised to find very little in terms of built or preserved structures beyond that of a very small museum. Now, unfortunately the city center of life seems to be that of a very ugly shopping mall, perched on the edge of the estuary. Inside its air-conditioned food courts seems the only place to find people in mass.

However, the city is sitting duck for massive development, and i fear in the grotesque way of Dubai. The immense amount of unused coastal and lagoon-side land surely makes hotel developers drool, and the new Free Trade Zone with much cheaper rates than Dubai will surely bring in multinational companies to settle there. The mountains will indeed form a beautiful backdrop for an emerging city, atleast when the sand in the air doesn't haze-out their view.

The three teams in our studio each select their own sites to work on within RAK, and we are all expected to address the topics of tourism, commerce, and housing over a 20 year span, while focusing on our own particular areas of interest. For my team specifically, the issues to deal with are related with identity and how to deal with design for both a globalized future and locally specific place. Creating space for public life and central activity is also important in the sprawling town while addressing the extreme difference in landscape conditions.

http://picasaweb.google.com/lindsaycarol/UAE4

UAEDRL day 3

DAY 3 of our trip was spent with a morning on the beaches in Dubai, seeing the sharp contrast between public and private and what resort destination Dubai is. In the afternoon we travelled along the desert coast to Abu Dhabi, the largest city in the U.A.E. with 1.8 million inhabitants currently.



The Dubai beaches were stunning and the weather was beautiful at this time of year - i can't image it in the summer with scorching temps, but in mid-March, we managed to get lobster sunburns in just a few hours, soaking up the warmth that doesn't seem to ever hit Londontown! However, the public beach was not nearly as nice, however packed with many young guys having a fun afternoon singing or listening to music. I of course was a spectacle of much attention with my blonde hair, and overheard numerous times "California" muttered with shy smiles as i passed by!

After the beach, we drove to the new Marina district, and overwhelming (and impressive) undertaking of skyscraper construction along the coast south of the city center. It is a truly dense construction of towers, perhaps much more successful in terms of urbanism than the strip-row of Sheik Zayed Road. It would be interesting to see this place again in just a year or two as people are beginning to live there.
Then was a startling and disgusting drive out to one of the off-shore islands constructed as "Palms". Some of the pictures here demonstrate how "unspecial" it really is, in contrast to the image it advertises as such a luxurious place to live. However, it is clearly expensive and exclusive, as they wouldn't even let us drive out onto the "fronds" without a pass.

We spent the afternoon and evening in the capital city of Abu Dhabi, which is about an hour and a half south of Dubai, of course along the coast as well. This city is known as the richest city in the world and is home to the wealthiest of sheiks due to its oil-rich vast expanse of desert land it controls. Some people say they aren't even sure if Abu Dhabi will ever run out of oil, as they expect to discover even more. I am not sure this is a valid expectation, with oil running out everywhere, but in contrast to Dubai which expects to run out of oil by 2020, this city has atleast another 50 years of production capacity! eeee. And so they plant a lot of green grass - because they can. Yikes.

We went to the old fort and poked around at a relatilvely dead urban core city. Here also i experience more stares from the people than in Dubai. In the evening when we went to the Grand Mosque - an incredibly gorgeous construction - but i didn't even dare get out of the car, as i was not appropriately dressed and lacking a head-covering. But it was cute to turn and find some little girls giggling outside our van, as they were trying to touch my blond hair seen through the open window behind my seat. :) It was also really interesting to see the mass of people strolling into the large mosque, some dressed in complete robes, others wearing jeans and t-shirts.

We drove back to Dubai then and went out for food in the other "old" part of the city on the southside of the Dubai Creek, known as Bur Dubai. After searching for a cheap place listed in our guidebook for an hour or so, my teammates and I finally got a recommendation from a local guy of another place to go, and had a great meal at a very active streetside restaurant, at around 11pm, for approximately 3 pounds each, including drinks and dessert. Wow! It was pretty wierd too, when we arrived and asked if we could sit outside (since the weather was so nice) the host actually kicked out some other guys sitting having beverages at a table! We told him it was unnecessary and we had no problem waiting or sitting inside, but he insisted on shooing them off and gave us the seats. The street was very busy with guys hanging out, but i actually saw very little females. This is probably due to the fact that many of the young men have come from other countries, unable to bring their families along on their visas.

You can see a larger (higher quality) version of this slideshow at: http://picasaweb.google.com/lindsaycarol/UAE302

UAEDRL day 2

DAY 2 of our trip took us to Dubai's neighboring city of Sharjah, a city of around 1million seen more as a blue-collar or commuter population, though home to perhaps more cultural and educational facilities. We spent part of our day at the American University Sharjah [AUS] with some students and faculty of the Architecture department there. Presentations were given both by us and them, as we shared a conversation about design in the U.A.E.



As you can see by the photos, the American University (most educational facilities are also 'imported') is a large campus with vast lawns and college buildings - much different than the AA's little house in London.
After our workshop, we travelled through the Sharjah traffic jam toward the shore for our first glimpse at the beach - sadly a dissappointly depressing destination, but still warm weather and a break from the roads.

In the evening we travelled back to Dubai and visited the Mall of the Emirates (the largest mall in the world - though i don't believe it is actually bigger than MN's Mall of America), and had our hand at late-night snowskiing at the infamous Ski Dubai - the largest (of course) indoor ski mountain. So yes, my 3rd time skiing, was in the desert at 11pm. yep, bizarre.

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/lindsaycarol/UAE2

UAEDRL day 1

As you know, my studio group visited the United Arab Emirates last month to investigate the context surrounding our project site in the city of Ras' al-Khaimah, north of Dubai, on the Persian Gulf.



DAY 1 included first landing in Dubai and driving down Shiek Zayed Road (the infamous road with all the skyscrapers - the image of Dubai), then walking into the old city, known as Diera on the East side of Dubai Creek. Diera is home to crowded streets and a complicated maze of souks (markets).

The city is a crazy land, really, with skyscrapers popping out of nowhere, massively taking over the image and skyline of a generally sprawling city. The rate of construction is amazing, and we all know how i love super-dense high-rise cities - but Dubai has big issues, and i could write on and on about its projected problems. But for now, a brief description of DAY 1 will simply be described as visiting a place very different than anywhere i'd been before. Of course, parts of the city are very "Western" mostly, American-inspired, kinda like the BigMac - yikes - with giant roads and gas-guzzling SUVs; but also it is clearly an Arab world, and i stuck out like a sore thumb in many neighborhoods with my blonde hair and California sunglasses. My classmates said it was similar to India in many ways, especially the super-crowded market neighborhoods with tiny winding streets and large population of Pakistani and Indian merchants. Speaking English wasn't a problem at all however, as most people there are ex-patriates from other countries, so languages spoken are very diverse. My Indian classmates reckognized Hindi spoken more often than even Arabic. I just noticed lots of people staring at me. :) In many ways, i think Dubai is like Vegas: You can love it, yet you hate it.

[you can click on the slideshow above to activate controls and then to also link to my picasa photo album, which contains some captions of the photos. you can also view a much larger (higher quality) version of the slideshow through my picasa album: http://picasaweb.google.com/lindsaycarol/UAE1 ]

finsbury park to fitzrovia

so here are some photos of my new place, located in a really nice neighborhood called Fitzrovia, between Marlyebone (super swank) and Bloomsbury (where my school is), just on the north side of Oxford Street and Soho. Closest tube is Oxford Circus [Central (red) Line] (god help me during the summer madness and the christmas frenzy) or also Goodge Street [Northern (black) Line] on Tottenham Court Road. So yeah, i'm surrounded by high end stores selling fashion and electronics. Great, i have tons of money for that. Right. crap.

as you can see, the whole place is quite small, however it seems cosy. it is essentially a little lean-to shack on the backside of another building and in the interior of a mansion block courtyard - thus surrounded by 4-6 story old brick buildings that are probably much nicer! the cool part of being on the inside is that the outside courtyard area you see is our own. seems my roommate likes plants, and i spotted a little grill as well, so perhaps it is pleasant to sit outside once it warms up!

And so, it is very small, very dark, and so far freezing cold and damp feeling, but i love the neighborhood and am really enjoying being able to hop outside and just walk to anything! I can also grab a number of buses on Oxford street that go straight to my studio if it is too chilly or my heels are too high to walk!
i have already discovered a number of great bars/pubs/underground grottos/restaurants/bagelshops, all within 2 minutes walk, so i feel it is going to be really fun living here. yayyy

http://picasaweb.google.com/lindsaycarol/Fitzrovia

inside the tinyness

the apartment (i'm not really sure it counts as a flat, or a house. ?) is a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom place which i share with a girl named Katrine, who is from Denmark and works in advertising while also doing her master's degree - yes, i'm serious, i have my own bathroom. though it is tiny, as is my tiny closet-sized bedroom (compare with past flat in finsbury park previously posted), i have managed to fit all of my things! amazing. the two bedrooms are on opposite ends of the house, and inbetween in the living room (lounge) with dining table and then a small counter-kitchen right near my room. Its fairly run down in terms of materials on the floor and whatever, but has everything i need minus a clothing dryer of course. :( i am very happy for white walls though, and you can see some nice large mirrors to make the place appear bigger!

http://picasaweb.google.com/lindsaycarol/Fitzrovia

torch

yesterday was the passing of the Olympic Torch through London. i just happened to be out on the street in Whitechapel with a friend when it passed by. [you can see the torch in the second image with the red bus behind it - click on the image to enlarge it.]
More impressive than seeing the torch was seeing the pro-Tibet protestors boo and hiss at the Olympians against China. Apparently someone tried to steal the torch and also another person tried to extinguish the flame with a fire extinguisher! http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7332942.stm
I saw an elaborately costumed group of protestors with music and microphones putting on a sort of song and dance skit impersonating the Chinese emperor and his quest for 'Power'. It was intense.

also, it is freezing cold here these last two days after a few super warm days of sun and light jackets. It even SNOWED on me yesterday, giant superflakes. wtF!