1 - 2 - build

With a huge model in place at the studio, I had to start using it right away. It can be a bit intimidating to have a new model, nice and clean, having spent weeks making it perfect, and you don't really know where to go from there. I therefore invited some friends over and bought a bag of beers, hoping to get a kick start in messing it up.

Before....

Everyone took out a section or two to play with...








...and things started to happen.


























In the end, we tried putting it all together again.

...and after

The final result, might look a bit different from this, but at least I have a bunch of ideas and inspiration, and the model is a lot more approachable.

Modelmaking

I have spent the past few weeks on the faculty's wood workshop making a Praca de Touros Model Kit.


It took me a while to find out how to build it in a way that makes it flexible enough to work with and precise enough to work as a presentation model at the end of the semester. I ended up building it in separate sections in a way that I can easily remove and work with one section at a time and put it back afterwards.


I am building the model in 1:50 scale. This is quite big, but it will come in handy when i start working with the spaces inside the structure. Making a model like this also helps me to get familiar with the structure and the construcion.


Here's a timelapse video of me putting it all together at the studio.

Hand in - Preliminary study

The preliminary study is a document used to define and specify the objectives of the thesis.


It is supposed to answer questions like:
What am I doing?
Why am I doing it?
How am I doing it?
Who am I doing it for?
Why is that important?


My preliminary study starts of a short presentation of my objectives and intentions.




This is followed by an introducion to Mozambican geography, history, culture and climate.






At the end of the document I am describing how I am working with this task, what I will produce and the methods I will use to produce it.




The preliminary work is going to help me to make choises during my work, acting as compass and a guideline. It will also be an introduction to the thesis for the critics, and a tool to check if the project is responding to the objective.

Hello, Trondheim

the Nidelven river, coiled around the city center.

I am officially back in Trondheim again, and here is a small glimpse of the city, for those of you who don't know it.

the characteristic pier houses along Nidelven river and the Western Canal were originally built on wooden pillars. This part of the city was in danger of being torn down in the 70's, when a new highway through Trondheim was planned, but is now a popular area packed with cafés, small designer shops and appartments.

a newly built shopping mall in the pedestrian street, showing off it's timber contruction

The historical city center consisted mainly of timber houses. As a result of this, numerous fires the past years has cleared out centrally located lots, giving room for contemporary architecture.

upriver view from the Flower Bridge at Nyhavne (the New Docks)

The past decades the city centre of Trondheim has expanded north. Old mechanic workshop areas has been trensformed into shopping centres, restaurants and concert stages. Appartment blocks are also popping up in this area.

appartment blocks at nyhavna

appartment area at Lademoen in the northern oustskirt of the city center

Farewell, Maputo

This short month went by all too quickly.




I would probably have to spend years in Maputo and Mozambique to really get to know the country, the city, the culture and the people. But at least I got four fully packed weeks - a crash course in the Maputo way - and I feel that I will be able to work out a project based on what I have learned, seen and experienced.




Thanks a lot to all of you who have helped me during this field trip. I'll see you next time for a preta and some mafora.

Photo marathon day - the school's

One if the last days of my stay in Maputo, I tuk tuked around the city to get photos of everything. Here's the short summary.

The School of Visual Arts








The School of Dance






The School of Music








I also visited the National Dance Academy's rehearshal at beautiful Ciné Africa

Bull's Eye

We've been trying to get hold of someone who could get us into the Praca de Touros for about a week without any luck. So we decided on just going there and look for a person with the right key. We met Ernesto who's working at one of the car mechanic shops and he showed us around.




Not surprisingly, the arena is quite impressive. The ground floor is divided between a handful of mechanical workshops, except for the entrance area who used to be some kind of shop or restaurant and one part in the back, who has been used by a church.

A a section of the ground floor, used by a church after the bull fighting closed down

When the bull fighting went on, most of the areas in the first floor was in use as a market place.

market place areas on the first floor

view from the first floor

The seating area is also all in concrete with supporting beams underneath. The angle of the seating is quite steep and creates a very defined and closed space inside the arena.






People we met in and around the Praca de Touros told us that the arena had been used some times after the bull fighting era, for boxing matches and concerts, but these days it is mostly left unused. Nevertheless, we ran into a small choir who used the place for rehearsals and they granted us a small performance.