Perhaps not the best timed field trip as we had an important review two days later, this was nevertheless an important and fun field trip, which was led mostly by Jan, which made everything so much more exciting but also somehow digestible. Having gone quite peculiarly through Hadrian’s villa, we learned how important it was to not only architects in the past centuries, but also to some contemporary and modern architects.
But perhaps what made the whole field trip so much more enjoyable was the fact that in comparison to quite literally all of the previous visits on field trips with almost no exception, we were finally given a serious amount of free time to roam around the site, sketch and document in no particular hurry, after having listened to a clear, straight to the point and structured presentation of the site, making everything so much more worth paying attention to.
After having broken up for a lunch break in Tivoli, we visited the Villa d’Este which is of course in direct relationship with our studio theme of this semester, where we are designing a bath complex in Rome. This was and perhaps still is without any doubt the most amazing and lavishly articulated garden through the means of water fountains. Being there just in time to witness the fountain accompanied by music, and again having a lot of free time to actually properly document and explore the garden by ourselves, we eventually retreated back to the bus and Rome, where we all struggled preparing ourselves for the review, which was at that point only one day away.
(all photos credit to Ihwa Choi)
by Matej Dlabal