WALLENBERG TRAVEL
2014-2015 XUEFEI YAN CHRISTINA
FIRST, I want to thank those who made this Wallenberg scholarship and travel possible. I would especially express the gratitude to my wallenberg studio instructor Robert friend Jess
Yu for the help.
Adams and my
My trip in Europe in summer 2014 covers [Italy] Rome - Naples - Sorrento - Venice - Milan [Switzerland] Brig - St. Moritz - Z端rich - Basel - Geneva [France] Nimes - Marseilles - Paris and Barcelona. In winter 2014 I traveled to Scotland and London. In summer 2015 I visited Hong Kong and Bangkok. Since August 2015, I started my internship at Bjarke Ingels Group in Copenhagen to continuing my adventure in Europe through the lens of architecture.
ROME
ROME - MAXXI MUSEUM
VENICE -BIENNALE
VENICE -BIENNALE
MILANO Italy is a magical combo of classical and modern, fun and danger, craziness and romance... Local people are extremely willing to talk with travelers, easy going and friendly. Summer time in Europe is always flooded with tourism from all over the world, especially in big cities like Rome, Milan and Venice. The pace of life is extremely slow, the daily schedule is two hours behind normal... Because of the waiting time before the dishes, I fell in love with eating olives... Perhaps because of this life attitude of Italians, people are still enjoying hand crafting and make the most expensive leather goods and glass ware here. The Venice Biennale is another highlight of the trip. We spend two entire days in the exhibition. Not only the exhibition itself, but also the way the Theme “Element� is articulated, and the historical architecture and how the exhibition is arranged.
ST. MORITZ
THERMAL BATH, VALS
` SWITZERLAND, normally considered as one of the most civilized and expensive country in the world, is one my favorite counties in the trip. Only if a country is highly developed that people care so much about the relationship between human and nature. The rural condition in Switzerland is meticulously conserved and protected however delicately modified. The artificial modification is always taking a modest gesture to maximized the originality of the nature. People say that rural China has the similar resource as Switzerland, the only difference is a century of development. My favorite building in the trip is the Vitra Haus by Herzog de meuron. It has an interesting exterior form and the interior space is also nicely legitimized. The craft and detail of the furniture in the show room and the exterior view made the illusion of my dream home. <3
VITRA CAMPUS AND BASEL
BARCELONA
PARIS THE BEAUTY of PARIS can be explored for however long you stay. When I wandered down the Seine, I feel like every girls would fall in love with Paris. You can stay for a day, a week, a year or a life time long to discover the city and life, day and night. I just put three standard tourism pictures - Renzo Piano’s Pompidou; IM Pei’s Pyramid and everyone’s Eiffel Tower.
BARCELONA is the most vibrant city I have ever been. The color of the summer fruits, the wild imagination of Gaudi, the kiss of the warm fuzzy sunshine... and of course, the Spanish food. There is a funny saying that the more south you go in Europe, the better and cheaper food you get. It gets proved again when I come to Scandinavian...
HIGHLAND, SCOTLAND
In sunny winter days, I left my most beautiful memory in the glow of sunset, the purity of the snow mountains, and the crystal clear stary sky in North Scotland...
HONG KONG HONG KONG is another city that I would love to spend years to live and travel, not only because of the food... This is the city that never rests. In this crazy place, you see the 24-hour shining advertisement LED; the late night local foodies; the most generous cold air from the malls, you know what I am talking about. As an urbanist, you study the amazing urbanization process in the past century; as a local, you play Mahjong till 3 am after daily work and still can find mind-blowing street food;. It is so vibrant, however in a different way compare with south Spain and Italy: Everything is surely very organizedďź&#x152;and efficient; people are very polite and dapper be frankly, here everything is driven by money.
AND THAILAND....
BIG, COPENHAGEN I WAS LUCKY AGAIN that i got an opportunity to do a 6month long internship with Bjark Ingels Group in Copenhagen office as my first official Architecture internship. Here the interns take a serious amount of responsibility and play a vital role in almost every project, in a very fast pace working environment. It is a totally different experience compare with working at school, in terms of the methodology, develop process and many practical factors as well. The colleagues and interns here are extremely inspiring and I am always learning, both the techniques and way of thinking. I am really enjoying the life in the office and in Copenhagen. From my experience for the past three years studying architecture, I know this is a life long subject to explore. It is about perceiving the law of the society, the universe and ourselves, through enbracing the world in every possible way.