Chadur Issue 3

ЧАДЪР EUROPEAN ARCHITECTURE STUDENTS ASSEMBLY VELIKO TARNOVO

CHADŬR

VOL. 14 - ISSUE 03 SATURDAY JULY 26TH

Theme:

Frameworks Q’ of the day:

What do you expect will happen at the excursion?

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#03: Frameworks 2. contents / lost and found / wanted / quotes 3. what’s on / weather 4. the quest 5. lecture time 6. stats 7. notes from Hilde 8.-9. gated community 10.-11. question of the day 12. rumors / benjijumping 13. antiroom / pub-crawl / the framework of your life 14.

Instagram ode to the Interhotel Veliko Tarnovo 15. humans of veliko tarnovo 16. photo of the day

LOST AND WANTED: FOUND: lost:

integrity Astrid’s (dk) phone and a wallet

found:

the pool sleeping buddy hangover

information about the excursion EASA-TV a towel for Nielsine (DK) courage to jump a benjijump

QUOTES: “It seems quite strange having sex when someone’s taking a shit next door...”

-Ms. X “It’s quite strange taking a shit when someone’s having sex next door!”

-Mystery Shitter

TUTORS! Remember you can submit content for Umbrella at

“Now I’m like a kid who likes to see his game completed.”

-Matteo, Antiroom

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WHAT’S ON? sunday july 27th 8:00 AM

breakfast

9:30 AM

excursion

monday july 28th 11:00 PM excursion site

12:00 AM

lunch

19:00 PM

dinner

20:30 PM

symbioza evening

00:00 PM

Raja & The Band

brunch

13:30 PM

excursion site cleaning

15:00 PM

excursion return

20:30 PM

dinner

23:00 PM

EASA bar

TODAY: EASA-TV @ 21.00

WEATHER sunday

monday

tuesday

saturday

sunday

monday

tuesday

so by me th wh ec e oa re st

ve li

ko

ta

rn

ov o

saturday

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The Quest

Have you heard about the swimming pool?

The rumors of an Eden-like swimming pool somewhere across the town have been circling in the halls of EASA for some time now and have reached the ears of Umbrella as well. We took off for a quest to find this mysterious paradise.

The adventure started down by the river walking upstream past a barking angry monster of a dog.

We soon reached a railway bridge. On the other side 4

through the thick forest there was a stair that lead us to Antiroom’s building site with a mountain ahead of us. From here on the real adventure began.

The pool was supposedly on the other side of the mountain.

We started to climb up.

There were stairs upon stairs upon stairs. Every time you thought you had reached the top a new flight would peek over the horizon tempting you to

turn back.

When we finally reached the top a forest road lead us forward. Two biker ladies came towards us asking where is Veliko Tarnovo – we were officially away from home.

Then all of sudden when you thought there’s no way that anything resembling a paradise could be found, there it was, behind the last corner, clear blue water.

We made it! umbrellanewspaper@gmail.com

Lecture time!

The daily lectures give us all good food for thought. Here’s a small recap of what has been talked about.

The lecture by Nikolay Marinov on Wednesday dealt with natural materials, mostly hay and the way it is used in contemporary buildings.

The lecture reminded us that we shouldn’t forget the basics, the old building techniques that have lasted for hundreds or even thousands of years.

Nikolay is one of the tutors of Back to the roots so you should go check out their workshop if you feel like asking for some more info about the subject.

I think we all appreciate the traditional but have we actually learned from it?

That is the question raised by the lecture.

On Thursday we got to enjoy Nedko Solakov’s witty commentar y of his own work down by the National gallery with beautifull views of the city.

Nedko is an artist who’s work has been exhibited all over the world including the Venice Biennale.

On the lecture he mainly discussed work done with an architecture context.

A good deal of which was observations of the build environment.

If you weren’t at the lecture or haven’t had the chance to see his work other wise, you should definitely do so.

Nedko’s work is sharp and to the point without being shallow.

The national gallery really is a great place for outdoor lectures and so it served as the place for last nights lecture as well.

Jan Doms, an architect and an artist, showcased his work in a lecture titled Magnanimous architecture / sculpture.

He is fascinated by glass as a material and most of the art pieces that were shown were made of glass. An other recurrent element in the body of his work was the shattering of glass - a dramatic element for sure.

The lecture was easy to follow due to Jan’s clear and structured presentation which was enhanced with video clips.

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Notes from Hilde How do I remember EASA? Hilde is a Norwegian Dino who for the first time in 5 years is not here for the assembly. “ T here is always something special about first times, EASA not being an exception. My first time at EASA was in Italy, without really knowing what to expect. How do you prepare for spending two weeks with 400 people you don’t know, but who soon would become some of your best friends.

With 5 years at EASA the memories are too many to choose just one. Going to the lovebox for the first time, losing a phone attached to a balloon, crying and laughing over a bottle of rakia. And when you are home, you realize that you can go everywhere in Europe and get a couch to sleep on or a guide to show you all the rakiahotspots.

Finding bad memories at EASA is not easy. Even though problems may occur during the events for example being thrown out of the accommodation, SWAT teams closing down national evening,

workshops shut down, sunburns etc. - you still have this thing popularly known as the EASA spirit.

It’s that spirit that will make you miss sleeping in the same room as 400 other people, miss the clogged toilets and the Austrian ghetto nights.

Only once has the EASA spirit had no effect on me. It was at the only excursion I’ve been to during my 5 years at

EASA. After an especially drunken national evening and two hours of sleep, someone tricked me in to getting on a bus on my way back from the toilet.

3 hours on the bus to go to a cognac tasting when you even couldn’t hold your water. My tip is to find some of your favorite people, buy champagne, sit by the water and just chillax as the kids say when you get the chance.

Hilde at Zuzemberk 7

Gated community I don’t expect you to be up for a typological research while having to deal with the incredibly exhausting awesomeness that is easa, but have you noticed already? The houses of Veliko Tarnovo are quite often entered via a small private staircase that’s secluded from the road with a small metal gate.

These gates look too nice to be some off-theshelf product, but if they are, they’ve gained their individuality because of their emplacement, construction method, modular design and pastel colours that were once probably bright glaring hues. Even though the paint might have faded away many summers ago, it doesn’t detract from the strong graphical character that gives away exactly the visual language and art movements that were popular at the time they were placed, varying from more organic shapes to strong cubism to more generic mass-produced closures, forming a telling collage spread all over the city.

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Question of the day:

What do you except will happen at the excursion?

Tuukka, Finland There will definitely be puking in the bus from the start.

Then in the morning we will get drunk again. 72% of us will get horribly sunburnt. The National Evening will have strangely improvised stands, with warm rakia and plenty of bugs. Coming back the bus will be full of sand and of course again puke.

Thomas, Liechtenstein We will go to a Ibiza-style resort, with swimming pools and cocktail bars. Maybe even the Republic of Kanzantip, that huge festival somewhere at the Black Sea. It’s like a rave resort! Basically, we will have a crazy 90s rave party on a beach.

Hugh, Ireland I expect it to be a nightmare in one way or another. A beautiful nightmare. And I expect that Ireland, Scotland and Malta are going to get into some serious tomfoolery.

Christof, Austria It’s simple: we go to the beach, get drunk, everyone has a headache and then we will visit Bulgarian architecture buildings. A lot of them.

We will loose all our stuff because we’ll be too drunk. So we’ll have no money left and we will be stuck in Bulgaria for ever.

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Felix, Switzerland

Fedde, Belgium

Astrid, Denmark

I hope we go to the communist monument to party. But I think it’s the beach. My plan is to just lie down, I need to rest.

A nice campfire, a nice dinner with all of us together. There will be a corner where I can put my stuff and sleep cosily.

Somebody is probably gonna drown in the ocean (…) I mean we are starting early this year at 4 pm.

People are going to be smashed by nine. I expect to be awake from we leave in the night until we get home.

Anonymous smart ass The beach everyone is taking about is not at the sea, it’s the ‘beach’ at Yantra river, where some workshops are. It’s a forgotten beach that used to flourish with bikinis.

Read the Tutor Pack page 42 and you’ll see for yourself!

So we’ll be driving around in circles but eventually we will end up here again. And that’s why they told us to pack light!

Atir, Norway I think it’s Sunny Beach.

That’s both the dream and the nightmare at the same time.

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Rumours

Benjijumping...!

Apparently, someone to l d s o m e o n e t h at someone was preparing a bid for organising EASA 2016 in some country!

“I’m peeing my pants just watching it. But I’m gonna do it.

Umbrella would seriously appreciate more information on this rumour, and encourages more rumours on countries that want to propose future easa’s!

“Apparently, this height is bungee jumping for woossies.

As we see in the question of the day, r u m o ur s ab o u t t h e excursion are getting wild.

But have you actually tried google’ing that bar we are going to on Sunday?

“If I hit the water from this height, will I die?

“Okay, my last cigarette before I die.

“It was horrible. Only terrifying, not nice at all.

“It was scary, but in a exciting way.

“My back hurts a bit.

“I’m the quiet type, I won’t scream.

Some of the old-timer dino’s who are not here are crying in their beds and considering proposing mind-blowing workshops for Malta. Start preparing yours in that case!

Some girls have been said to be on a mission to turn gay guys straight.

And as usual gay guys are doing their best on turning straight guys gay. So beware guys - you never know what might happen at national evening!

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Antiroom The framework of your life When you take the shortcut along the river, over the trainbridge and find your way through the jungle up hill, you will find Antiroom at the top.

Here there has been shovels, excavaters and sweating men working hard from day to night for several days now. And it is starting to look promising.

Tutor Matteo, is confident when he talks about his baby. The doors are all finished, and are going to be painted now. Soon the structure will rise and impress.

Pub-crawl Af ter the lectures yesterday we set off for a tour around the city’s myriad of bars.

Maybe the tastiest free shots and definitely the best view was at Sammy’s bar. But the best dance party was set up at the Dada bar where things got a little crazy and table dancing was all the rave.

Tequila bar - as you might guess - offered the best tequilas. And you can be sure no one was left dry mouthed.

On organisation and involvement.

For most of us EASA is a two week event.

For some workshop preparations began about 6 months ago at the call for tutors. For a few it is a two year long commitment that doesn’t even end with all of us leaving.

Organising an EASA is in many ways about p rov idin g t h e id e al framework for people to work, sleep, drink, eat, poop and party. Behind this is a workforce of organisers. And their effort shouldn’t go unnoticed.

Were you aware of the continuous work done in a canteen in another school, where the kitchen team cut, cook and cater for five hundred people ever day?

And when you walk around in the bar house, do you sense the smell of sweat that has gone into turning it into this beautiful ruin it is today? The before and after picture looks drastically different. Going from filled with trash and material to filled with experiments, power tools and dancing bodies.

Inside this unbelievable framework lives the easian – filling it with life. In the timeframe of the assembly we are participating in workshops obviously, but secondly – and I almost want to say primarily – in co-creating this micro cosmos, this temporary utopia. We do have to fix stuff as we go, because Rome wasn’t built in one day. But the frame is supporting us, and at the same time leaves room for adjustment.

So dear colleagues, this is both a humble thanks to the organiser as well as a clap on the shoulder for all the rest of you, encouraging you to not keep from getting involved with everything you have.

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Instagram ode to the Interhotel Veliko Tarnovo A four star hotel designated for mass tourism of the jet-set society, taking in the most prominent spot of a historical city apart from its counterpart the Boris Denev Gallery (which is the indisputable center of Veliko Tarnovo) to offer its customers the best possible view over the city, etc. etc.

If you look at the plain facts of the Interhotel, it would appear to be any urbanist or architect’s worst nightmare, an eyesore that could ruin the quality of a lovely historical city.

But nothing could be further from the truth. Set to a an amphitheater of vernacular houses and rising on a pilotislike grid structure from the tree-filled riverbanks, this brutalist sculpture makes us fawn over its every curve and beam. That canopy! Those oversized drainage pipes (or whatever they are)! That origami rooftop structure!

Promoting hedonism and passionate love for architecture at the same time, this building might be the culminating point of what easa is all about.

Following is a small selection of the dozens of photos we already took of the building, do share yours with us!

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Humans of Veliko Tarnovo Our regular visitor in the bar.

”I’m bulgarian and living in Veliko Tarnovo – just like my father and grand father and grand grand father (making a continuous movement with the hand). I’m 31.”

- Come again. Are you 21 years old? ”Haha, do you think I look 21. Thank you for that compliment (hand touching the heart, head slightly tilted). It’s so much fun being here, when you are here.

-”No take another picture – It was not my best smile!” (smiiiiile) 15

PHOTO OF THE DAY

# GUERILLAGARDENING @ CARONORDNORD