Seat of Our Pants » architecture

Hagia Sofia

Martin — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 23:28:57 +0000

There are very few buildings and architectural monuments that manage to move me emotionally. Istanbul’s ancient Hagia Sofia is a clear exception: a place where history, architecture and religion have clashed over and over again. It is a defining building for this part of the world, and a beautiful one at that.

The current Hagia Sofia dates back to the 6^th century, even though there has been a Hagia Sofia at this site since 350 AD. It is famous not so much for its exterior as for the interior – the way the central dome is constructed represents a revolution in architecture. Walking in, you get the sense of being inside a giant hall in a separate universe, completely apart from the outside world. It was the main church for the Byzantine empire: a central place in the first thousand years of Christian history.

In 1453, the city fell (or was liberated, depending on how you look at it) to the Turks, and Hagia Sofia was converted into a mosque. I have mixed emotions about this: the black and golden shields that hang in there so obviously do not belong in that space (they were added in the 19^th century), and the Arabic script painted inside the main dome look clumsy and out of place. Ironically, the conversion into a mosque probably saved Hagia Sofia, as the church had fallen into a state of serious dilapidation during the last decades of the Byzantian empire. In 1935, the government declared it to be a museum, and I believe this is the best solution for this incredible building. If you want to see an actual example of Islamic architecture, the stunning Blue Mosque is just across the street.

Hagia Sofia is a stunner.

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Video: A Walk Around the Ruined Garden of Eden

Jaime — Fri, 21 May 2010 12:22:02 +0000

If we were honest, we’d have to admit that the dig at Göbekli Tepe was what brought us to Turkey. Martin wrote up a great piece about the dig and it’s significance here. While I think he went into great detail describing the place, I think it’s also fun to see it on video. It really drives home just how cool the place is.

Join us on our walk around the 12,000 year old temple of Göbekli Tepe.

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The Lowdown on Sweden’s Ice Hotel

Jaime — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 08:30:15 +0000

The arctic circle is a latitudinal line that defines the top 1/8^th of the earth as the Arctic. As you can expect, it’s damn cold up there. Beautiful scenery abounds, as there is far more nature than inhabitants. But, like I said, it’s damn cold. Most people visit in summer, when temperatures are more bearable. So what do you do if you happen to own a hotel in the arctic? You build your hotel from ice, of course.

Ice Hotel Main Hall

The proprietors of the Ice Hotel have turned their little arctic town into a world-renowned destination. Nature provides the materials – snow and ice – and a brilliant marketing strategy pulls in the people.

We hit it up a few days ago on a day trip (Martin grew up just an hour south of the arctic circle). Since we are poor travelers, we reluctantly paid the US $40/person entrance fee. Martin’s parents had told us it was well worth it. There was a half hour tour included that was, well, it was just OK. The “worth it” part came after our tour guide set us free: we were allowed access to all the rooms. We had a five hour window to explore, shoot videos, take photos, test the beds and just generally enjoy ourselves.

Icebar in the Ice Hotel

Research showed us that it would have cost US $800/night for the three of us to stay in a Snow Room. Unlike the Art Suites, which have been designed and constructed by artists, the Snow Room is just a block of snow with a bed in the middle. Um – ouch. $800 is a two weeks budget in India. Needless to say, we didn’t stay and I’ve gotta say that I’m happy we didn’t. It’s cold – that much is obvious – but it smells bad, too. Maybe we were late in the season. It is spring, after all. But seriously. If we were going to pay $800 for a room, we wouldn’t want it to smell like an armpit. Just sayin’.

Smells aside – the concept is really cool. I’m really happy we went there but equally happy we didn’t stay. So, take that as you will.

Check out our video of the hotel here (smell not included) and our photo gallery below.

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The Mughal Mausoleum Recreated

Martin — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 09:31:59 +0000

Today, my wife decided to re-live our oh-so-recent days of traveling in India. How? Why she decided to make a snow sculpture of the Taj Mahal in our front yard.

I was employed as a snow-shoveller, complementing my wife’s artistic bent with my ferocious muscle (cough cough cough). Initially, I feared that we were actually constructing a shrine to the Gods of Garlic, but Wifey showed me a thing or two about artistic talent.

So: Voila! The Taj Mah-garlic. Good times.

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Castle Hopping in France

Jaime — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 08:31:25 +0000

I wasn’t a Princess & Prince Charming type of little girl. My interests were more in making up stories about an alien to freak out my little sister (I guess I’ll take this opportunity to tell you, Sheyna, that Glong wasn’t real). Lace, frills and fairytales were for other kids. I was more into creating my own universe, which if you think about it, is exactly what I’m still doing as an adult. Or is this trip more of a fairytale than I’d like to admit…

Anyway, not being into them as a kid doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate a good fairytale castle when I see one now. Juergen’s cabin sits deep in the forest, on the border of Germany and France. It’s a great jumping off point for castle hopping. The castle ruins pictured above sit an hour-long walk from his cabin.

Unlike the States, which has a measly two hundred year history, European settlements have been around a while. Columbus was still four hundred years from setting foot on American soil when this castle was built. This castle was built and ruined before the concept of America even came to be.

Now, Europe, if you could just stop being so bloody expensive to travel in, we could see more of you.

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The Great Cathedral of Worms

Martin — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 18:56:28 +0000

There are many things to see and do in this part of Germany: anything from ancient Celtic graves and Roman fortifications to World War II memorials and natural wonders. Today, our focus was the ancient city of Worms.

The very beautiful cathedral was one of the standouts. There has been a church in Worms since the 7^th century, but the cathedral was begun only in 1018 (!). It’s easy to let your mind wander in its presence – just imagine the challenges it has withstood over the centuries: burned by the French in the 17^th century, and bombed by Allied forces in WWII. It has seen untold glories and sorrows, the Plague, the Reformation, the industrial revolution and pretty much anything you’d care to mention.

Worms cathedral

Some people say that if you’ve seen one great European cathedral, you’ve seen them all. I think the one in Worms is a clear exception to that rule.

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My Brief Romance With Katha

Jaime — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 05:35:17 +0000

We reached Katha yesterday by boat from Bhamo. Our stop here was motivated by transportation – we had to spend a night here to get to a neighboring town, where we’ll catch the train to Mandalay. We’re on a fast track right now (time is tick tick ticking away), so we’re only allowed one night – which turns out to be a big bummer. Katha seems to be a really cool little provincial town. For those George Orwell fans, it’s the inspiration for his novel Burmese Days, which I’ve sadly not read.

I woke up this morning and took myself on a little self-guided walking tour. Despite the stares and sometimes muffled laughter (you don’t get too many tourists here, apparently) I found even more to love about this little town. Forget Yangon or Mandalay. The Burma in my mind (what I had imagined this country to look like) is here, in Katha.

What did it for me is the architecture. Rusting corrugated or thatched roofs cover time-worn wooden buildings, which lean against one another. Shutters all over town had been thrown open to let in the morning sun. Ancient men were sunning themselves on their front porches while fruit vendors were setting up shop along the little dusty town roads.

No, not every building is as rustic – progress is a hard thing to stop – but it seems there are still remnants of the town that Orwell patrolled, nearly 100 years ago. In short, it was a damn fine stroll. One that made me long for more time to meander and explore. (and shop – see about my A-mazing basket for the reason).

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Kathmandu’s Erotic Art

Jaime — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 16:51:26 +0000

For reasons that have been lost in time, the wooden roof struts of some Nepalese temples are decorated with scandalous little scenes. These sculptures are never the central iconography of the struts, rather just little sex scenes that appear at the bottom of each beam. They vary in level of detail, posture and yes, species – which begs the question, what on earth are they doing there? The building is, after all, a temple.

Pictured above is the Jagannath Temple in Kathmandu’s Durbar Square. The temple is thought to have been built around 1563. The struts I refer to are the beams that run from the roof to the first floor. Six beams flank each side, making 24 different little sex book illustrations for the world to marvel at.

This image, which has been family-friendly-ized for this post, gives you an idea of their subject matter. Rumor has it they were used as a way to ward off the very shy virginal goddess of lightning. Whatever their original use, it warms my heart that while counter-reformation Europe was suffering a major nudity loss in the arts, somewhere in the world these little scenes were being carved.

Work it, 446 year old Nepal temple builders!

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Chandigarh

Martin — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 12:52:07 +0000

Our current location, Chandigarh, is the capital of the Indian states of Punjab and Haryana. It is very, very different from all other cities in India. See, it’s not another run-off-the-mill five thousand year old smack full of sights and wonders and poverty type of city. No, it’s a city that was constructed in the 1950s and 60s from the blueprints by this guy: Le Corbusier.

Le Corbusier - the Swiss Arcitect

The result is a green and expansive city, with broad avenues and nice parks. Its housing reminds me of the 50s and 60s housing projects in Sweden – pure modernism, symbolizing an unwavering belief in the future. This is the High Court as it looked when it was new:

And this is what it looks like now:

Being a city that people live in, it is no longer an exact version of Le Corbusier’s vision. He may have thought of silent, effective people living and working here, intent on the betterment of India. Today it is full of auto-rickshaws, bicyclists and curb-side kitchens, and it is as Indian as anywhere.

We actually find the place rather charming.

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Are You a Male House or a Female House?

Jaime — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 10:47:27 +0000

The tribal villages of Bena and Luba, outside Bajawa in Flores, look like the archetypical tribal villages. Thatch roof houses line a main communal square. This square has a few functions. The dead are buried there (if they’ve chosen to do so before dying) and it houses the village’s totem houses.

Each tribe (basically a large, extended family) has two totem houses – one male and the other female. The male house is the umbrella-like structure in the photo above. The female house looks like a miniature house, shown in the photo below. The village pictured above has four clans, so there are eight totem houses – four male and four female.

Interestingly enough, each main house also has a male/female designation. We’re unclear about how they are assigned, but each one is displayed in the center of the rooftop. Female houses get the boring little house and male houses get the sweet little warriors.

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