Sam De Boever

Deze post is weer met vertraging geschreven, ik heb de basis in de trein geschrijven maar eens ik thuis was heb ik geen tijd meer gevonden om dit uit te schrijven. Tot vandaag dus.
Iedereen in België en de rest van Europa heeft wellicht wat sneeuwellende meegemaakt en gezien de vele negatieve artikels die verschenen zijn over Zaventem moet ik niet eens klagen, eigenlijk moet ik zelfs van geluk spreken dat ik binnen een normale tijd thuis geraakt ben.
Op het moment zelf voelde dit echter anders aan, dit was de eerste vlucht waar ik dacht dat we misschien niet gingen vertrekken terwijl we al in het vliegtuig zaten.

06:00 Ik vertrek richting Amagerbro metro voor de rit naar de luchthaven. De metro rijd 24 uur per dag maar op dit uur zijn er nog niet veel rijtuigen. Ik had echter geluk en moest maar 4 minuten wachten.
06:35 Aankomst metro, 6 minuten vertraging door sneeuw op de sporen.
07:05 In Kopenhagen is het de bedoeling zelf in te checken. Via sms/email kan je 24 uur voor vertrek een zetel kiezen en een boarding pass printen (of op je gsm laten staan) en in de luchthaven moet je met deze pass je baggage inchecken en stickers printen. Dan is het nog een rij om je baggage af te geven. Dit heeft een half uur geduurd, de dag daarvoor waren er hier enorme wachttijden maar deze waren precies opgelost.

07:50 Officiële boarding time, ondertussen al een tijdje zitten lezen maar nog geen beweging in de lounge.
08:13 Ik krijg een sms van SAS dat het vertrek uur vertraagd is tot 08u30.
08:15 Officiële take off tijd maar nu dus de boarding time

08:30 Alles zat nu mooi op schema, de motoren gingen aan met het herkenbare geluid helaas veranderde dat snel in een bijna zielig gezoem. Vervolgens rook ik ook de geur van kerosine in de cabine, een geur die ik jaren daarvoor nog eens geroken heb en mij herriner als enorm stinkend. Geen echt leuk déjà vu gevoel dus. Iets later kwam de aankondiging van de piloot dat de motoren niet gestart raakten.
De volgende 50 minuten waren herhalingen van het vorige verhaal met als lichtpuntje op het einde dat wa aan het wachten waren voor de-icing, een vloeistof die in België zeldzaam is maar in Kopenhagen gelukkig nog voorhanden.

09:20 De-icing van het vliegtuig. Iets dat verassend goed werkt, het ijs van de ramen was vrijwel direct weg en vervangen door een soort gel die het zicht helemaal bepaalde. Daarna nieuwe poging om naar de runway te gaan, helaas hebben de motoren nog steeds niet het gewone constante geluid dat ze normaal hebben, alles gaat dus traag en schokkend vooruit. Buiten is het zicht aan het terug komen, voor wat dat waard is natuurlijk. Het kleurenpallet is beperkt tot gele bulldozers, rode brandweerwagens met de-ice en de blauwe servicewagen van SAS, op de grond alleen sneeuw en ijs terwijl de losse sneeuw naar achter wordt gezogen.

09:55 Take off! Ik vind het veel leuker wanneer het vliegtuig even stilstaat vooraleer aan de take off te beginnen maar de piloot was het wachten duidedelijk beu een koos voor een agressieve start.

11:30 Touch down in Brussel, de vluchttijd gelukkig met een kwartier kunnen inhalen maar dan staan we toch wel verdact lang stil. Niet veel later de aankondiging van de piloot dat alle gates volzet zijn en we dus nergens kunnen parkeren. Gevolg, dat ik al dubbel zolang in dit vliegtuig zit dan de geplande vluchttijd. Enige voordeel is dat ik bij het boeken wel een zetel aan de nooduitgang heb kunnen selecteren die toch 40cm extra ruimte biedt.
12:15 Brussels airport heeft een tijdelijke parkeerplaats gevonden voor ons in de cargo afdeling van de luchthaven en ze hebben bussen gestuurd om ons naar de terminal brengen, een eerste kort contact met de Belgische temperatuur die even afgrijselijk is als in Kopenhagen.
Vervolgens verassend snel mijn bagage kunnen vinden, wat niet iedereen kan zeggen aangezien de hal vol stond met valiezen die allemaal samen waren gesmeten tegen de muren.
Dan is er die immens lange wandeling naar het station waar ik op een of andere manier ben kunnen geraken zonder zelfs maar mijn paspoort te moeten tonen om de trein van 12:52 naar gent en vervolgens Sint-Niklaas kunnen nemen.

12:57 trein vertrekt met maar 5 minuten vertraging, naar alle normen een sterke prestatie.
14:37 Home sweet home!

Ik ben ondertussen sinds 23 November in Kopenhagen. Ik heb nog steeds geen verblijfsvergunning aangezien dit land zo een aangeboren schrik heeft, zelfs voor andere EU burgers met financiële zekerheid en een woonplaats in dit land. Hoe het hier voor niet Europeanen is wil ik zelfs niet weten. Maar goed, normaal kan ik volgende week wel alle nodige documenten indienen en dan krijg ik een CPR number en per post een Yellow Card waarmee ik de meest elementaire dingen zoals een bibliotheek pas kan aanvragen. Ook een bankrekening openen en betaalbaar naar de dokter gaan zijn dan opties.

Gelukkig ben ik echter meestal bezig met mijn werk en probeer ik al het papierwerk wat te vergeten. Mijn contract eerste ontmoeting met JAJA was de lunch op vrijdag, de week voor ik begon te werken, ideaal moment om al eens met iedereen te praten zonder enige druk en de lopende projecten te zien. Vooral aangenaam omdat op vrijdag er de Friday Surprise is, een verassing in de vorm van eten om de officiële werkweek in schoonheid te eindigen. Na dit bezoek zou ik op 1 December 2010 beginnen met mijn stage. Architectuur zou echter geen architectuur zijn moesten er geen “over”uren zijn. Zondag avond kreeg ik een mail of ik niet op maandag 30 November kon beginnen aangezien er 2 deadlines waren op woensdag. Aangezien het toch maar aan het sneeuwen was met temperaturen te veel onder het vriespunt om comfortabel te noemen lijk mij dat nog een goed voorstel. Een ander voordeel is natuurlijk eten. Denemarken is niet bepaald het goedkoopste land in Europa en eten is er zelfs zeer duur, wanneer ik dus de hele dag op kantoor kan werken spaart mij dat lunch en avondeten en heb ik nog het bijkomende voordeel dat de lunches hier echt goed zijn.
Ik kan dus wel zeggen dat ik niet hoef te klagen over mijn werk, JAJA is momenteel met 7 architecten en een office manager waarvan er met mij bij nu 25% nederlandstalige mensen zijn. Iedereen is ook onder de gezegende leeftijd van 30 jaar dus de sfeer op kantoor zit wel goed.
Om terug te komen op mijn eerste dagen, gezien de deadline waren die wel goed gevuld. JAJA was uitgenodigd voor een kerstmis tentoonstelling in het Danish Architecture Centre en daarvoor hebben we 14 snowglobes gemaakt met verschillende scenario’s waar mensen met nisses (een of ander wezen uit de scandinavische folklore, weet ook niet goed wat het juist is in het Nederlands) samenwonen. Ik kan alles mooi uitleggen maar het is eenvoudiger om het op de site te bekijken: Hier dus. Woensdag avond was de opening die bestond uit speeches van de verschillende bureau’s die iets gemaakt hadden, uiteraard volledig in het Deens waardoor het voor mij volledig onverstaanbaar is. Wat ik wel kon zien is dat de reactie op de speech van JAJA wel stukken beter was dan bij de andere, zelfs het DAC is zeer enthousiast over het werk en staat dus met recht en reden op de homepage. De rest van de avond was iets wat door de partners typerend voor het kantoor genoemd wordt: drinken en eten op restaurant, de perfecte manier om een project te beindigen.
De andere deadline was een wedstrijd ontwerp voor Belgrado, een ontwerp waar ik dus niets mee te maken heb maar aangezien beiden op dezelfde dag af moesten zijn was de rest van de week zeer aangenaam rustig, op tijd naar huis, geen stress maar helaas dus ook geen avondeten op kantoor. Deze week ben ik aan een nieuw project begonnen dat wel heel wat potentieel heeft, ik krijg de vrijheid om zelf te ontwerpen, ik heb de foamcutter ontdekt waardoor maquettes maken nu oneindig veel toffer is dan met karton en lijm en ik kan nog steeds mijn favoriete software pakket gebruiken hoewel Rhino wel wordt aangeraden. De week is dus ook vrij vlot gegaan desondanks het nieuwe masterplan van de stad wel met wat meer info en duidelijkheid kon maar omdat ik de taal niet spreek ontsnap ik daar aan en krijg ik alles achteraf te horen in vloeiend Engels.

Na bijna 3 weken in Denemarken weet ik één ding wel zeker, ik ga geen Deens leren. Om te beginnen is er totaal geen nood aan, iedereen spreekt Engels, ik heb nog maar een paar uitzonderingen gehoord en slechts één daar van was in nuchtere toestand. De tweede een voornaamste reden is zelfs nog eenvoudiger. Het is een onmogelijke taal om te leren, dat is wat iedereen mij toch verteld en dat is ook wat ik zelf denk wanneer ik Denen hoor praten. De helft an het alfabet wordt neit uitgesproken, de andere helft spreken ze anders uit of is vervangen door de welgekende Scandinavische symbolen. Om het met de woorden van de Denen zelf te zeggen: “In Denemarken spreken we met een aardappel in onze mond”.

Here is the second and final part of my China trip story. It took me a long time to write because I didn’t spent much time in the train last week. Usually I’m always exciting when I don’t have to take the train because for some reason, trains in Belgium always get delays, problems and everything to give you stress about arriving to late at work. But in an ironic way this gives me less free time to write. Anyway, here’s part 2.

The next leg in the journey was Shanghai and the 2010 World Expo. The original idea was to take the train from Beijing to Shanghai, but due to various reasons, mainly postponing for too long, all seats were taken and the only option left was flying (taking the bus really wasn’t an option). Having been in Beijing for some time now, we knew the fastest way to the airport is by shuttle train and most definitely not by bus. Unlike everything people say about China and traveling there, everything went surprisingly smooth in the airport, no delays and good food on the plane.
Because Lonely Planet states The Bund in Shanghai as one of the seven must sees in China that seemed a good point to get started. It was Saturday and getting dark, the streets changed from busy to crowded to overwhelmed by people. Nanjing road that day was the only place in the whole trip where it was safe to walk in the middle of a four lane road without the risk of being hit by a car. Moving on through the crowd you suddenly see the Pudong skyline. A very unreal sight with odd shaped skyscrapers, lit up boats, the Pearl and in the back, rather dark, the World Financial Centre and Jin Mao Tower.

The Bund

The Pudong Skyline

The next day was Kris his birthday. Instead of posting something nice on his facebook wall (Impossible anyway because the Chinese government is kind enough to block Facebook, Twitter and Youtube) we went to the top of the 492m high World Financial Centre. For the price of 150 RMB you can visit three floors with the top one towering 474m above the ground. The WFC may not be the tallest skyscraper in the world but it does have the highest observation deck and the view is stunning. Looking down on the roof of the Jin Mao Tower is genuinely amazing. We stayed up there to see the city change from day to night on what might be the best vantage point to experience this. However new Shanghai is, it’s amazing!

The Jin Mao Tower as seen from the WFC

The view from the WFC

One of the reasons for visiting China and Shanghai in particular this year was the expo. I spent three days inside with one day rest in between. The first two days me and Kris did most of the European pavilions and those we really had to see, architecture wise. The queuing was, to be honest, alright. Besides South Korea we never spent more than 2 hours in line and with a book to read time passes rather enjoyably. Highlights were the Danish and Finnish pavilion, surprise of the day the UAE pavilion. Where the first two are architectural masterpieces, the latter is this as well but it’s much more, there are seating areas with televisions in front of the building and inside are 3 splendid video presentations about the country.

The Danish Pavilion (by BIG)

The UAE Pavilion (by Foster + Partners)

The Main Boulevard

For the third we got lucky. In Shanghai we stayed in a youth hostel. We shared a room with two other people, a Brit, Jon and a Brazilian, Cesar. Cesar told us you could skip the line of your own country’s pavilion by showing your passport. So for the last day we went all together and tried to do as few queues as possible. We did the obvious UK, Brazil, Belgium. Then got in New Zealand because John spent 6 weeks in that country before visiting the expo. Later we got into Germany by asking a German to be our guide (for a minute). After that we tried Spain, as the line was inhumanly long (I’m not British or Chinese so I’m not used to queuing). However, that didn’t go to well we gave it a fair try but it didn’t work out.

The UK Pavilion (by Thomas Heatherwick)

The Main Boulevard

Next stop in the trip was Shenzhen. I still have no idea how to properly pronounce the name of the city but it’s a strange place. First of all, it’s not for tourists so English is rare, even in the business hotel where we spent the nights. Secondly there is no decent subway so we had to use the buses, quite an experience once again. Thirdly, the whole city appears like it was all built no more than 2 years ago (that might actually be pretty close to the truth). And lastly, it is huge. Somehow there live 14 million people there. We got to see them all on the second day. After visiting the Vanke Centre, maybe the reason why we took a stop there we went to the beach. I unfortunatly don’t have any pictures of it because the card I bought in some local shop turned out not to be reliable after 5 shots. But, to get back to the beach, the place was packed. Finding an empty spot in the sand is hard, finding an empty spot in the sea nearly impossible. The whole swimming area was full of people from the shore to the barriers. Due to the lack of space and the fairly obvious pollution of the water I decided to stay on the dry and bear with the heat without further moaning.
The planning, made perhaps four days earlier, said we would stay two nights in Shenzhen and then take the bus to Hong Kong. But because we didn’t see OMA’s new stock exchange building yet we just had to spend another night in the luxury business hotel.

The Vanke Centre

Hong Kong. Before writing anything else I just want to say… I love it! So, so much! The first sight I got was a wall, about 45 stories high, of skyscrapers built 5 meters apart. So overwhelming I immediatly forgot what New York looks like. Walking around this city is a different experience than any other place on earth, unique in height and style. You can stroll around and then, all of a sudden, the skyline with it’s iconic buildings unfolds. The city is very enjoyable for Western people, English is actually spoken, thank God (or the Queen) for British occupation. People are polite and there is no yelling or spitting in public. Unlike the other cities I visited, in Hong Kong I was able to take it easier, go to the theatre and watch Inception. Besides the obvious tourist attractions like the peaktram and the IFC2 tower I did have an unforgettable encounter. Usually I’m not too bothered with celebrities like movie stars, pop stars and who ever else gets in the spotlight. Running in Ole Scheeren might be the exception. Of all things I imagined I’d see and do, I never thought it possible that I’d see an architect like him walking outside the Bank of China tower. And yes, I regret not talking to him. Maybe next time in Hong Kong or who knows who I’d bump into then. Perhaps the best thing though was Nathan, our local guide. He brought us to some places we would have never visited on our own mainly because we would have been unaware of their existence and for the last day in Hong Kong we all went to Macau. I’m still not sure whether I like the place or not. It’s all fake and over the top but in a way it does fit. The best thing about Macau and the part I really like is the food. It’s delicious! I ate more than enough to skip breakfast the next day.

The Hong Kong Skyline

Hong Kong

The last part, as it so often is, is the sad part. The day started early with me walking to the Hong Kong subway, taking the short trip to Kowloon to get on the bas to Shenzhen airport. Next step was a rather long wait in the architecture bookshop near my gate, for the first time, the flight was delayed. Couple hours later I stepped to the train station of Beijings Terminal 3 again. Oh so familiar and for once oh so smooth, it’s always nice to know where you’re going. Then it was time to spent my last night in China. I had a hostel book for the night and discovered my roommates were two pretty British architecture students, what are the odds? Considering this a good night already we went to the bar to get some drinks and share some stories. Next morning was, like the previous day, way to early but planes don’t wait. Not for me at least. Getting back to the airport the usual way I got the chance to take my last pictures of a spectacular journey.
One thing is sure. I am going back and rather sooner than later.

When I stepped on the plane to China I knew I wanted to write something about my experiences. Therefor I tried to write down everything day by day. The first idea was to translate this text in English, as I originally wrote it in Dutch, and post it on my blog. However as often, ideas either change, or get lost. Unfortunately, the latter is what happened to my idea. To be fair though, it didn’t just get lost but just postponed. Even in China I didn’t get the chance to write every day and I started lagging behind… a whole week… The second problem is that a day by day report is a rather boring way to present a story. Alternatives are chapter based posts or posts for each city. Because I have been back home for almost three months now I decided to get started. I made a small selection of photos and the story will go along. So much for an introduction.

Copenhagen. First stop. I flew with SAS from Brussels to Beijing with a stop in Copenhagen, approximately 9 hours in transit so just enough to get out the airport and visit the city. Although the local currency ain’t the Euro, cash is overrated. Got to love places where you only need a small plastic card. From the airport to Orestad is only a short train ride and you exit at the best architecture boulevard in Europe. It’s a shame that only after graduating as an architect I come to the place where the top examples can be found, guess that was one of the reasons for going back the next month and staying for a bit longer. Orestad boulevard has multiple projects of Danish and international architects including The Mountain from PLOT (BIG+JDS). The whole area is a joy to stroll around, open spaces, stunning architecture and much water. Being able to get inside the 8-House although still under construction was a great bonus. The boulevard continues with the university and the kind of student housing where I wish I could have studied in.

The Mountain

The Tietgen Residence Hall

After getting back to the airport I spent the next 9 hours in a rather comfy seat watching movies, playing tetris and attempting to sleep. However, as flying goes, it was a very enjoyable flight, no delays at all, decent food and even the part at the airport went smooth, Once you get outside though there is the shock. Not cultural or anything but the heat. Copenhagen was hot, Beijing was a whole different level and unlike Copenhagen, Terminal 3 of Beijing Capital Airport is huge. Finding the right shuttle bus took over an hour, obviously there was a shuttle train as well, it drops you at a convenient subway station but I only used that later when I got back in Beijing for the last night. To be honest, it didn’t get much better that first day. After the bus was a short subway ride, which is ridiculously cheap, even for Chinese standards, after that there’s the obvious next place: the station. The nice thing is that by then you know where you are on your English City map. Once you get out the English map proves to be not as useful as you thought in the subway. Street names are in Chinese characters and the map only had the major roads while Beijing is a group of hutongs and tiny roads. But after only 5 minutes on the street people actually come towards you and try to help you with whatever little English they know. Yes, that means that after the language shock there was a cultural shock: people are genuinely helpful, how rare is that?

A small issue I quickly realised is the size of the city, it’s huge! The first day we (that’s me and my travel companion Kris) went to the Linked Hybrid and got off at the Yonghegong subway station which we thought was the closest station. Unfortunatly it wasn’t. Making a wrong assumption like that means you spent the next 30 minutes walking. However, the linked hybrid is worth that. It’s an amazing complex that makes you wonder why we don’t have anything even close to that in Belgium. The highlight of the project are the skybridges connecting all different towers. Getting inside proved to be a challange, security refuses entrance to the towers and since they speak no English, they can’t tell you whether you can even get on yes or no. After trying 3 of the 8 towers we saw a woman exit one and decided to just ask her. Turned out she was an architect and more than willing to show us around, we even got in their office with view on the interior garden. Thanks to her help we finally made it up to the skybridges. The bridges are a public area inside the complex with sitting areas, exhibition space and a swimming pool. But going from one place to another means you have to walk through every tower, not the most practical way but definitely the most enjoyable way (altough more airconditioning would have been nice). To end the first day we decided to sit down on the ponton that is the centre of the garden and wait for sunset to get some photographs. Because I bought a new camera maybe a week before I left this was the perfect time to get familiar with the settings. Going home was quite a story as well, it involved not finding the way back, arriving at the subway station 5 minutes after the last train and trying to find a taxi without speaking the language. To save some words i’ll put it simple, we got lucky at the sixth taxi, which is more than just a good thing because walking would have taken ages.

The Linked Hybrid

For the next three days we spent with a local business partner of Kris his uncle. Having this guide we got to see the good things in Beijing without all the tourists. Best of all was the Great Wall, altough bloody warm (I even brought a jacket because we got the wrong idea it might be colder in the mountains) the view was stunning. There was literally noone else on there besides a few people selling tshirts, warm beer and postcards. The other days we spent together brought me to some delicious restaurants, amazing temples and on the last day to the olympic park with joy, oh joy the most mind blowing stadium ever built!

The Great Wall

The Forbidden City

The Olympic site

The Birdsnest

To make sure i stay loyal to my own quote from the introduction: avoiding a day by day report I’ll skip the next day although that day I visited MAD’s office and got to see the the Hutong Bubble and National Theatre. The last day in Beijing was a continuation of that one, more architecture and the one project that wasn’t mentioned before. The CCTV tower. Definitely one of the buildings I had to see. All pictures I have are from the front because at that point I didn’t know you could get all the way around and have a great view at the back from inside nearby buildings. Good to know I’ve got a reason to come back to Beijing.

The National Theatre

The CCTV Tower

In the next post(s) I’ll tell you about the other cities I visited: Shanghai, Shenzhen, Hong Kong, Macau. Still enough to write and read.

This blog hasn’t been updated for a while (that’s an understatement for no changes in over four months) therefor I’ll start off with some news about what I have been doing and get into detail later.

I have been to China in July and August, been through four major cities in three and a half weeks. The next post will cover some stories and some images. I did write a daily log over there but never got round typing it all out and posting it. After getting back home, things have been really busy. Reason for that is simple: graduating means no more school and that means looking for a job, getting familiar with the tax system and whatever else there is.

Second thing worth mentioning, I got a job. Pretty much got it thrown at me by a former professor but no complaints from my side. I started there in September so already almost two months ago. The job is with visual artist Nick Ervinck I’m helping out with different projects so I get to do quite some things and because it is not architecture as such, I learn quite some new things every day.

Third and perhaps even more worth mentioning, I had been sending some emails to various architecture companies. Especially in Denmark because after dropping in Copenhagen for a nine hour transit and spending six of those in the city and what may have been the best day in the whole year, I knew I wanted to get back there some day for living and working. When I found out I got a reply from one I booked a flight, got back to Copenhagen and went for the interview. Although it went good, they weren’t certain whether they had an opening. Being there I also visited JAJA Architects and I was granted the opportunity to show my portfolio. Back home all I had to do was be patient (I failed rather miserably) and wait one week for a reply.
And sure enough, on that faithful Tuesday I got a reply from JAJA, asking whether I was available to start working on the 1st of December.
I have been going through all kinds of paperwork since but everything is finally coming together now, the only thing I still need is a place to live but I hope to get that sorted soon. All I can say now is that I’m really looking forward to going to Copenhagen and working in such an aspiring office.

Almost two weeks ago I finished my graduation project, It’s been busy for those weeks but I found some time to upload everything to my online portfolio and here are some screens for the blog.

More screens can be seen here

Having finished all my schoolwork it’s time to make a portfolio and i thought it wise to remake my homepage as well. No particular reason but I wanted something different.
It’s not entirely finished yet, only the portfolio pages have to be uploaded but that’s for when my offline portfolio is finished.
Small note, the site works perfectly in Opera, alright in Safari en Firefox and not so very well in Internet Explorer but I’m working on that.

I will try to get some images from my graduation project posted here as well, all in the near future before my China trip.

So here’s what I’ve been working on the past few days. It is my presentation for mixed media where I aim to promote my project through video, Some parts have been posted here before but the introduction and final frames haven’t.
Short walk through, the first part, is a collection of newsflashes from foreign media. As it seems, we (Belgians) may not have the best reputation when talking politics. The second part is what I posted last time and is the way I build up the embassy. The final part is an impression of the building.

Now that’s finished I have the next three weeks for drawing construction details and making a model.

Yes, it’s been a while since I posted something. What I have here is a short animation that will be part of my final presentation next month (well, it does depend on how much still changes).

I’m translating all different parts to a unified project.
I exchanged the columns at the windows with central placed columns to keep the windows unobstructed. That will significantly change the view of the render two posts below.
Circulation has been updated to a linear main circulation with perpendicular axis that connect the private offices and give access to the central parts of the building.