[ keep walking - New Brighton awaits you ]

Remember - the main purpose of the trip was to find lighthouses across the Mersey river on the #Wirral side.

1310 hrs
I was at the #Liverpool Central (station), rushing towards the Wirral line tube and hopped in after waiting for ten minutes. It is quite ironic that sitting in the train usually reminds me of end of times. I am saying this because the journey from the station to #Birkenhead Park was almost underground. The train was almost empty. No one going to New #Brighton... I suppose.

1330 hrs
I got off from the train at the station and started walking on the Atherton street towards the sea... the Irish sea I am talking about here and reached the King's Parade. Now by looking across the road I realized that I was standing at the Marine Point. I could very well see the #lighthouse from here. I had read before it was the Perch Rock lighthouse that stood there since 1827 and now it was not being used anymore. The point seemed to be a complex of high-end retail brands. Anyway I started walking towards the tower.

I was walking...

... walked a little more.

... and finally I reached the tower. "Errr!!! Not a pleasant day to come out" I kept saying this to myself all the time. The sun was shining and I could feel the warmth of it but then nothing seemed alright because of the howling wind.

I stood right in front of the tower, close enough to get a feel of the environment. Aaaahhh!!! what a pleasing view. I could see the white tower wearing a red hat standing amongst the blues of the sky and water... the water did not seem that blue maybe because the clouds had covered the sun now.

I remained there for an hour, clicked loads of photographs. I had brought my tripod along as well but was almost useless because I did not have a ND-filter to take long exposure at the daytime. I walked to the pathway that lead to the tower. I thought I could make it but then the waves were aggressive and I remembered what my friend had told me about the weather forecast in the morning, "There will be a thunderstorm, do not go out (in a squeaky voice)." At that time I could only see the sun and the storm but thunder was missing, then I decided not to go any further.

There were people everywhere now. Trying to run on the stones and guess what... no one succeeded to reach anywhere near the site.

1500 hrs
I left the site and started walking towards the New Brighton Station to catch a train to #Leasowe - another lighthouse to explore.

Hmmmm!!! It was one bright corner of #England I must say, which was not that vivid historically as this part was hugely owned by smugglers and thieves.

You can look at the coloured images on Facebook.

blurry [Lisbon]

I just wanted to capture another moment of sunset but this time the location was at the edge of europe, the farthest I could travel in the western part. I took these photographs in Belem (#Jardim da Torre de Belem) area in the beautiful city of Lisbon, Portugal.

"To me sunsets have always been emotions rather than moments. The feeling of being free, the notion of doing something that narrates a story, the feeling of looking at life with positivity."

It seemed another ordinary sunset but then what made it beautiful was the surroundings, the silhouettes of the objects that seemed so flawless, the waters of river Tagus that glittered like gold.

My photographs are the impressions of that time on that fine evening when the sun was disappearing.

I must say, my lens (#Tamron 28-300mm) came in handy this time.

Ps: to catch up with the rest of the photographs, kindly follow my Facebook.

[Masarellos]

Purpose
I made this video one fine day in Porto while roaming around the Masarellos District along with my mates. Masarellos was the site we selected for our final project for masters.
The video is a reminiscence of the site visit in the city that highlights many aspects and problems that the place is facing right now.

Aim
To design a master plan and come up with sustainable strategies for the inhabitants of the area and its surroundings.

Landmarks
Some of the landmarks on the site are worth mentioning:

- Arrabida Bridge

 Sketch - I drew this while sitting somewhere around the waterfront from where I could see the bridge clearly. 

-Porto School of Architecture


Video

New Project 14 from Sameer Aftab on Vimeo.

[ trekking Porto ]

Day 2

This day was marked for us to roam around our beloved sites for our crucial projects for the final year in architecture. The itinerary for the day was such that we observe the great Portuguese architecture. Well, whatever we can observe while walking towards our hypothetical sites.

0800 hrs
It seemed laziness had caught up with all my bones and it was really difficult to wake up in the morning. I guess the idea in getting settled down in a new city was making me tired already. I could imagine all the ruthlessness  that was coming our way in the coming days.
It was time for breakfast now, I could only see cereals. It seemed I had dived into a river of cereals and milk in which a loaf of bread was the only survivor.

0953 hrs
Me and a friend of mine leave the hostel early enough to meet with the rest of the gang... ummm!!! group mates. All of us had travelled from Liverpool to grab a bite of the areas that we were supposed to develop and then design architecture master pieces on them.
We both were the last ones to join others at Cafe Ceuta which was right in the middle of Travessa Do Carregal as far as I know. 

1035 hrs
We are all set to leave now. We walked through paved streets. Some were broad but most of them very narrow. We walked through some of the posh areas but then most of the houses were in a very poor condition. It was raining and was gloomy but the bright colours and the glazed tiles made these houses look arrogantly shimmering. 

And something amazing that I hit my eye on...

It was not the nicest of the areas of Porto that we were roaming around but then the red pitched roof houses with ornamental tiles at their exterior made the environment quite attractive. Well to be honest, no offense but tiles that are designed of such caliber are usually used in toilets in my home country. Well since I have said that architecture varies from region to region in the world. A material that can have significant value in one place might not have the same in the other.

That is the sculpture of the Portuguese rooster... famously Cock of Barcelos in Portugal. I always thought that this rooster had significance because of Nando's but there I realized that it was actually a symbol that had some sort of a relation with the Portuguese culture.

While walking on the northern bank of River Douro I came across some amazing views that could be photographed. However, since the since was hiding behind the clouds that day therefore it was not the best time for it. 

 The whole area seemed to be neglected by everyone except for the owners of it but then was not this the buffer zone for the UNESCO Historic Centre of Porto. This meant in order to save the heritage zone this area was not to have major development schemes.
These were surely the reasons why UNESCO was to include Porto in its World Heritage list in 1996. This classification also extends to the left bank, taking in the Ponte de D. Luis, the city's emblematic iron bridge, built by a disciple of the famous Eiffel, the Mosteiro da Serra do Pilar and the wine lodges that line the river bank in Gaia, where that great ambassador of the city's name, Port Wine, is left to age before being sent to all corners of the world, bringing great pleasure to all those who drink it. 

And when I am talking about Gaia, the southern bank of Douro, this area is mainly used to store the port wine. Sometimes people mistakenly consider it as Porto as well, probably because of the laying out of the houses and road/street networks.

That is the Mosteiro da Serra do Pilar (Serra do Pilar Monastery) at the Gaia side that you can walk through a bridge. 
About that bridge I will narrate in my next issue. The second day does not just finish here. It is just that I am feeling sleepy now.


Cheers

just [another] day at school

1609 hrs

We are at the Faculdade de Arquitectura da Universidad do Porto (Porto School of Architecture). It is a series of buildings designed by Alvaro Siza Vieira. The University of Porto granted a new location in another parish of the city, Massarelos. Álvaro Siza was commissioned to design the premises for the newly independent faculty, which were completed in 1992. It is considered to be one of the most exhausting schools of architecture in the whole of Europe.

I sketched these towers while on site. They seemed to me the most celebrated part of the school's design. 

Now our main purpose here was to interact with the students and ask them about the history or the possibilities to design a master plan for the area. 
We met a couple of students there, namely... Eduardo Veigaa and Nuno Silva and tried to gather some information regarding our purpose. They told us how their roots were strongly connected with River Douro.

Apart from reading the history of the school on the internet I tried to analyze its facade designs and came up with this drawing below:

Talking faces for the facade's study.

It was not a very fine day to photograph the school premise but I am sure if it would have been sunny the story of the towers would have been different as well.

The towers are simple unembellished spaces, identical from one floor to the next, one tower to the next. The only distinguished features are the windows. Variations on the theme of the towers were based on the existing apartment blocks built in 1950s just behind the school and Siza wanted to pay a tribute to them. His buildings has always been a reaction to their surroundings, as he does not want them to be isolated.

Ps: I have made a movie of my visit to the school. I am not sure when will I go there again but this video will be something that will keep me reminding of the time. 

Just [another] day at school. from Sameer Aftab on Vimeo.