At 8:30 my alarm clock went off and loads of children entered an outlandishly coloured nursery school just across the road, lost in the naïve happiness of their daily routine. Minutes later a plate loaded with pancakes covered with cream and caramel topped off with a juice and a macchiato coffee, had the honour of being devoured, injecting me with a dose of energy to begin the day.
Between bikes
At 9:15, me and my vintage gray sports car, my travel companion, slipped through a mix of cold, canals, boats, bridges, drawbridges, children that waved at you from inside a wood-panelled minivan dragged along by their father… on the way to the studio where I worked. The studio was a kind of raft run aground in the large river that divides Amsterdam in two, where many times, between cross-sections and mock-ups or renderings and sketches we saw big ferries and cruise ships pass by. Our building was like a big multicultural bottle rack full of design, fashion, and press offices and photography, painting and architectural studios; a world of surprises.
Raft building. Office Information Based Architecture. Amsterdam.
From 9:30 to 18:00 in the afternoon, a group of young European architects put their special cocktail shaker to use creating ideas, sketches, cross-sections, utopias, mock-ups, renderings, waiting for them to crystallise into ‘something’ unpredictable. Sometimes at 14:00, other times at 15:00, we went to the nearest supermarket by, of course, bicycle. Sandwiches, salads, sweets and fruit made up our daily menu which we took to the park and spread out like a picnic.
At 18:00 our padlocks came off in unison with fervour because of what was approaching: free time! Sometimes we colonised undiscovered places, other times, beer followed a football or tennis match on one of the numerous green blankets that covered the city and that was all we needed to enjoy ourselves.
.
Pic-Nic.
At 20:00, the city was immersed in a gloomy light, like a fairy tale, that Tim Burton himself would want to use in his best scenes. I was getting ready to go home. The silence and the slight squeaking of the tram cables created an atmosphere of peace, of safety, of dinner, of a day that is coming to an end.
Once at home, with great energy and strength I got out my trainers, pants, radio and on some occasions a good raincoat to go running through the strange streets that made up my neighbourhood. The smell of damp, the sound of my feet on the pavement, the calm water of the canals, windows full of images of families in front of the television as well as the astonished look that most of the Turks, who had flooded the ground floor of the blocks of flats, had observing me without missing a thing, made up one of those scenes that are rarely forgotten.
At 21:30 I cheerfully made my way to the common kitchen-dining room uncertain of which dish my flat mate had cooked. A strange smell was coming from the gas cooker asking to be enjoyed.
At 22:30, after savouring unknown delicacies, I walked to my bed with the intention of resting. My eyes closed little by little, the silhouettes that could be seen through my curtains dissolved, a feeling of calm prevailed, another day, my exciting adventure was on pause giving way to sleep…
Eating strawberries.
TOMORROW MORE!! > "FRIDAY: VERÓNICA ROSERO AND NEXT MONDAY, THIRD ADVANCE FOR NEXT SEASON MICHAEL MORADIELLOS"
IN TREATMENT - METALOCUS.
DIRECTOR: JOSÉ JUAN BARBA. COORDINATION: INÉS LALUETA. ORGANIZATION: INÉS LALUETA, PEDRO NAVARRO. ENGLISH VERSION: KAREN SIMPSON. GUESTS FIRST SEASON: JOSÉ JUAN BARBA, MARINA DIEZ-CASCÓN, SERGIO DIEZ-CASCÓN SOLER, LARA FERNÁNDEZ GONZÁLEZ, CARLOS GERHARD PI-SUÑER, MONTSE PLA GARCÍA-CASTANY, XAVIER NICOLAU CUYÀS, FERNANDO RIAL PONCE, VERÓNICA ROSERO.
