I’m excited to announce my first-ever milestone. Exactly 1 year ago I shared an idea I had – it was full of aspiration but scary-short on content. For those of you wondering, it’s pronounced [Aw-von-tour-ah] and it means ‘adventure’ in Dutch, with an extra ‘a’ at the end for architecture.
Like many of you, I love to travel and the discovery that comes with setting foot in a foreign land. Planning the next adventure is also something I’ve love to do, but finding the buildings I wanted to see has always been the most tedious and frustrating part. It includes some combination of Google searches, deep dives into travel books, and stops at various websites to assemble The List. It may sound like a bit much, but for me, I wasn’t sure when we would ever be back so the buildings had to be of the #mustsee variety.
What also made it challenging was that once I finally had The List, there was no guarantee that the addresses I had were accurate, if there was a cost to enter, or if it was even open to the public for that matter. Finding this out when you’ve ventured over a day to get there can be extremely frustrating, even if they say that mistakes are part of the journey.
I decided I wanted to create a place that brought like-minded travelers together, to swap stories, share inspiring projects, grow architecture travel guides, and boom!, Åvontuura was conceived.
Over the first year, 120 architecture guides were started for cities all over the world. From Copenhagen and Barcelona to Santiago, Chile – its been so fun to prepare these guides as they allow me to immerse myself in a place each and every time a new one is started.
I’ve prepared road trips through Norway that haven’t happened yet;
Future trips through South America, designed to trick my wife into coming;
Found cities I once thought were dull which have undergone massive transformations;
Discovered places I had no idea were so rich with amazing architecture;
and finally, a project from a friend to help me get started.
If you’ve made it all the way here, I just want to say thank you for visiting, providing feedback, and offered suggestions on places I’ve missed. If this is your first time here, I just want to say welcome. The continued growth of Åvontuura is going to be through the shared love and experiences we have as passionate, globe-trotting adventurers, designers, and architects.
Onwards!
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