About watches and their typefaces. Owning a wristwatch seems an old-fashioned approach, but I like to observe the human gesture of gently moving one’s wrist to reveal what time it is. I favor watches and, in particular, those that are analog.
Continue reading About watches and their typefaces
Making yogurt special. You just need to peruse your grocery’s store dairy aisle to understand that YOGURT has become immensely popular. It is found in most cultures and its history spans from Mesopotamia (5000 BC) to India, from Ancient Rome to Persia, covering over seven millennia.
Continue reading Making yogurt special
Making Breakfast Special. How often have you contemplated having breakfast in your hotel room, yet said no because of the exorbitant price tag that came with this simple treat! Well, no need to be envious. You can now replicate this indulgence at home with a little flair, confidence, and elegance.
Edward Hopper Cape Cod. Of course, I have a number of favorites painters that span over five centuries; from the international Gothic to contemporary iconographies. Yet, as an architect, I am particularly fond of the American painter Edward Hopper (1882-1967) whose work reflects on the dramatic urban changes that America underwent during the post World War Two economic boom of the 1950’s.
Continue reading Edward Hopper Cape Cod
Vintage New York Postcards, Part 1. The first time I saw vintage postcards of the famous skyscrapers of New York was in Rem Koolhaas’ book Delirious New York, A Retroactive Manifesto for Manhattan. Written in 1978, the content was breathtaking in its idiosyncratic way of writing on the emerging metropolis. Beyond the beautiful Sandborn map featured on the inside of the cover, I was enamored with Koolhaas’ inclusion of many iconographic images of old postcards documenting historical NYC buildings. Later, after living in the Big Apple while a student of architecture, I started collecting those picture postcards, which ultimately developed into a serious hobby, which has a name: Deltiology.
Continue reading Vintage New York Postcards, Part 1
Dish rack as object d’art. You barely finished a wonderful dinner and already fear the drudge of cleaning up pots and pans, dishes, and cutlery. While most of us rely on the modern convenience of a dishwasher -registered in 1850 and to only became part of the standardized US kitchen utilities in the 1950’s, I like to wash dishes the old-fashioned way.
Continue reading Dish rack as object d’art
The Igualada Cemetery. Since the 18th century, cemeteries have been part of the design repertoire of many architects. These design interventions continued to raise the proverbial question: Are burial grounds a metaphor for the city of the dead, or the city of the living.
Continue reading The Igualada Cemetery