Monthly Archives: January 2022

Writing interludes

“Architecture does not exist without drawing, in the same way that architecture does not exist without text.”
Bernard Tschumi

Students of architecture have countless ways to express ideas about their projects. From concept to final presentation, they may choose carefully from many mediums to represent their ideas: diagrams, sketches, orthographic representations, perspectives, analog models, computer generated fly-through animations, details, and construction documents.

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Thoughts on teaching, Part 2

Thoughts on teaching, Part 2. My passion for the practice of architecture led me—unexpectedly—to my love of teaching architecture. In particular, teaching students in early stages of learning; a moment in their academic tenure where it is key to acquire fundamental principles.

“What will be more important in the future, the right skill set or mindset?

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Still lifes by Ben Nicholson

Still lifes by Ben Nicholson. Recently, I was delighted to rediscover the British artist Ben Nicholson (1894-1982) whose paintings I had so much admired while studying architecture. For some reason, I lost touch with his oeuvre despite my growing interest in the art of painting, especially the still life genre that I so much cherish. There are two reasons for my renewed interest in the still lives by Ben Nicholson. 

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Sketching on a field trip. Part 2

“…nothing can be more abstract, more unreal, than what we actually see.”
Italian painter, Giorgio Morandi

In previous blogs, I have written about the necessity of skill building to facilitate students to use techniques as a process to diagram conceptually; work through iterative design processes; move from sketch to drafted sketch; and also to learn to sketch in model form.

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