Door Locks in Corripo, Switzerland

Art & Design, Travel

Door Locks in Corripo, Switzerland. North of the Ticinese city of Locarno, Switzerland, high up in the Verzasca valley, is a picturesque 13thcentury vernacular village called Corippo. It seems to be built at the end of the world (the first official access road was only constructed in 1883), and, while not much has changed over the past centuries, it is a must to visit. With only 12 inhabitants in 2018, it is the smallest municipality in Switzerland, however, it is better known for its use of stone. Throughout the village, paved granite paths, granite walls, granite stairs, and steep slate roofs create a visual harmony that is both striking and overwhelming.

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La Tourette by Le Corbusier

Architecture, Travel


La Tourette by Le Corbusier. If you travel to Lyon for either the cultural sites or for a once-in-a-lifetime culinary experience (in 2010, UNESCO added France’s gastronomy tradition to the “world intangible heritage”) you may wish to stay a half-day longer to visit an icon of modern architecture.

Situated 25 miles in the hillside west of Lyon and easily accessible by train or car, the Dominican monastery of La Tourette (1956-61) overlooks the town of Eveux-sur-l’Arbresle, and is the creation of famed Swiss architect Charles-Edouard Jeanneret, commonly known as Le Corbusier (1887-1965). Completed in 1961 and recognized in 2016 as part of UNESCO “World Heritage Sites,” the Architecture –yes, with a capital A, remains one of the most recognizable works of Le Corbusier’s oeuvre, and continues to welcome neophyte visitors, students, and faculty in architecture from all over the world.

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Edward Hopper Cape Cod

Art & Design, Painting

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.

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Vintage New York Postcards, Part 1

Architecture, Urbanism
Detail of vintage postcard of the New York Library

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.

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Dish rack as object d’art

Art & Design
Detail of dish rack filled with dishes

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.

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