Firminy: a lesson in stairs (Le Corbusier). There are times in academia when one is confronted by fundamental design questions that change our understanding of architecture. For me, this occurred when I encountered the promenade architecturale in Le Corbusier’s oeuvre. Hands down, and even retrospectively, this remains for me one of the most important spatial ideas I learned as a young student.
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Towards a new studio environment. I imagine that sooner or later the current studio environment where architecture students work mostly—or even exclusively—at their desks will become obsolete. Over recent decades, architecture schools have made a conscious effort to provide students with desks as part of their architecture design studios (belonging to the student for the semester) that are generous in scale and accommodate activities ranging from a response to program briefs and desk crits to conducting digital research, completing homework, viewing videos, listening to music and podcasts, making models, and occasionally enjoying a quick and often not so healthy snack.
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“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.
Continue reading Writing interludes
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. 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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“…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.
Continue reading Sketching on a field trip. Part 2
I believe that there is always the need, a desperate need, for a world inspired by ideas. The Covid-19 pandemic interrupted many of our dreams, and while long overdue attention to pervasive societal inequalities has finally taken center stage, I fear that ideas, modest or radical in their outreach, are desperately missing in our daily discourse.
Continue reading The nature of IDEAS
Inventing versus re-inventing. In past blogs, I stated that my academic and professional interest favors re-invention over invention. Working in the creative field of architecture surrounded by colleagues and students who thrive on furthering their art form, I always find it curious when reviewing student work, how many of them claim to invent a site strategy, to organize domesticity, or state a position in architecture that wants to be new.
“The distinguishing feature of great beauty is that it should surprise to an indifferent degree, which continuing, and then augmenting, is finally changed to wonder and admiration.”
Montesquieu (1689-1755)
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Beyond the sublime postcard-like views of Switzerland, there are few European landscapes that have moved me more than those I have encountered while traveling in Italy. One of the most scenic and memorable parts of the Italian countryside is located in the north east, a region called the Veneto, which spans the medium-sized cities of Vicenza, Verona, and Padova, ending with Venice.
Continue reading Simone Martini: three principles of settlement
Eating at a diner. Growing up in Vienna, Austria, where I lived between the ages of 5 and 12, restaurant menus were mundane compared to those encountered today. This is particularly true when compared to menus found at road side dining establishments that blanket America; with their over-scaled pages and abundant choices, always followed by gargantuan portions.
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