Staircase at the National Telephone Company of Spain in Madrid. I have written many blogs on staircases and have always found delight in showcasing their identity. This blog is not dissimilar and will highlight a staircase that I stumbled on years ago while visiting an exhibition on the work of British architect Richard Rogers.
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Netton Bosson, Gruyères, Switzerland . If there was ever a work of art that I could say had accompanied me during my youth, it is the frescoes that adorn the dining room walls of the Institut La Gruyère, Switzerland; a boarding school located next to the medieval town of the same name. During breakfast, lunch, and dinner, Netton Bosson’s art, with its moral wit and decorative playfulness, gazed protectively over the main room.
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Antique carpet stretchers. A colleague of mine once said that I am a collector of collections. A flattering statement that I take with great pride, as in a certain way, his comment validates my interest in collecting distinct objects that I have an emotional connection with. Some of my collections may be called material culture, a term that refers “to the physical objects that people create, use, and value within a specific society.”
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Robert Slutzky. In my second year at the EPFL, the idea of learning architecture through precedents filtered from the appreciation of vernacular buildings to an immersion with visiting guest professors.
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Art by Mike Goodlett. Mike Goodlett’s (1958-2021) art has fascinated me from the day I first laid eyes on one of his panorama shadow boxes featured at a Gallery Hop in Lexington, KY. I was mesmerized by the piece and immediately returned to the gallery to purchase it. It had to be mine!
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Jacques Gubler: what does an elegant solution mean in architecture? During a visit to Basel, Switzerland with a colleague of mine and architecture students, I rekindled my relationship with Jacques Gubler, an esteemed history and theory faculty who taught at the EPFL when I was a student there. It was a wonderful fully-packed afternoon, with visits to key architecture projects, a critique of the new annex designed by Christ & Gantenbein, followed by a tour of the Kunstmuseum Basel (Image 1).
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Prague: a lesson in stairs (Josef Plečnik). There has always been for me delight in discovering in-situ urban places when studying famous, or not so famous, and, even better, relatively unknown architects. I will admit that I favor anonymous architects, as many of them have created stupendous works in silence; away from the unnecessary disturbance surrounding today’s star architects.
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Murals at Hong Kong Central station. One of my favorite pastimes in a city is losing myself by walking streets and alleys, gardens and parks, and through public spaces such as urban plazas. This is true for most cities I visit, but Hong Kong’s urban streetscape has always offered something even more tantalizing: from glimpses of contradictory views and lush green pockets with century old trees to fabulous bakeries and shops selling traditional medicinal products, not to mention the shopping mall meccas that bring shame to even the most luxurious American mall.
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Dubulti train station at Jürmala, Latvia: Part 2. Continuing my thoughts on train stations and arriving now to the one in Jürmala. By the time of my visit to Jürmala (meaning seashore in Latvian), the station was of the Soviet era.
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Dubulti train station at Jürmala, Latvia: Part 1. Growing up in Europe, traveling by train was part of my childhood memories. Especially in Switzerland where I lived, trains served to connect major cities, towns, and villages seamlessly linking urban and rural landscapes.
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