Category Archives: Painting

Art seminar week

Architectural Education, Architecture, Art & Design, Painting, Travel
Art seminar week

Art seminar week. During my tenure at the ETH-Zürich, Switzerland, I discovered how consensus among faculty benefits students.

The following proposal involves consensus and a coming together of faculty to share their individual expertise beyond their classroom, and might be of pedagogical interest for a design school—for example, at my current institution—and is inspired by one offered in Zürich. Let me start by contextualizing that one, and then follow up with a proposal for first-year design studios that currently offer a design foundation to students in architecture, industrial design, interior design, and landscape architecture.

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Hotel Park Royal Collection Pickering, Singapore

Architecture, Painting, Urbanism

Hotel Park Royal Collection Pickering, Singapore. Cities have always been close to my heart because of the many iconic places that endow them with a specific identity. For me, beyond a city’s historical monuments, the overall urban charm, historical grandeur, and regional cuisines, what I most cherish is a city’s distinctiveness in how it brings to life transient places such as hotel properties; properties which are often part of a heritage of historical and cultural significance. 

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Still lifes by Ben Nicholson

Architectural Education, Art & Design, Painting, Travel

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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Simone Martini: three principles of settlement

Architecture, Painting, Travel, Urbanism

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.

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Le Baron Tavernier: a cafe

Architectural Education, Architecture, Painting, Travel

Le Baron Tavernier: a cafe. There is a myth that Switzerland is one of the most beautiful countries on earth. Indeed, its picturesque landscape, pristine cities, orderly society, and unconditional belief in a constitution that engages each citizen through direct representation—often to a fault—are all accurate descriptions of the place and culture.  While the country of my youth is truly magnificent, there is a mundane reality that mitigates the perfection. Throughout the project that I will describe of Le Baron Tavernier Hotel Restaurant, there is a sense of craftsmanship that accompanies the entire design.

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Hubert Robert: Painting as a source of knowledge

Art & Design, Painting, Travel, Urbanism

Hubert Robert: Painting as a source of knowledge. I will admit that my passion for painting is equal to my passion for architecture, although I have practiced and taught architecture for many years and, for fear of embarrassment, never taken my personal attempts in the art of painting seriously. During my own architectural studies, a faculty member who was also a graphic artist, introduced me to the foundation of the science of color. She enticed me to learn how the subjectivity of color could trigger sensations; this would become the source of a lifelong astonishment and appreciation of color and painting.

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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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