CEMINTIRI DE MONTJUIC
The true design icon in Barcelona is a cemetery. Contrary to what you are fed to believe, the most iconic design in Barcelona is not the Barcelona Pavilion or Casa Batllo, both of which...
Category: TRAVEL
IT’S NOT ON A PLINTH
The Barcelona Pavilion is not on a raised plinth. I mentioned this on the previous page. Yet architects are taught and indoctrinated that indeed the building is on a raised plinth. To add veracity...
BARCELONA PAVILION
It’s underwhelming, the Barcelona Pavilion by Mies. But in a good way. It was as if the expectation of total perfection diluted the experience of perfection. How can you experience perfection when you know...
GREAT CLIENTS
We are adept, as a profession, about describing Great Buildings. But what about Great Clients? This occurred to me as I sit here in Lisbon and make another drawing of Casa Battlo. The previous...
CROATIA GARAGE
Many times, an ordinary building can capture your attention. We are traveling this week, so I offer this simple drawing of a simple building. I snapped the photo below from my bicycle. We were...
POETIC IMMORTALS
On a recent excursion thru the Metropolitan Museum, I came upon these ink drawings, shown below, of famous Japanese poets. The drawings were done by Sakai Hoitsu (1761-1828) and are titled The 36 Poetic...
FORTIFIED CHURCHES
Here is a new building type, fortified churches. When in Croatia, we came upon this incredible example in Vrboska on the island of Hvar. The name of the church is St. Mary of Mercy. ...
STOP, SNAP AND ROLL
A bicycle is the best way to see a countryside. I came to this realization during our recent bicycle tour thru Croatia. On a bike, it is wonderfully easy to stop, snap a photo...
NOT NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC
When I was a kid, our family used to take National Geographic magazine. I will always remember being absolutely stunned by the photographs. Then, when I was in high school, my parents bought me...
JAMAICA DINING ROOM
I did this sketch about 2.5 years ago. It is of a dining room in Jamaica. It is one of the few transparent sketches that I did in situ. I started the sketch during...
FOCUSED PHOTOGRAPHY
Matera, Italy is mind blowing. I think I would like to offer a course which might be titled Form Appreciation. The course would be of benefit to both practicing architects as well as architecture...
MODERNIST PURITY
Modernism is alive and well in Split, Croatia. In fact, when you really start to look closely, the purity of the modernist buildings is unbelievable. This realization came to us as we were on...
DRAW NOTHING
How do you draw nothing? That question occurred to me while I was reading the excellent article on Michael Heizer, “A Monument to Outlast Humanity” by Dana Goodyear in the 29 August 16 New...
TRAVEL ADVISORY
We will be traveling for the next two weeks. I have this fantasy of providing travel related transparent drawings while on the trip. Who knows if I will have the motivation to actually do...
MUSEUM PROCEDURE
Everyone at a museum show has their phones out taking photos of the wonderful artwork. What you don’t see people doing is taking a photo of the name of the artwork. You need to...
ORDINARY GRAIN FACILITY
We are away for a few days, so I thought a travel related post of an ordinary grain facility would be fun. While driving thru the hinterlands of Washington State some months ago, a...
ROYAL ONTARIO MUSEUM
I didn’t like it. There, I said it. I did not like the Royal Ontario Museum. With the famous architect (Liebskind) and the famous theory (deconstructivism) and the building budget (obviously huge), I had...
DOGON MALI AT AGO
Since we are away this week, I offer this drawing from one of our recent travels. When we were in Toronto, and toured the Art Gallery of Ontario, I came upon this interesting piece...
MANDOLIN AND CLARINET
The Transparent Drawing workshop conducted on Monday went super. I will make at least two pages of the drawings that the students did while providing full details of the event. I was hoping to...
AYRE HOTEL OVIEDO
Another travel related page as we are in Toronto this week. During our recent trip to northern Spain, we spent a night in the Ayre Hotel Oviedo, which was designed by Calatrava. Now, I...
ROCKPORT GRANITE
We are away this week. So I prepared this travel related page ahead of time. When you travel, you don’t have to limit yourselves to drawing buildings. I took me years to realize this. ...
PICASSO AT MOMA 1
How could there be such free composition, such deft assembly, and such humor? In every piece? This show has to be considered the motherlode. I believe that the entirety of modernism, if not the...
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