Journal of Architecture, Travel & Books
Death twitches my ear.
‘Live,’ he says. ‘I am coming”
Roman poet, Virgil
It is the first day of the new year and I am filled with a mixture of inspiration and restlessness. After a few days of cold weather, today was absolutely spring like. Spring is the season of rebirth and growth. How serendipitous that today of all days would feel this way.
Continue reading “A Picture, A Postcard, and A Personalized Book: Thoughts on the New Year”I recently went to Little Rock for work. I drove there on Monday afternoon and drove back on Tuesday. It was a short trip and a long drive.
Continue reading “An Evening in Little Rock Before Christmas”
“Other psychologists say, on the other hand, that we have an inborn preference for winding paths, for roads that provide some sense of mystery – what will happen next? Man as an animal is defined by a need for what piques curiosity as well as for survival. We also need, they say, legibility, ‘an environment that looks as if one could explore extensively without getting lost'”
Nathan Glazer, From A Cause to A Style
There is something special about walking around a college campus on a rainy day. Especially when the buildings are made of concrete and brick. The rain soaks through the surface and the earthy tones are brought in in their full splendor. The tree leaves are faded and colorful. It’s as if the campus was designed specifically for a day like this.
Continue reading “A Stroll Around a College Campus on a Rainy Day”Here is a photo series from Bonn, Germany. Bonn is a beautiful city nestled to the west of the Rhine River. I stayed for a few days in 2019 when I was traveling through Germany. I remember the parks and walking along the river. Here are three photos that resonated with me.
Continue reading “A Reminder to Look Up Once in Awhile: Bonn, Germany”“What kind of architect puts balconies on a building that stands nose-to-nose with an elevated expressway? No one would be hanging out their sheets to dry or lingering on the balcony with a gin and tonic to watch the evening rush-hour traffic.”
Haruki Murakami, 1Q84
Balconies that don’t look out onto anything. Windows that look out onto the house next door. Narrow strips of grass labeled as a backyard. In an effort to find a compromise on budget, space, and convenience, we are forced to contend with terrible design decisions.
Continue reading “Designing a House Series: The Preliminary Design”There are some days where words aren’t needed. These are the days of summer, where we pass our time in the park laying under a tree and reading a book. Maybe there is a stream nearby and we can hear the water babbling gently over the rocks. If we look up, we can see the clouds passing by, the kind of clouds that Murakami said “lingered faintly in the sky”. The ones he says watercolor artists like because they are a “test of the artist’s delicate brushstrokes” (Haruki Murakami, 1Q84, page 1021). Summer is where we are encouraged to take a brief pause and appreciate the beauty of the world around us.
Below is a selection of photos and paintings that I think of when I think of summer.
Continue reading “Summer Days in the Park”“Awake, dear heart, awake. Thou has slept well. Awake.”
William Shakespeare, The Tempest. Act I. Scene II.
Three Gothic cathedrals. Three countries, and three different interpretations.
Continue reading “A Study of Three: Gothic Cathedrals”
I recently finished The Great Gatsby and The Sun Also Rises, two iconic novels from two of the most famous writers in the American literary canon: F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway. Despite some problematic language and outdated viewpoints indicative of their time, the stories hold up well. Both stories are set in the 1920s and feature characters and events that were similar to people and events in the authors’ own lives.
Continue reading “Thoughts on The Great Gatsby and The Sun Also Rises”
This year, I was lucky enough to visit my family in California for Christmas. We took a special trip into the mountains. It was a true winter wonderland.
Continue reading “A Brief Dispatch from California: White Christmas in the Sierra Nevada”“What we glean from travellers’ vivid descriptions has a special charm; whatever is far off and suggestive excites our imagination; such pleasures tempt us far more than anything we may daily experience in the narrow circle of sedentary life.”
Alexander von Humboldt
Here is a photo series from my trip to New York City in November 2021. The first time I went, I made an easy mistake and planned too many things, and a few of those things weren’t worth the time spent doing it. In hindsight, it was an easy mistake to make, because the city is so wonderful and there are so many things to do and see. This time around I was more focused and chose sights in two specific areas: Central Park and the Upper East Side. I decided to see one museum each day. On Friday, I went to the MOMA. On Saturday, I went to the Met. On Sunday, I went to the Guggenheim. And in between museum visits, I walked through the park, visited coffee shops and restaurants, and looked at architecture.
Continue reading “Autumn in New York City”
A Walk Through The City 