A contemporary visitor to the Morgan Library, entering now through a discrete service entrance, will not likely feel the full intended effect of a visit to the Library and Study of John Piermont Morgan. The library housed not only an astounding collection of manuscripts and...
I have spent the past several weeks trying to put to words to the reason that a morning visit to the Villa Farnesina in Rome’s Trastevere neighborhood impacted me and my partner so deeply. I think I have arrived at some clarity: The purpose of Villa...
The individuality of Roman palazzi (Italian for ‘urban buildings’ and not necessarily ‘palaces’ as implied by English translation) lends a wonderful texture to the city. It’s almost miraculous that so many different architectural genres - and degrees of upkeep - could compliment one another so...
One of the best ways to bring coherence to multiple spaces is by repeating motifs in similar applications. We see this in palatial architecture, interior design, and urban planning (think the Hausmannian boulevards of Paris, or the bridges along Amsterdam's breathtaking canals). One brilliantly simple example of...
We live in a world of beautiful objects - not all of them obviously so until they are discovered. One of my most relished experiences in design is the search for great, and often hidden works during international travel. Turning a corner off the frozen...
One of the most overlooked surprises in Design is the strength of common patterns and urban materials. We are trained to layer exotic materials for richness (or to consider sterile surfaces in adherence to today’s streamlined contemporary aesthetics), but we frequently overlook the textural possibilities afforded to us by the most...
It’s on quiet Sunday mornings like this that I most miss waking up in Rome, dressing in my airy ‘monolocale’ studio apartment on Via Di Sant’Anna, and enjoying a Cappuccino e Cornetto at Cafffe Camerino (yes, the three F’s are correctly placed here) just outside...
This New York Times photograph - which Roger Thomas handed to me during a recent flight to Los Angeles - describes everything I love about painting. I sat staring at this newspaper print, with the haunting face of a pale young man staring just past...
For years I’ve tried to understand why Andrea Palladio’s buildings speak so deeply to me and why, beyond the obvious sculptural beauty of his work, his villas and palazzi leave me feeling so transformed. I think I have the beginnings of an answer: When we build...
If you can forgive the inconsistencies of some poorly-lit late night photographs, here are images of my progress in drawing a building Section that I completed back in August of 2012. I get to draw these compositions every so often, and they take a number nights...