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Posts from the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

Feb 23

Californian: the edge of the reason

When I was trying to decide just a few years ago what architecture graduate program to attend, I sought the counsel of my favorite professor, Eugenia Janis. She taught classes in art history and photography, she was voracious and vicious but also absolutely brilliant. She looked at me, and said, “Go to Berkeley. California is like nothing you have ever experienced. There’s no place like it.” She had been angling for months to stop me from returning to Europe because Janis didn’t appreciate comfort zones and she knew I was better than mine.

And when I did pack my bags and move to Northern California, I never left. And, really, she was right that California is nothing like Europe, nothing like anywhere in the world. Some people find that surprisingly, considering how many Europeans end up in California but I think there must be something in the water, or at the very least the Pinot, that changes you.

And it doesn’t hurt that there’s a dizzying amount of innovation at your doorstep, with the established titans like Apple, Facebook and Google but also the up-and-comers like Instagram, Foursquare and Cloudtap. California gives you momentum.

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Feb 14

Spotted in Taipei

My friend, Juliana, spotted my monograph thousands of miles from home while visiting Taipei for New Years!Image!

 

 

Feb 11

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Wan 21 for 21 Awards

Check out the jury for the WAN awards 21 for 21 2012. Is it just me or is it wrong for the new generation of architects to be selected by an all white male jury?
 

Feb 10

Lovely review of my monograph by Residential Architects

Lovely review of my monograph by Residential Architects

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Jan 30

Phenomenal, Phenomenal

Now, it takes a lot to make get me walk down a 12” wide corridor as I am really claustrophobic.  Usually it’s a very dry, very strong martini. In this case, however, I did it for art (how many times have I heard that statement before?) when I went to see a show in San Diego. It was called Phenomenal: California Light, Space, Surface and featured artists like Bruce Nauman, James Turrell and Doug Wheeler.

 

This is my friend, Pauline, in the corridor. I may have rushed through a bit too quickly for the camera to pick me up.

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Jan 17

Archi Babble

Martin Filler, admittedly, gets a few chuckles out of me in this article about architectural firms and their names (or their “renames”). Firms want to seem modern and unique but their new names just seem to over complicate their identity. Filler provides some hilarious examples:

But surely no architectural moniker has been as thoroughly annoying as Coop Himmelb(l)au, dreamed up in Vienna in 1968 (perhaps over a funny Zigarette?). The effortfully parenthesized second part of that contorted tag conflates the German words for heaven (Himmel), blue (blau), and building (Bau).

And while Filler doesn’t necessarily touch on this directly, his article got me wondering about architects and language (I worry my daughter’s English degree is rubbing off on me). Namely, why architecture seems to be desperately looking for a new language in which to lose itself.

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Dec 27

36 Hours in Paris: Architect’s Edition

I’ve written on this blog about what influences me: fashion, food, a french heritage. But beyond my own personality, it also affects how I perceive the world.

It’s hard to turn off the architectural central nervous system. It is a lens, titanium-colored glasses, that I resigned myself to the moment I began my masters at Berkeley.

December in Paris is romantic. It’s the stuff movies are made of. But it’s rare that any trip I go on anymore isn’t about business. So, how can an architect properly experience the city when their trip is flanked by meetings?

Let’s skip the basics, or at the very least, the generics.

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Oct 26

A History of Western Architecture

I am delighted and very honored to announce that I am featured in the 5th edition of  David Watkin’s A History of Western Architecture.

And how did they know 691 was my favorite number?

Oct 19

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What Makes a City Great?

My daughter attends The University of Chicago and while I love the individual buildings: the beautiful gothic revival is surrounded by 1960s brutalism, 90s neon-colored modernism and a giant, domed egg, there is no continuity – no connection between the old and the new.

As an architect, it can be a challenge to integrate your vision into existing spaces.

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Oct 11

“There is no love sincerer than the love of food.” – George Bernard Shaw

I embody certain stereotypes of a naturalized citizen, a French woman and an architect. I love fashion. I love modernism. And I love food. My daughter and boyfriend often tell me, with mouths full of Bouillabaisse, why I don’t become a chef instead of an architect. I certainly am less grumpy in the kitchen (their words, not mine).

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