Sketch: Looking across the Amstel

The Philosophy of Buildings

Victor Hugo’s Notre-Dame de Paris is a deliciously philosophical read. The characters and their struggles inspire incisive thoughts on passion, love, lust,  humanism, beauty and ugliness (physical and metaphorical), knowledge, and even architecture (briefly, developments in architectural styles are related to the progress of humanity as projected by humanist philosophy; more on this in another post.) One particularly compelling and celebrated line…

Sketch of Berlin’s Museum Island

Here is a sketch of Berlin’s Museum Island I completed some weeks ago for one of my friends. You might recognize the Bode Museum as the domed building on the left side of the page. The right half of the sketch may seem faithful to the actual physical view of this scene, but upon expert inspection, it would…

Sketch of Poznan, Poland

Here is a glimpse of my Tuesday night of last week: 

Sketch of New York City

One observation from making this: New York city architecture seems to be dominated by rectangles, layered in often repetitive, simple ways that collectively make a breathtaking sight. It was sometimes hard to restrain myself from adorning the buildings with the European-style design I usually do and sticking with the repetitive rectangular shapes. (Notice I had almost no self control…

Sketch of Amsterdam

Amsterdam is my favorite city to sketch. I get to use the most creativity when sketching this city because each building has its own idiosyncratic character, which somehow does not look like an over-elaborate mess when placed next to all the other buildings. For many European cities, you have to obey certain architectural schemes and shapes…

Sketch of Makkah

Below is a sketch of Makkah I made while in Saudi Arabia this winter. (Click on it for a bigger version.) Makkah is unlike any place I have felt before. I say “felt” rather than “seen” because Makkah is more of an emotional, spiritual experience than a city. The presence of the Kaa’ba in Masjid al-Haram, the largest and…

Character Sketch of Rome

Today’s quick sketch: I tried to capture the essence of simple Roman buildings—not the ones you see near major tourist hubs, but the buildings on the side streets. The buildings where locals gather to drink wine and have discussions over nothing. These low-key sights are the foundational essence of cities.

Essences of Barcelona

Here is a collection of simple scenes in the Catalonian capital of Barcelona, which I captured this summer. Most pictures are of the architecture. I put them here in the hope that you can understand the architectural style of the city, which is truly unique and diverse. Gerard Piqué representing Barça These pictures are of the…

Sketch of the Blue Mosque

Since it’s Ramadan, I thought it would be fitting to draw one of the most celebrated pieces of Islamic architecture. You’ll likely recognize the silhouette of this mosque characterizing the Istanbul skyline as seen from the Bosphorus. It’s the Blue Mosque, also known as the Sultan Ahmet Mosque. This was a quick sketch, taking 1.5 hours that allowed…

Architectural Glimpses of Europe, Part 1

Here is a handful of pictures I took when traveling in Europe (specifically, in Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels, Antwerp, Venice, Florence, and a few other cities.) To give a theme to this post, I chose the pictures with the most inspiring architectural design. Even the rain can’t kill the vibe of Paris. A pretty typical street corner in…