Apologies for the absence of the recent days, I have so much to share, as always, yet the days have been filled with preparations for our Architecture school’s NAAB Accreditation.
It is an all-school process and effort and we have all been preparing for months; there is an energy and purpose as we all pull together the work which represents us, as a school, an intellectual entity, a collective of creatives. What is our pedagogical approach? What do we stand for? What idea of Architecture are we partial to and propagate?
As we pull back and see the sparkling work produced by faculty and students there is a moment of realization: we are a force that, properly channeled, could bring forth astounding change. In a way, this is my school’s and all of the faculty’s graduation. SO throw those caps and let’s invent our future, and pave roads that have not even been mapped yet.

So, blog and blogreaders, if the collective you’s were a single friend, I would say “I have not come to visit you yet I have thought of you“.  I have written few lines in preparation for a board I am compiling on my practice and pedagogy. It is a daunting task, pulling together a cohesive snapshot of who I am, what I stand for, and what my aspirations are.

But as long as I keep thinking and growing I feel the work is being done, I think, here I might have something to share, even though it’s not a sketch, or a finished work.
In the recent past there was a  lecture I put together for my weekly History of Architecture class, on the beginnings of Architecture, Stonehenge, the caves at Lascaux and Altamira, and the urban revolution in Jericho and Catal Huyuk (I wonder if putting online my History of Architecture powerpoints would work).

I was happy because I felt the lecture was complete, as in, I used all the resources/images of the four texts I employ for the class and outside research, and was able to have time to annotate everything . Bullet points, paragraphs, dates, location, I even designed each slide like a board…the works! Often it’s hard enough putting all the images together while preparing the lecture part and I have been historically in awe of the beautifully designed presentations Joe Nicholson, my mentor, brings to class.  My History students, all Grad ones since I now teach the Master level course, also turned in a spectacular body of work for their research in Pre-Columbian/Pre-Contact Architecture of the Americas. I am so proud.

I met a fellow faculty at my favorite haunt, Cafe’ Bassam, and he told me: To teach is like singing, the first few times it might not be that great, but the more you practice the song, the more you perfect it. The trick I think, is to constantly update the song and demand of yourself a better performance each time.

When that works, well, all the stars are aligned.

I don’t have new art right now, and don’t want to touch the backlog tonight, so I offer you my mind, and give you a peek of the (stolen/borrowed) books in my satchel, the toys I am playing with today.

Architecture needs to transcend the built and enter the realm of the poetic. In this enlightened environment alone it can illuminate.
I was walking past glistening walls today, surfaces that would leap and swim with the dancing light. There, I thought, there is the beauty of Architecture, the brilliant mind of the designer, who works with matter and creates wonder. Walls, surfaces can then speak to me: they spring to life in a  beautiful song, and I fall in love.

Le Corbusier said:

You employ stone, wood and concrete, and with these materials you build houses and palaces. That is construction. Ingenuity is at work.
But suddenly you touch my heart, you do me good, I am happy and I say: “This is beautiful.” That is Architecture. Art enters in.

The books I carried today (there may be a Pecha Kucha with my photography of Kuwait and poetry of the Arab woman soon).

The Poetry of Arab Women

Modern Arabic Poetry

Muslim Europe or Euro- Islam

(I actually met  Prof. Nezar Alsayyad, in the Center for Middle Eastern Studies he designed in Berkeley :))

One of my favorite books, by my ‘History of Architecture mentor’, Spiro Kostof.

History of Architecture: Settings and Rituals

(my copy is actually autographed by another Berkeley gem, Prof. Greg Castillo)

Inchoate: Experiments in Architectural Education

The book I have been trying to finish since 2002:

Wherever you go There you Are

A novel I picked up (on Ancient Egypt): River God

And three books-part of a series of four) I found after couple of years of looking  (they were in school all this time!)

Architecture in Detail: Colors

Architecture in Detail: Elements

Architecture in Detail: Materials

Architecture in Detail: Spaces

To everyday sit in the light few minutes, make our soul soar with words and thoughts greater than the mundane tasks, lists and even technologies we surround ourselves. To rise above exhaustion and see a smiling face who tells you ‘It is always so good to see you. Seeing you always makes me smile.’ To take a moment to be kind and acknowledge kindness….to realize the greatest technological marvel is already inside of us. To celebrate our spirit, learn everyday something new, take an instant to be thankful and, above all, silent. To live art and music everyday. To sneak in a poem, or remember words such as ‘illuminate’, ‘transcend’, ‘visionary’, ‘catalyst’. These are the things I am working on. I am busy, the work is never done, yet I try not to forget becoming is the goal, not just doing.

Now, for creative brainstorm, try to google images for ‘inchoate’, ‘inchoate : experiments in architectural education’ ,’detail in architecture’, and ‘architecture detail color space elements’ . I see a collage coming…

Send me yours.