This gateway was added to the cathedral during its conversion to a mosque. These sheltering Ottoman roofs capture my imagination.
A gateway between the harbor and spice market alleys.
I drew this iconic edifice on two days, with real difficulty and deepest inspiration. The domes and arches swirl in brooding majesty.
We visited here on our 1st day, and learned the customs of prayer, including holy footware removal
This mosque is across from our hotel; a quiet ancient structure.
Our hotel peers across this grass covered roofscape of a turkish bath, derelict and awaiting restoration
A gorgeous domed church built perhaps to practice forms for its younger and much larger sister.
An old church, now Mosque, where a little boy raced around the perimeter while his father prayed. He inspected my drawing several times as it progressed.
The 21st C has launched without aesthetic conviction, in a cloud of nostalgia and digital displacement. In preparation for a new Eagle Rock house design (below) these studies examine the optimism of 70-100 years before. Modernism ended into the present post-modern, and was the last idealistic and original creative movement. It celebrated light, freedom from gravity and a world of solutions.
Of special interest has been the Villa Shodhan from the 1950’s in Ahmedabad India by Le Corbusier. On a suburban parcel it rises on five platforms with five mezzanined apartments and sitting rooms, and multiply tiered garden roofs.
SKETCHBOOK
