What Graphic Designers do for fun

I like playing with colors and each photo I take has a unique palette; I was in Vitra some time ago and I liked the Japanese architect, Tadao Ando‘s, conference pavillion:

It’s a visual play for me to make the range of colors that create the image. The photo bellow is from my shoe trees that spell (erroneously): “Qui va piano” or “Chi va piano, va sano; chi va sano, va lonta” which means: He who goes softly, goes safely; he who goes safely, goes far.

I love different shades of gray like these teapots:

and different whites of snow:

but I go nuts for flowers and their bursting energy like these gorgeous crimson peonies:

or their softer versions here:

I like freesias’ scent and this particular palette has always been one of my favorites; I even used it in my senior year thesis, using a CAD machine to do a chemical plant’s process flow diagram! That was a first for my dear Professor Lockhart

I like these shawls of mine even if I seldom wear them:

Indian miniatures are usually an orgy of colors!

So is the Parisian dusk,

or the window of a fast moving train,

which mimics the palette of these summer vegetables.

This was a hodgepodge of my favorite palettes.

If I work enough,

I may earn enough to deserve my coffee later!

My favorite “Reds” go here

Don’t forget my favorite “Whites” here

From Mies to Kahn, I love my architects

I still remember the outrage in the voice of my friend, Lino Bottaro, trying to defend his native city, Venice, against the Las Vegas Venetian hotel: “how dare you suggest that they did an ok job in Vegas? Haven’t you heard of great architects like Palladio or Brunelleschi?”

mies van der rohe cigar barcelona chair seagram building michele roohani

Of course I have heard of those two great Italians but I have a weakness for the 20th century STARchitects like the great Mies van der Rohe above, who’s more known for his Barcelona chair than his great buildings! Mies’ visionary architecture has ushered in the glass-and-steel skyscraper era.

I fell in love with Louis Kahn’s work after watching the movie, My Architect.

louis kahn bangladesh Margaret Esherick House michele roohani

A density of purpose, a phenomenal sense of place and an intense spirituality define his works. There is a silence about his buildings, they have a sense of quiet…

Knowing Oscar Niemeyer was a beautiful surprise from an article in NY Times; he’s 101 years old and still working!

oscar niemeyer Museum of Contemporary Art rio staircase michele roohani

Just look at this enchanting blue staircase in Brasilia…

Cutting-edge buildings designed by globe-trotting architects have changed the face of today’s cities and there is no monopoly of architecture, a sensuous and intellectual art, like in the time of Frank Lloyd Wright or Mies:

frank lloyd wright falling water guggenheim michele roohani design

Of all of today’s self-indulgent “star architects”, I still have a soft spot for Frank Gehry’s curves; you have to be in one of his buildings to see the frozen poetry in Bilbao, Prague, Los Angeles, etc…

frank gehry michele roohani bilbao spain prague tiffany

His Bilbao museum is the 20th century’s iconic architecture according to the architecture critic, Ada Louise Huxtable.

Last but not least, Rem Koolhaas’ unconventional designs are a force to reckon with:

rem koolhaas michele roohani seattle public library

I shouldn’t even get into the Diva, Zaha Hadid or Jean Nouvel, Herzog and de Meuron or Tadao Ando (the great light and water architect)…Those will be for another post, another day. Richard Meier, Taniguchi and the phenomenal Charles Gwathmey have to wait their turn too.  As you can see I am passionate about architecture…

Saint Mark’s Basilica venice michele roohani

“Less is more.” Mies van der Rohe

“The mother art is architecture. Without an architecture of our own we have no soul of our own civilization.” Frank Lloyd Wright

p.s. Renzo Piano is missing from my list because I have not forgiven him for his wild Pompidou Center design and his Broad Contemporary Art Museum in Los Angeles has not helped his case!

the photos of Prague, Bilbao, Venice and Seattle are from my own archives.