The Rainbow Bazaar

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This is a view of a courtyard in the Rainbow Bazaar in the Hilton Hawaiian Village Hotel in Waikiki, dominated by a huge banyan tree. The resort hotel was originally conceived of and built by Fritz Burns and industrialist Henry Kaiser in 1955 on the site of the old Niumalu Hotel and eight oceanfront acres of the Ena Estate at the Ewa end of Waikiki. Over time, the hotel complex grew to 22 acres and was purchased by Conrad Hilton.

Growing up in Hawaii, my exposure to the world beyond Oahu’s shores was illuminated through books, movies, and TV shows. And so when the Rainbow Bazaar was created as part of the hotel complex in 1970, I was fascinated by the faux Asian environment, which included replicas of a Thai temple and a Japanese pagoda, as well as an entire Japanese farmhouse shipped from Japan. While some may criticize the appropriation of Asian culture to sell ethnic and tourist goods, for me walking through the Rainbow Bazaar even today is an opportunity to imagine and re-imagine visiting foreign places.

Rome’s Rooftops

 

After a month of record rainfall and predictions of more rain to come, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to find areas sheltered enough from the weather to draw comfortably outdoors. So here I want to remind myself of the wonderful times I was privileged to spend in Rome where the fall weather was always sunny and warm.

These two views are from the Palazzo Pio in Rome, which overlooks the Campo dei Fiori. If we bothered to look up rather than at the many historic structures and monuments one runs into in the Centro Historico, we would see that the rooftops are often filled with terraces, potted plants, tiny apartments, and, of course, the forest of TV antennas that are gradually giving way to satellite dishes.

Scenes from Querétaro

Here are two scenes I sketched our last day in Querétaro. The first is of the Plaza de Armas, also known as the Plaza de Independencia. Around its periphery are 18th-century mansions and outdoor cafes. To the right is Palacio de la Corregidora, former home of the city’s mayor Don Miguel Dominguez and his wife Josefa Ortiz de Dominguez, who is revered as a heroine of the Mexican War of Independence. Today, the palace serves as the seat of the executive branch of the state government.

The second view is where Calle Venustiano Carranza splits off of Calle 5 de Mayo, another bifurcated view similar to the ones I drew in Tacoma a few weeks ago.

Santiago de Querétaro

 

Just returned from spending a few wonderful days in Santiago de Querétaro, a colonial town founded in 1561 by Franciscan priests in the high desert country north of Mexico City. There I led a group of students from the Tecnológico de Monterrey on a drawing tour of the Centro Historico, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Below the group photo taken in a courtyard of the Convento de la Santa Cruz are a few of the quick sketches I did to demonstrate how to compose the perspective structure of the scenes the students were drawing. Many thanks to Professor Paola Gamez Pouzou for her gracious and generous assistance during the two days of workshops.

Still More Tacoma Sketches

To conclude my posting of sketches that I did during the 4th Annual West Coast Urban Sketchers Sketch Crawl in Tacoma, here are a couple more from Sunday morning’s session. The temperature drop from the heat of the previous two days was invigorating. What attracted me to these two views was the way the paths bifurcated (split into two branches or forks). The first is where Prairie Line Trail splits off from Pacific Avenue in front of the Tacoma Art Museum. The second is further up along the Prairie Line Trail on the UW Tacoma campus where it merges with Dolly Roberson Lane.

4th Annual West Coast Urban Sketchers Sketch Crawl

Photo courtesy of Kate Buike

Photo courtesy of Kate Buike

Enjoyed the camaraderie and having some free time to sketch at the 4th Annual West Coast Urban Sketchers Sketch Crawl in Tacoma this past weekend. Thanks to Frances, Kate, Darsie, Mark, and the rest of the Tacoma Urban Sketchers organizing committee for all their hard work in organizing and hosting the event, and making sure everyone enjoyed themselves and everything ran smoothly. Here are a few of the drawings I managed to do in the Museum District Saturday morning.

 

Hope to see everyone again next year in Vancouver, BC.

Playing Favorites

I am sometimes asked what my favorite work of architecture is. Rather than name a historic or popular icon, I usually respond by saying that I like buildings that help build neighborhoods and communities. But if pressed to name one, I can only narrow the list down to two: the Pantheon in Rome and the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. Both are ideal in conception and outlook but also enduringly attractive in the way they have aged and adapted to different uses over the centuries. It is only over time that any design can be truly evaluated for its worthiness.

PantheonInt00 PantheonInt13

Scenes from Cappadocia

 

After the DCA–E Conference in Istanbul, we visited the Cappadocia region for a few days. This is the courtyard of the Kale Konak Cave Hotel where we stayed. Situated at the base of Uçhisar Castle, the enormous rock marking the highest point in the district, the setting offers a magnificent panorama of the surrounding countryside.

A highlight of our visit was walking through the Göreme Open Air Museum, a monastic enclave dating from the 4th through the 13th centuries. This is a view of the interior of Tokali Kilise, the Church of the Buckle, the largest of the more than 30 churches and chapels carved out of the relatively soft volcanic rock formations. Many of the sites contain frescoes still vibrant after all these years.

Scenes from Istanbul

Here are a few scenes of Istanbul gathered during our recent trip there for the DCA-E Conference. The first is entering the grand courtyard of the Süleymaniye Mosque, the Mosque of Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent and the largest in Istanbul, designed by Sinan the Architect.

The second was drawn while sitting at the outdoor cafe of Istanbul Modern, a museum featuring the work of contemporary Turkish artists. The museum is located within a warehouse converted by Tabanlıoğlu Architects, alongside the Bosphorus in the Tophane neighborhood. This view looks back toward the city and the Nusretiye Mosque, built in 1823–1826 by Sultan Mahmut II.

The third view is from a terrace of the Istanbul Modern, looking out toward where the Golden Horn meets the Bosphorus. It is truly amazing how well the numerous ferries and other ships skillfully navigate and share this waterway.

Istanbul Workshop

Spent a wonderful day with a group of architecture students from Özyeğin University and other schools in Istanbul. The weather was sunny and pleasantly comfortable. We started off at the Mihrimah Sultan Mosque in the Üsküdar district on the Asian side of the Bosphorus and then worked through the neighborhoods of Kuzguncuk and ended up at Beylerbeyi.

This sketch is typical of the quick demos I do when working the students, drawing either in my own journal or a student’s sketchbook. The second image was done as I was experimenting with using the Procreate app in an iPad, drawing with the Apple Pencil. I found the stylus responded really well, especially compared with stylises that I had tried.

After working with students in various countries and cultures, I have found that they are all so similar in their optimism and enthusiasm for learning.