Thoughts: Annecdotes
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Sketching with my Father
An essay about Francis Terry's numerous sketching holidays in Italy and other European cities with this father the classical architect Quinlan Terry CBE.
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Where does your Chicken Cross the Road?
“Why did the chicken cross the road?” is not a great joke. What interests me more is where the chicken crosses the road in people’s minds. When asked the question, what do you imagine?
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A Life in Sketchbooks
I have a collection of my own sketch books going back forty years. These are like a visual diary and they chart my various artistic and architectural interests over the years.
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A Stoic Approach to Architecture
Architects must seem a strange breed, they work long hours, take on huge liability, having emerged from seven years of expensive training only to be paid less than a bricklayer. It is a life full of stress, so why do so many people want to do it?
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How to Draw like Raphael
The highest praise one can give an artist is to say he or she draws like Raphael. It comes in the same package as writing like Shakespeare or ‘bending it like Beckham’. As I can’t write poetry and don’t play football the latter two challenges are not open to me, but drawing like Raphael... how hard can it be?
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Three Weddings and a Lock In
In these days, when travel restrictions are foisted upon us, I have found myself reminiscing about adventures of days gone by. Years ago, in my student days, I measured the Raimondi chapel, which is a side chapel dedicated to St Francis in San Pietro in Montori on the Janiculum hill in Rome. The chapel was designed by Bernini and filled with sculpture from his studio.
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Buckingham Palace Redesigned
In celebration of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, Country Life ran a lighthearted competition to improve the front elevation of Buckingham Palace. If I could make alterations and in the festive spirit of the challenge, this is what I would do.
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What Informs Architectural Taste?
Taste is a curious thing and I have often wondered how it works. Things considered tasteful can stop being tasteful, seemingly for no apparent reason, but there must be more to it than that.
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Architect in Wonderland
When I was growing up I was unsure about whether I wanted to be an architect or an artist. Over a summer holiday, in my late teens, I painted my younger sister’s bedroom with scenes from Alice in Wonderland.
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Last Thoughts on Dalibor Vesely
Dalibor Vesely (1934-2015) is the subject of legend at Cambridge University. He was my diploma tutor at the Faculty of Architecture, where he taught during the 80s and 90s.
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A Holiday in Venice
This year we chose Venice for our family holiday. We stayed on the Lido so that we could achieve the right balance between beach and culture and keep everybody happy. I have not been to Venice for several years...
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My Graphic Novel
This latest offering is a comic I wrote many years ago. Not much to do with architecture but as it’s nearly Christmas I thought I’d post something lighthearted and I am sure we all need cheering up as it’s been a tough year for everyone. The plot follows my alter ego crossed with Tintin who falls into Italy’s dark criminal underbelly after finding his uncle murdered in a suburb of Milan...
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A Quick Trip to Ireland
A few weeks ago I was asked to show an ICAA tour around a house in Ireland. I caught a late flight to Ireland on a Sunday night. I then had to hire a car and drove for over an hour. Eventually, I arrived at Roundwood House.
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The Haywain by John Constable
The Haywain by John Constable, perhaps the most famous English painting, depicts Flatford in Suffolk which I know well as it is only a few miles from where I live and I often take my little West Highland Terrier out for walks in that direction.
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Drawing - Death Survival Revival
Drawing was, and still is, my passion and therefore I am saddened by the wholesale abandonment of drawing from art education in recent times. I’m not arguing against modern art, I just feel that as an accountant should be able to add and subtract, an artist should be able to draw fluently whatever style of art he or she later decides to employ. With Picasso, for example, whatever you think of him, his exceptional drawings which he did as a child give the rest of his work an authority it would not otherwise have.
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Treasures of the V&A
The V & A is, without a doubt, my favourite museum. I enjoy wandering around with no particular purpose, looking at whatever objects catch my eye. Sometimes I find new gems; other times I enjoy returning to familiar pieces...