First encounter Italo Calvino's Invisible Cities while studying abroad in Rome, Italy in 2007. I originally read it in Italian for a class while there, analyzed various city descriptions for thesis support on Sol LeWitt, and continue to revisit it time and time again when developing projects. Calvino's later (60s/70s) short stories are inspirational pieces for my work. His use of split narrative and understanding for sensory language creates these untouchable dreamscapes and hellish confinements in Invisible Cities. I like to think of him as an architect of the mind.


INVISIBLE (adjective):
1a) incapable by nature of being seen
1b) inaccessible to view; hidden
2) imperceptible, inconspicuous
[ORIGIN: Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Latin invisibilis, from in- + visibilis visible, first known use in 14th century]


CITY (noun, often attributive):
1a) an inhabited place of greater size, population or importance than a town or village
1b) capitalized; the influential financial interests of the British economy
1c) a usually large or important municipality in the United States governed under a charter granted by the state
2) the people of a city
3) (slang) a thing, event or situation that is strongly characterized by a specified quintessential feature or quality

Thorncrown Chapel is an exquisite balance of art and architecture that has been on my mind since 2004. Architect E. Fay Jones broke ground in 1979 for this construction and completed the project in 1980. The chapel lives in Eureka Springs, Arkansas.

Jones employs a palette of local materials, wood and stone with glass. Despite the materials' innate hardness, this composition of layers, geometries, and transparencies allows the structure to blend seamlessly with its natural surroundings. Like various inhabitants of the Ozarks, Thorncrown is a living object, a dialog of sounds, colors, and scents—interactions at the human scale.

Note to self, OBSERVE: 


Light patterns (both natural and artificial), how natural light filters through the trees onto the exterior and interior, and how artificial light radiates from the structure onto its immediate landscape. Lighting is one of two powerful, colorful aspects of this structure, lending itself to major transformations with each season.

Sound (interior and exterior) to understand it's material quality. It is the interaction between the structure and environmental factors—visitors (voice), weather (rain), etc. Sound is one of two powerful, colorful aspects of this structure, lending itself to major transformations with each season.

Composition as the integration of layers, geometries, and transparencies that create and affect the powerful, colorful light and sound patterns innate to this structure.

OBSERVE (verb):
1) to watch and sometimes also listen to (someone or something) carefully
2) to see or notice (someone or something)
3) to make a comment about something you notice
[ORIGIN: Middle English, from Anglo-French observer; from Latin observare to guard, watch, observe; from ob- in the way, toward + servare, to keep; first known use in 14th century]

COMPOSITION (noun):
1) the way in which something is put together or arranged; the combination of parts or elements that make up something
2) a piece of writing; especially; a brief essay written as a school assignment
3) a written piece of music and especially one that is very long and complex
[ORIGIN: Middle English composicioun; from Anglo-French composicion; from Latin composition-, compositio, from componere; first known use in 14th century]

Photograph by Greg Hursley