Architecture

101-3047-8 – Urban sketching at the corner house

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Finally I am getting round to posting my sketches done with #UskQuezonCity at the corner house. This building was designed (by Thai architects, the Department of Architecture, in collaboration with the BAAD Studio in the Philippines) as an “aesthetic community mall”, following an open air concept along the lines of “The Commons” in Bangkok. It houses a lot of small eateries and features an atrium circumnavigated by a ramp which is supposed to be a safe jogging path for residents of the area. The building is interesting, though maybe a bit over-designed with a forest of white steel columns, but we chose to sketch the view of San Juan you can see from one of the ramps. In my first sketch I started with a simple outline of the shapes and then filled in some details.

My second sketch (of my wife) was a bit messy and full of errors. I keep forgetting that my first rule in sketching is “don’t rush even if you have only a little time – take your time to see the scene instead of jumping in”.

Sun-16-Mar-2025

99-2994 – An engineer’s dream

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Here is the second sketch I did on Sunday 16th Feb with #UskQuezonCity at the Quezon City Hall M.I.C.E building. I called this “An engineer’s dream”, but equally a structural engineer might consider this a headache! Clearly the architects wanted to include lots of elements – a soaring pointy roof, a huge cantilevered canopy, a sloping glass atrium-like space and just on the edge of my sketch a domed roof. It was certainly interesting to sketch anyway.

Sun-16-Feb-2025

99-2993 – MICE shadows

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On Sunday 16th Feb I went to the #UskQuezonCity 6th anniversary sketch-walk at the Quezon City Hall M.I.C.E building (meaning Meetings, Incentives, Conference and Exhibits…not the cute little furry things). For my first sketch I went up to the first floor and (being an architect) chose to sketch the building and the shadows of the massive cantilevered structure. The building has a modern and elaborate design. During the sketch-walk we got free snacks and lunch and a huge number of first-timers joined the event.

Sun-16-Feb-2025

85-2656 – More and more towers

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I did quite a few sketches on Sunday 14th April in BGC. Unsurprisingly I ended up doing quite a few of the towers as the dominate the place. My friend @the_uban_sketcher (I now understand means Uban means grey or white hair in Tagalog… very witty) said that this one looks good in black and white, so I scanned this before I added the colour at home.

Sat-14-Apr-2024

1588 – Where are the architects?

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On Sunday for a change we had breakfast in Starbucks. This is the view from the window – the big building is a fairly new block of, what appears to be, offices. Being an architect I sometimes despair at seeing such ugly buildings – there are plenty of good architects here but I think developers just want the cheapest solution and pay architects peanuts if they employ them at all.

Sun-29-Nov-2020

1111 – Makati reflections

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We were in Makati earlier in the week to sort out some paperwork with the South African Embassy and stopped for a coffee along Ayala Avenue. I love sketching big shiny glass buildings so couldn’t resist taking a few moments to do this one. It’s always a challenge to fit a towering building onto one page.

Thu-6-June-2019

1002 – The brightest building in town

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On Saturday while my daughter was in her gymnastics class, I found a shady spot near the mall to sketch. I’ve passed this building many times and couldn’t resist doing a drawing. Inside are rides for kids, party venues and so forth – while sketching I noticed some sort of train ride going around. The building (mostly made out of what, as a student architect, we used to call wiggly tin) really is painted in such bright colours – we could do with a few more cheerful buildings like this in grubby Metro Manila!

Sat-9-Feb-2018

957 – Not the birthplace of Harry Potter

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On my last full day in Lavenham I decided to go out and sketch something iconic in the village. This is the guildhall – a 16th century building. While I was sketching several tourists strolled past and I overheard one mention this as the birthplace of Harry Potter! Obviously as he is fictional it is not – but I think several buildings in Lavenham do feature in the films and scenes of Godric’s Hollow.

Sat-29-Dec-2018

949 – Cafe Rouge in Bury

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On Wednesday I made a quick visit to Bury St. Edmunds to my favourite shop (Denny Bros – an art supply shop of course) and had a few moments to sketch this. After doing this drawing I found out that the red building is a 19th century Grade 1 listed building designed by Ipswich architect John Sherwell Corder. At the lower level is a terracotta frieze with dragons, serpents and the three crowns of St. Edmund….something I never would have known if I hadn’t sketched this.

Wed-19-Dec-2018