How Funny Were The Golden Globes Last Night?

Did you catch the Golden Globes last night? Tina Fey and Amy Poehler were brilliant. I don't know why I get embarrassed hearing Hollywood stars getting lampooned in real time. I mean, they've got money, they've got egos, why do I care if they are uncomfortably humiliated in public? Of course it's the ones who retain their composure under fire that draw one's admiration. Maybe that's why they trot themselves out for the ceremony; to say to 25 million viewers, "see, we can handle being made fun of!"

Still, that one guy, Christian something or other, winning for Django? I mean, yeh, he was awesome in Inglorious Basterds--spine-tingling, jaw-dropping awesome--but best-supporting actor? I don't know.

Of course, Daniel Day Lewis for Lincoln was perfect. Have you seen it yet? Did you read Doris Kearns Goodwin's book that inspired it? If you haven't, drop everything and do so.

Well, that's it for today's post. Hope you like the rendering I did (below) for David Rockwell's 2010 Oscar's set. I also threw in a project we did for the magician David Copperfield about twenty years ago. When you get right down to it, it's pretty fun working with David. Any predictions for the Oscar's? [Wow, it's liberating writing a blog when you can be confident no one is reading it! :)]

Oh...almost forgot...for all of you search engine spiders and crawlers trying to figure out what this page is about (fellow human beings, please stop reading here and get back to your regularly scheduled lives): let me just add that the artists and architects who practice watercolor techniques, architectural rendering, architectural watercolor rendering, architectural sketching, watercolor rendering techniques, architectural sketches, watercolor techniques, architectural rendering or any of the other disciplines associated with traditional architectural rendering are few and far between. But fear not: some of us are still here, and we're a lot of fun to work with. Have a great Monday, my friends.

A Restaurant For David Copperfield

Dining "Half Off." The Magic That Was Almost The David Copperfield Restaurant In Times Square, NY

Many years ago I had the pleasure of collaborating with David Rockwell to design (then do the architectural illustrations and 3D visualizations of) a restaurant prototype for David Copperfield, the famous magician. The concept was part of the genre of destination/tourist entertainment restaurants popular at the time, and this one might have been the most entertaining had it happened. Among the many other delights--levitating tables, waiters disappearing in full view of diners, etc.--was the twice-a-night moment when the maitre d' asked for four volunteers who would like to be, um, sawn in half--I kid you not. The following four views show the design we came up with--heavily influenced by Piranesi's "I Carceri"--for that event,. If you look closely, those of you who know him well will recognize my friend Marty Kapell as one of the people about to dine half off. He's the one in the white sweater vest waving atop the Lady Liberte's hand at the end:)

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David Rockwell, The 2010 Oscars Set Design, Architectural Rendering & 3D Visualization

Is it me, or was the set design the star of the 2010 Oscars ceremony last night? I couldn't get over the coordination between the elegance and beauty of the set as a whole, and the way the individual pieces--constantly rotating in and out to deliver presenters and video walls--never overpowered the people on stage. If you have any idea how much work that takes, than you are as amazed as I am at how flawlessly coordinated were the sets, the people, the production and the camera angles designed to take advantage of it all. It really was a tour de force.

I can't take any credit for helping with last night's design beyond the work we did last year (see below) when David Rockwell first did the design, and the contribution of some early sketches this year used to establish a rough direction, but a number of people behind the scenes do deseve credit beyond what the public is normally aware of. I don't think it's taking anything away from David Rockwell to say that my friend Barry Richards--David's number one collaborator on sets, and design director of one of David's coolest studios (also doing restaurants, high-end apartments, etc.)--was instrumental in realizing last night's miracle. Here are some sketches for the Oscars and for Broadway musicals that David and Barry have asked me to do over the years. Again, congratulations to both and to Rockwellgroup in general for what I truly believe was a masterpiece of set design and set movement.

The World's Most Beautiful Buildings: The Chapel At Ronchamp

When you grow up wanting to be an architect, you learn about the Chapel at Ronchamp at an early age. It's an icon of modern design, as interpreted by the early 20th century architect Le Corbusier. Corbu and Frank Lloyd Wright were a little bit like Madonna: artists so rich in ideas (Madonna? OK, maybe I went too far, but you get the point) that they were capable of remaining ahead of trends they themselves ironically created, reinventing themselves and opening up new veins of ideas in their art several times over their careers. 

Ronchamp represents a late stage in Corbu's career when, like many poets, he began to see beauty in traditions and forms he might have held in contempt during his revolutionary youth. The building is based on a traditional plan, but it's striking forms are pure modern invention, some say based on a nun's hat.

We went to see the place at the end of a trip to visit Spence in Leysin, Switzerland, during his junior year of high school at the American School of Leysin. I walked around taking these exterior photos, then went inside.

Given the expectations set by the exterior, one is kind of shocked by the intimacy of the interior. One discovers the acoustics are insane. One gets the uncontrollable urge to do a Gregorian chant.

Did any of you have a memorable experience visiting Ronchamp? I'm hoping none of you say "Yeh, one time I was there and this douchebag was singing inside."

Even though I make my living doing architectural watercolor renderings, and architectural rendering, watercolor techniques, pen and ink techniques, watercolor rendering techniques and architectural rendering techniques, I still  want to go back to doing architectural design someday. There's nothing like the feeling of creating a building.