The Le Corbusier Shoe

This shoe features a diagram I did in studio. It also has one of the most important architecture quotes of the twentieth century! You can order a pair here.

Taipei 101

I always thought this building was ugly. And then I was asked to draw it for a new graphic identity for the Taiwanese American Students Association at Princeton, for use at their upcoming East Coast conference. The graphic designers, Andy and Tiff, chose this napkin sketch instead of another, more meticulous drawing I did. Hearing from them about the bright lights of the city, the bustling markets within it, the mountains in the background, and this tower rising up to symbolize a new Taiwanese identity and a bright future, made the project very exciting. And I no longer think the tower is ugly.

When I have fears that I may cease to be

As a year full of so much activity, accomplishment, loss, and production comes to a close, I can't help thinking about it all, and about where things will go next, and later on. O'levels and the days in which we used to read John Keats's poetry seem so long ago and so far away. Has real life begun now? Does it ever begin? Anyway, I like this poem.

When I have fears that I may cease to be
     Before my pen has glean'd my teeming brain,
Before high-piled books, in charactery,
     Hold like rich garners the full ripen'd grain;
When I behold, upon the night's starr'd face,
     Huge cloudy symbols of a high romance,
And think that I may never live to trace
     Their shadows, with the magic hand of chance;
And when I feel, fair creature of an hour,
     That I shall never look upon thee more,
Never have relish in the faery power
     Of unreflecting love;--then on the shore
Of the wide world I stand alone, and think
Till love and fame to nothingness do sink.

-John Keats

Harvard - First Snow

First, I had breakfast in Annenberg at 7:30am. Seeing everyone study for their exams reminded me of my freshman year and that fateful Math 104 exam when I walked out of the auditorium early not because I knew everything but because I had no clue!

Then, later, I braved the cold to photograph some things I see everyday but which today were covered in snow for the first time. The bright, reflective ground was so welcoming and everything seemed to be lit up.

Click here to see the complete set on Flickr.

Notes from a meeting with Momin in Karachi, at T2F

Grades? What Grades?

Last night, we put all our work from the entire semester in Piper auditorium. Now, the critics are sifting through the four projects, deciding who will get which of the respective non-grades: Distinction, High Pass, Pass, Low Pass, and Fail. These photos were taken from the circular window on the second floor. Another way in which Architecture enables transparency (and here I don't mean the literal or the phenomenal kind).