There is a passage from Robert Caro’s “The Power Broker” that describes the enthusiasm of young interns working for the Municipal Bureau of Research: The students were filled with an espirit so strong that it seemed sometimes as if it must surely waft out the windows of 261 Broadway and melt some of the soot…

Yesterday I went to two plays: a Greek tragedy, and a musical adaptation of Cabaret. The first play recounts the Greek myth of Orpheous and Eurydices. The later was set in the decline of the Weimmar Republic. I was struck by how eloquent and charming, and handsome Orpheous was. The play featured screen projections that…

I am writing from a nice coffee shop between 11th Street and Pine. I biked my way here this morning and already discovered so many things nearby: a cute queer bookshop, the Louis I. Kahn Park, and an appealing fancy barber shop that I want to give it a try. I am trying to nurture a…

I am writing from a nice coffee shop in Center Philadelphia between 11th Street and Pine. I discovered a cute queer bookshop nearby and want to go there to get a copy of The Leatherman’s Handbook II. I was riding my bike on my way to the coffee shop and was taken aghast by the beautiful…

I am writing in a coffee shop on a Sunday morning. Penn undergrads are about to start classes. Noah Schnapp is the sensation on campus. As soon as I start to write, my brain realizes that a state of mind is imminent and immediately wants to optimize the environment at the detriment of getting started.…

Yesterday we discussed in Diagnostics with Michael Henry the utility of sketching a conditions of a lighthouse. There is something weird about drawing with your hand that makes the recording so much tangible. It forces you to observe beyond seeing, to record beyond noticing. It is an active, not a passive learning activity. I did…

I read an article for a class on Building Diagnostics that resonated with me. In talking about how museum conservators mitigate accidents, “Diversity of opinion is intellectually stimulating,” the author declared. Today in Studio, a professor asked our response to an exercise on self-evaluating our teamwork skills, and all I was thinking was about how…

I want to make my thesis useful to architectural conservators. I don’t want this to be some obscure topic that does not advance the field. I would like this to be a material science thesis grounded on electrochemistry. I want the thesis to be compact and succinct. One model I keep referring back is the…

We are living in troubling times.