When I was about 16 my parents drove us to a particular archaeological site near the Meander River in Turkey, quite close to the Aegean coastline. We were living in Izmir at the time. In the area of Miletus (the first Greek colonial city built on a grid- now under water) there was an amphitheater and nearby the city of Priene on a high hill. Also close by, was the city of Didyma and the great Temple of Apollo. We spent about an hour’s time in each area. I took photos on my film camera and looked very closely at the details. (many years later I took my young sons back to Didyma and posed them lying in the circumference of the colossal columns).
I had been to Ephesus, just a bit north of these three ancient Greek cities, and walked all over the marble streets and saw the Library of Celsus, in ruins at that time, and other reassembled buildings. One just marvels at handprints carved in the stone, the public latrines and baths, the agora, the amphitheater which was built on the natural curve of the hill.
As a youngster living in a ‘foreign’ land, seeing these amazing relics of an ancient civilization was difficult to comprehend. How do you imagine people living 2,800 years ago, and here you are walking the streets, touching the stones, feeling the Mediterranean sun, and trying to put it into any context at all. What was life like that long ago? What were people’s concerns, how long did they live, how did they die, what were their families and day to day life like?
These archaeological sites were the first images and impressions about architecture that informed my later thinking and approach. I suppose that if I had been born in New York or Paris, I would have been exposed to glass and steel high rises or Beaux Arts concoctions and French Renaissance palaces.
At that early stage in my life, I had not made any decisions about my future. I had a family friend who was an architect and maybe that planted a little seed. But it was after I grew tired of chemistry, physics, calculus, and political science - during my first two years of altruistic direction in college - that I knew what I wanted to do. I realized I was capable after only one year of design studio and some encouragement. After reading Frank Lloyd Wright’s Autobiography and glossing over his exquisite renderings I was totally hooked.
But it was something about that day spring day in Priene, where the tumbled marble columns lay warmed by the sun, I found a lovely stone carving crashed to the ground from high above and admiringly ran my hand over its delicate features, that something grabbed my artistic sensibility… I’ve never forgotten that moment.
What keeps me going is the chance to recall ancient wonders and combine them with modern practicality, into houses especially, that evoke something beyond a simple abode. I still design facades and interiors by hand and I think certain architectures must be created in this way. What keeps me going is not just an award or recompense, it is knowing that I have helped someone fashion a vision from paper into three dimensions, that they are pleased with the work. That sense of knowing you have fulfilled your duty to your client and that something out of the ordinary was created.
