I always take visitors to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston as this is the fourth largest museum in the United States. There are exquisite collections which I very much admire, such as, from Europe, Monet, Rembrandt, Botticelli, Manet, Degas, Cézanne, Renoir, and Vincent van Gogh. Of course, the list goes on and on. It is certainly impossible to finish the whole museum in merely a day, as my guests always bemoan. On this occasion, my mother was visiting me and we were relaxing on the grass. The sketch is from there.

These days, a great deal of green buildings have appeared in Boston’s landscape, in a last-ditch attempt to ward off global warming. Of course, it is too late and we are all going to die, but we have to say we tried, right? Architects, at least, try to improve buildings system that have a minimum impact on the environment. This sketch is across from the Novartis Institute for BioMedical Research, Cambridge Campus, built by CANNONDESIGN. There are a myriad of laboratories in the building, so you can only guess at the size of the budget, especially when you consider who the neighbors are.

First, he gives his middle finger to critics, and, secondly, told them, "So let me tell you guys. In the world we live in, 98 percent of the buildings that are built are pure shit, there is no sense of design, respect for humanity, for judgement for anything. Just dumb buildings. He is the Frank Gehry, one of the pioneers of parametricism. Of course, he is definitely right against those who ridicule his design. Embellishing and creating new thinking ways can lend itself to uniqueness and perfection, which, in turn, lend themselves to being certainly disparate and successful, in lieu of merely emulating those who came before. He is bold as he did not repeat what others have done. Although my first studio professor at the BAC was from MIT and said that some parts of his buildings are useless, I genuinely admire them. This sketch was from MIT, and is one of Boston’s icons.

I used to live in Watertown, MA, and the place that I liked the most was is the public library. Almost every day, I used to stop by and did my homework. Recently, I visited it as one of my Turkish friends lives behind the library and I needed to see him, too. Lucky guy! The library is really cozy. It is important to read in a place which has bonhomie to be relaxed and happy. Therefore, this time, I sketched it. This sketch was in front of it. I observed new bicycle repair equipment next to the entrance  and thought how the locals are lucky.

As an interior architect, I greatly relish designing staircase due to the fact that they are always problematic. I’m not talking about just sticking on a prefab. Perhaps, many architects do not like them for this reason. My father tells me that architects shows their worth through their staircase designs. At any rate, today, it is not truly compelling, thanks to software. This staircase sketch was from a picture taken at Longy. The staircase has carried people since 1889, having high quality woodworks.

Needing to transfer a great deal of passengers for Red Sox games at nearby Fenway Park, Kenmore Square is one of the most important places in Boston, and has two MBTA stations. Moreover, two major avenues intersect here, that is, Beacon Street and Commonwealth Avenue. It is also the starting point of the Boston University campus. A major landmark of Boston is the neon Citgo sign sitting atop the Boston University bookstore. Although the logo of a Venezuelan oil company, the sign complements well with the cityscape. This sketch was from the square.

I went to Cyprus to receive an award on architectural competition from Eastern Mediterranean University, having a tough time with the heat at that time. While awaiting the ceremony, I wandered the whole area as much as I could. Saying that Cyprus is abundant in beauty. For many years, people have live in an ongoing conflict along  ethnic and religious lines and still continue in the country to a degree. In fact, some zones are still No Man’s Land. One of the interesting buildings to which I needed to pay attention was the Lala Mustafa Paşa Mosque in Mağusa. This is due to the fact that the mosque was originally a cathedral. Later, the Ottomans turned it into a mosque. The funny thing is that the cathedral and the mosque were designed with different prayer directions. Churches are built so that worshippers face East. Mosques, however, are built to facilitate prayer in the direction of Mecca. From Cyprus, this means Southeast. This sketch was from in front of the building. Note the later addition of the minaret.