Ricardo Legorreta, the man, the legend, the architecture god, the reason I began studying architecture, has passed away at the ripe old age of 80. I'm sad, but it gives me a moment to reflect on the first time I laid eyes on his work in his 1997-2003 New Buildings and Projects book. His 1998 house in Tokyo, Japan, his 2001 house in Shafaim, Israel, and his 2002 house in Maui, Hawaii were the most amazingly brilliant designed spaces I have ever seen to this day and from the first moment I laid eyes on them is the moment that I wanted to design space and architecture for the rest of my life. Of course life doesn't always turn out as planned, but who knows how different my life would have turned out if I never picked up his book on that Sunday so many years ago. My deepest condolences to Victor Legorreta, god knows how lucky he is to have a father that he can actually look up to and succeed. As I planned all those years ago when I would have finished my studies it would have been my dream to work along side him, to even pinch an ounce of his talent would have been a dream. All I know now is that Legorreta + Legorreta, New Buildings & Projects: 1997-2003; just became the most important architecture book I own. R.I.P. R.L.

I guess that now rather than never is a good time to start. Be it my first entry has to do with the death of the architect that inspired me to want to design for the rest of my life. Ricardo Legorreta is the reason I began to study architecture. I don't remember how old I was when I... View full entry