MATTHEWVANWAGNER.COM

Sketching is a drawing tool; in a sketch, the process and the product are one in the same. For me, it is an uninhibited way to analyze, document, enjoy, and comment on a situation that sparks interest for whatever reason. Sketchbooks are my fondest travel companions, more intimate than a camera, less demanding than a person... I believe in good architecture and a holistic approach to design. A work of architecture should strive for timelessness (Philips Exeter Library, Kahn) while contemplating the present (Tate Modern, Herzog & de Meuron). As a pillar of humanity, architecture gives us an opportunity to physically communicate with our existance; to contemplate and materialize our needs, our desires, and our thoughts. A building can be environmentally courteous, unashamedly seductive, tantalizingly ambiguous (or blatantly clear), proportionally refined, and panoptically efficient... I started working seriously with various types of metal during my third year at Virginia Tech,..