Snow, Stern, Stoppard
Plus, our new co-writer and editor, Kendall King, and our staff retreat
Issue No. 15
IN THIS ISSUE
BUILDING: St. Mark’s Church, Sigurd Lewerentz
READING: Stern and Stoppard
WORKING: 2025 Staff Retreat Report
BUILDING
St. Mark’s Church
Sigurd Lewerentz
BY: TARO MATSUNO
Enjoy the snow, everyone —
Photos of the mysterious St. Mark’s Church
Write up in the Guardian around the 2021 exhibition, Sigurd Lewerentz: Architect of Life and Death
READING
Stern and Stoppard
from Arcadia
BY: TARO MATSUNO
We lost two towering figures last week in the span of two days - Robert A.M. Stern, architect, and Sir Tom Stoppard, playwright. Stern touched Charlottesville as he did many other cities and communities around the world - Darden and Bavaro Hall are both RAMSA projects - and had a profile like no other architect. RAMSA enjoys grudging respect from even die hard modernists, and pursued an architecture that made classicism and tradition relevant on its own terms.
My high school English teacher introduced me to my favorite image in Stoppard’s Arcadia, where tutor Septimus consoles the precocious genius Thomasina who mourns for the lost Library of Alexandria:
SEPTIMUS: […] We shed as we pick up, like travellers who must carry everything in their arms, and what we let fall will be picked up by those behind. The procession is very long and life is very short. We die on the march. But there is nothing outside the march so nothing can be lost to it.
The missing plays of Sophocles will turn up piece by piece, or written again in another language. Ancient cures for diseases will reveal themselves once more. Mathematical discoveries glimpsed and lost to view will have their time again. You do not suppose, my lady, that if all of Archimedes had been hiding in the great library of Alexandria, we would be at loss for a corkscrew?
Stern and Stoppard’s ideas can live on in us, as we adapt, rediscover, reinvent, and renew.
WORKING
2025 Staff Retreat Report Back
A Unique First Day
BY: KENDALL KING
Hello, I’m Kendall! I come to brw on the heels of running my own small produce business, September Sun Produce. I’m taking over for Candace as brw’s Administrative, HR, and Marketing Manager- a job highly relevant to starting and running a small business- be it a farm or otherwise. I’m excited to be working at a firm that aligns with my personal and business values: community commitment, employee wellness, and overall excellence.
On Monday November 25th, brw hosted our annual staff retreat at the gorgeous White Hall Community Building, which happened to also be my first full day. We enjoyed Fall views of the mountains, Crozeli sandwiches, and a lively discussion about the role of AI in the industry and at the firm. Staff presented on favorite projects from the past year, lessons learned, and design inspiration.
Bruce warned that the day would be like “drinking from a firehose,” but I found the staff presentations relatable and informative, and organized in a way that enabled me to take “small bites.”
A few favorite moments included:
Hafsa Ramay shared her latest design inspiration, Flower Press Studio out of Denver, CO, along with a collection of works from a recent artist exchange she participated in with New City Arts.
Ying Fan described her fondness of the Luyeyuan Stone Sculpture Art Museum, and shared a poem in reference to the Museum:
Materials
Materials are sometimes like seasoning.
Rough rammed earth paired with a plane of smooth glass,
warm timber set against the cool austerity of concrete,
soft fabric resting beside the hardness of steel—
these unlikely pairings create a balance
more nuanced than harmony alone.Like flavor, no single taste can stand forever on its own;
even sweetness becomes heavy if unaccompanied.
But when sour meets sweet,
bitter meets spice,
and contrasts enrich one another—
that is when a dish becomes memorable.
So let materials lift each other up,
each revealing the beauty of the other.
You can read more of Ying’s poems on her substack.