Castel Sant' Angelo, pen on Bristol

Ilana Simhon (BS Arch‘14)

Sketches of Castel Sant'Angelo.

Sketches of Castel Sant'Angelo

Ilana Simhon is a project manager with Ike Kligerman Barkley, a high-end residential firm located in New York City. After attending the University at Buffalo, Ilana earned her Master of Architecture from the Yale School of Architecture (2017). She traveled to Hawaii to explore Dark Ecology, Hong Kong to research Object Oriented Ontology, London to experience the history of British landscape architecture, and Rome to study antiquity through drawing. 

Castel Sant' Angelo, pen on Bristol

Castel Sant’Angelo presents itself as a centric building, yet provides a labyrinth of ramps, stairs and courtyards that do not allow the center to be perceived. As the visitor is immersed inside, narrow winding spaces deny outward views and courtyards slowly reveal the surrounding city of Rome. It is a constant switch between self-awareness and confusion with certainty that one must travel upwards to reach the highest point and claim the best views. The on-site drawing tracks a single path from the lowest point to the highest occupiable courtyard, experienced as a continuous panoramic view.