PAGNOL X MF ARCHITECTURE
Next up for our Pagnol creative riders, awesome architect Ian Ellis out of Austin, TX, design associate & project manager at MF Architecture.
I met Ian while at the last MotoGP round in Austin, super nice guy (And he knew all the best places to go!), but I had no idea he was such a high-level architect! Until later I saw his email with the word "architecture". As a lover of it, I was curious and wow! I had to have him as part of our creative riders series.
Check out his gallery here and his interesting interview, I specially like his last answer! Enjoy.
When did you start riding motorcycles? Not soon enough! In winter 2012 I started looking for my first bike and was riding just after the New Year. I didn't have much interaction with motorcycles until then aside from a few profound conversations with a neighbor when I was younger. He had lots of amazing motorcycles and they were mesmerizing to me. Obviously, that had somewhat of an impact as years later I'd share a similar passion and interest in them, especially with Ducati motorcycles.
What was your first bike? My first bike was a first generation Ducati Monster, a 600cc version that had been thoroughly used. When contemplating getting a motorcycle I found myself confronted with the choice of being responsible (buying something inexpensive, reliable, and predictable like a Japanese 250), or starting where I hoped to end up: riding something captivating and Italian. With the right amount of peer pressure from one of my favorite people ever and some online shopping, we found one. I went off to New York City and came back to my first motorcycle, which I enjoyed a lot, and ended up passing it on to a friend and coworker at the time before finding my current moto, Francesca, the Ducati M750Sie with Ayrton Senna colors - a perfectly fitting bike since I'm Brazilian.
What do you see related to architecture and motorcycling? I find many similarities in both shared through design - Even if you know nothing about motorcycles, there is an undeniable parallel between the structural engineering, systems, and artistry in craft shared between these machines and architecture. Everything is about the relation to the human body, form following function, and a balance between efficiency and delight. There are also less tangible experiences that I find correlate between the two, like the sense of home - whereas one is rooted in a place, a landscape, or a building, I feel calm and at home while riding. The necessity to focus intently is paralleled in both architecture and motorcycling, whether it's on your own decision making, what your senses are experiencing, or what's happening around you, bikes and design require you to be self-aware and present, and I really like that.
Great, Obrigado!
Pagnol