About Rick Shands
Architect and author Rick Shands began studying architecture at Syracuse University in New York State. Given the opportunity to study for a year at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London for one year, Rick grabbed the chance. Four years later, he returned to the the US, to Columbia University where he took a master's degree at the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation.
The year that was to be one year but became four altered the course of his life. After a decade in New York City, he returned to the 'far side of the Atlantic', living and working in Sweden, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Malta, a return to London followed by Abu Dhabi and Riyadh. Rick now resides in London.
Architecture
Rick's career as an architect is primarily what led him from one country to the next. "A peripatetic American architect" is how one colleague described him in London, 2003. While he has worked with many project types - from multi-famiy housing to airports - a large portion of his time came to be devoted to hospitals, starting in Jeddah in 1995.
Writings
Whilst he has written to describe projects over the years, sometimes creating fictional vignettes to give a better sense of the designs he has done, Frame 39, begun in Abu Dhabi, is his first full-on plunge into fiction. The story brings together a myriad of experiences from across the countries he has lived in - his three years in Malta being a primary mover - as well as bringing in travel across a larger portion of the globe. Rick continues with writing fiction, finding himself still exploring the cultures he has been privileged to live in.
Urban Sketches
Having learned hand-constructed perspective drawing at Syracuse, hand/pencil/paper was largely used to sketch buildings that did not exist, but were in the process of being designed: exteriors, interiors, details. Now, in 2023, Rick has returned to hand sketches while traveling about what has ultimately become his adopted 'hometown', building up his own personal 'homage' to the city.