Domestika Diary: Hugo Barros Costa

The Portuguese architect, illustrator, and urban sketcher takes us on a tour through the streets of the city he has called home for years, Valencia, taking us to the places that inspire him most

First, there were the buildings, the attractive details of the facades, the lush roofs, and the ingenious solutions achieved by so many architects throughout history. Then, the surrounding landscape, the trees, the street benches, and public spaces. Finally, the people arrived: the everyday protagonists of the scenes that make a city come to life. For years, these elements have combined to broaden the vision of Portuguese architect Hugo Barros Costa (@yolahugo) in his home of Valencia, as an artist, an illustrator, and an urban sketcher.

In the most recent episode of the Domestika Diaries series, Hugo takes us on a tour of the places in Valencia that inspire him to create the drawings that have brought him fame and exhibitions in many different countries, opening up his creative process to us. In addition to his work as an artist, he teaches at the Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de la Universitat Politècnica de València and at the prestigious Parsons in New York. Discover more in the video:

Hugo's everyday life is full of creation. On his bike trips around Valencia, on his way to the university or to one of the many corners where he sits to draw the bustling landscape, in pencil, pen, watercolor, and other mediums, everything beautiful captures his attention. "I'm very lucky because I live two minutes away from the historical center by bike. It is one of the areas where I like to draw. I also usually do it in Huerta, the agricultural area of Valencia, so to speak," he explains.

Of course, it's not just outdoors that Hugo feels creative: "Usually my natural habitat, let's say, is the street. I prefer drawing there. But, because of the terrible situation we are living in, I have tried to make some use of lockdown and started using reference photographs. But, above all, one thing I've been wanting to do for quite some time, and which I've now been able to achieve, is working in larger formats, which are difficult to handle in the street, such as A1." He has also been creating large works by joining A3 sheets together to draw in landscape.

On the streets, people often approach Hugo, intrigued and amazed by the way he depicts the city on paper. He has brought back new styles and techniques from his visits to places like New York and Rome: "Before, I drew only in black and white. But, when I lived in Rome, it seemed almost a crime (not to use the colors). So I started to learn with the urban sketchers there," he recalls, now often turning to watercolor. "Because it's a universal language, and because of the empathy it generates, drawing has that capacity, let's say, to reach people and open doors for us. It certainly has opened them for me."

One of those doors was Domestika's. Hugo is already producing a course on urban sketching that will soon be available online.

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