Lousia Schmolke

Louisa is an Scottish artist, architectural designer and content creator based in London. She create travel content through painting, drawing and capturing this process on trips around the world! In 2025 she visited Norway and left with drawings of the places she visited.

What motivated you to become an architectural designer?

"I was always interested in sketching and photography from a young age! I wasn’t sure what to study at University (like many young people) and I applied to architecture as I thought it would be a degree which would provide me with a variety of skills. I ended up thriving in the course and continued on to do a Masters in Architecture, graduating best final year student after expressing my final thesis through the medium of artwork."

How did the idea of traveling around the world and drawing emerge?

"I’ve been travelling since I was 16, always jetting off (back when flights were far cheaper and Brexit hadn’t impacted travel!). I used to live and work in Washington DC and I travelled every other weekend around that side of the world.

I am always trying to get to new countries and Norway was high on my list and I couldn’t have asked for a better 10 days there in summer 2025."

What is it about an object that makes you want to draw it specifically?

"I think I just use drawing mostly as a tool to 'record' and to remember, it is all about the documentation for me, and the ability to flick back through pages and know exactly where I was and how I was feeling when I made the sketch or painting."

What, in your view, distinguishes Norwegian architecture?

"This is a hard one, as it varies from the ‘traditional’ and more famous styles of architecture which many associate with the green alive roofs and of course the traditional terraced rows of Bryggen.

For me, I adore what Snøhetta are doing in Norway. I work with them on a freelance basis and so create content around their buildings through analysis sketches in my sketchbook. When I think of Norway now, I think of the brilliant work they have done on their Bolder Lodges in Lysefjord and Under restaurant in Lyndesnes."