Le Corbusier

I learned a lot from my contact with le Corbusier and from reading his theories. The only direct influence I had from him, however, was on the day that he told me architecture is universal. Then I started my architecture.

I worked with him; helped him on some projects. The main influence I got from him was when he told me that architecture is a mental invention, a free creation of the mind.

by Oscar Niemeyer

Genius Loci

An architect has a clear social task and is always part of the organization of society.

Since ancient times, someone did the hunting and someone made sure there was shelter,

The architect is a Robinson Crusoe today,

As in the past, you have to take possession of the location,

Understand the climate,

The atmosphere,

And the genius loci.

You must capture the spirit of that place in order to construct something beautiful and useful.

Architecture is at the edge,

Between art and anthropology,

Between society and science,

Technology and history,

Sometimes memory, too, plays a part.

Architecture is about illusion and symbolism, semantics, and the art of telling stories.

It is a funny mixture of these things.

Sometimes it is humanistic,

And sometimes it is materialistic.

by Renzo Piano

Hasegawa Tohaku's "Pine Trees"

Hasegawa Tohaku's (1539-1610) screen painting "Pine Trees" is one of Japan's most celebrated art works. It consist of a pair of six-fold screens, i.e., two six-piece paintings symmetrically positioned side by side, painted with powerful, dynamic brush stroke. In this work, we can find highly diverse yet always effective applications of white and emptiness.

First, the pine grove is constructed using a rough, even harsh brush technique, a manner of representing the real world that makes the trees seem more "real." This monotone painting gives the impression that the pine trees are depicted in much greater detail than is actually the case

"Pine Trees" inherited the legacy of the Southern Sung ink painting tradition, the quintessence of Chinese fine art. Chinese ink painting reached its peak during the Sung period, an achievement that can be compared to that of the European Renaissance. We can classify Sung painting into two styles, the Northern Sung and the Southern Sung. Unlike the detailed description of nature found in Northern Sung painting, the Southern Sung style delineates the bounflessness of empty space by blending the "subtle" and the "faint" while avoiding portraying structural forms in any detail. The technique of using emptiness to set the image free on pper was the crowning achievement of Southern Sung paintings. Not surprisingly, Tohaku's paintingbears some similarity to that of the Southern Sung painter Mokkei (Muqi, 1210-1269). Tohaku's provocative demonstration of empty space and emptiness is crystallized in "Pine Trees." It conveys the lively image of the trees by intentionally avoiding detailed description, an approach that activates the imaginations of its viewers. In short, the painting's very roughness and omission of details awaken our senses.

Haboku is oneof the ink painting techniques connected to this swift and harsh movement of the brush. Haboku is meant to enable viewers to imagine the landscape within an ever-changing nature; in short, it aims to help them expand their imaginations. Tohaku's screen painting is a prime example of how such images are constructed.

Secone, Tohaku's "Pine Trees" seems to emphasize the empty space between the trees rather the trees themselves. Perhaps we should say that the painstaking execution of the misty atmosphere is the main theme of the painting rather than the tree themselves. The pine look indistinct, being fused into the depth of whiteness. Far from signifying a state of nonbeing, the white empty space suggests the countless trees that stand behind the painted surface. The exquisitely dense atmosphere is filled with a subtle movement that leaves viewers' senses drifting in that space. Indeed, the painting's most important feature is the way its mists evoke the boundless, floating world of the imagination.

A sacred mountain is painted in white on the screen to the left, taking up two sections on its upper righ-hand portion; the feeling of distance is created by the use of the whitest white. It is left as empty space on the painted surface; yet it could also be said that the mountain is hidden behind the white mist. Here, the surrounding scenery, from the nearest to the most distant view, lies buried in the hazy ground. Despite its vagueness, our sense are drawn into that white space, where they are left to sway back and forth.

Japanese people have a high regard for this paradoxical expression of empty space in pictorial art and it has helped them develop an imaginative capability that moves far beyond natural descriptive detail. Tohaku's "Pine Trees" is one of the prototypes that shape and convey this aesthetic taste. As the Edo-period manual The Collection of Painting Techniques puts it, "When construed as part of a larger pattern, even white paper can be satisfying." In other words, an unpainted space should not be seen as an information-free area: the foundation of Japanese aesthetic lies in that empty space and a host of meanings have been built upon it. An important level of communication thus exists within the dimension we call "white."

by Kenya Hara

White

The Ten Commandments

Eventually it became all too clear. Despite ever harder regulations to promote sustainability the society moved in the opposite direction.

When buildings became more energy efficient, people got larger homes. When cars used less fuel, people traveled longer. As food became biologically produced people ate more, especially increasing their meat consumption. With improved recycling, consumption rose to new records. Consequently all good intentions and technological improvements where continuously nilled out by irresponsible behavior.

Soon the world leaders came to the only natural conclusion; what needed to be improved and regulated was human behavior itself. On the brink of catastrophe in a last effort to save the planet all members of the United Nations agreed upon ten commandments that would from that point enforce people to lead a sustainable lifestyle:

1. Thou shalt have no more than one child

2. Thou shalt not eat meat

3. Thou shalt not harvest earths resources in an unsustainable manner

4. Thou shalt only use renewable energy resources

5. Thou shalt only use locally produced goods

6. Thou shalt have an ecological footprint of a size that is sustainable for all humans.

7. Thou shalt not murder any beings

8. Thou shalt not spread toxics

9. Thou shalt not superinduce any substances, flora or fauna not naturally occurring in your habitat.

10.Thou shalt not dispose of unwanted possessions

Whether this last desperate effort was successful in halting the apocalyptic development remains untold.

Architectural Dreams

by KKA (Kjellgren Kaminsky Architecture)

Philosopy

The greatest mental construction of all

—the one that strikes me as being the most poetic—

Is the idea mankind has of a possible life after death.

To me it seems to have been the motor of the greatest architectural innovations.

All the great structures deal with the problem of death

—the pyramids, gothic architecture—

But at the same time,

I try to serve the object,

to become the object.

If museums are just places where things can be stored,

Then we dishonor objects.

An object has to find its place before it can live.

I see materials as letters we use to write our poetic thoughts.

We work with letters—an alphabet—we write a story.

The story and its structure are inseparable.

The poetic idea needs the support of structure to exist.

by Sverre Fehn

Imagination vs. Reality

I did a project and all that remains of it is a beautiful image.

No thanks.

What interest me in this business is building, making dreams pass into reality...

It’s only interesting when you get the impression you’re actually making contribution.

Taking part in a certain idea of the evolution of cities and—philosophically—in creating a certain future.

What it boils down to is that I could never have been an architectural artist.

I mean someone who sees architecture as an artwork activity, like Piranesi.

The thing that interests me is seeing the images that i design pass into reality.

by Jean Nouvel

The Process of Design

When I start a new job I like to walk around the site for a long time with my hands in my pockets,

Just going around...

By doing that you feel what happens...

You get away from the risk of being theoretical, of making something wrong...

You go to the site once, you go twice, then you go back.

You think, but you don’t draw.

You wait.

You start to build up your ideas,

And then you go back there.

And this is quite typical of my behavior.

I like to do that.

Architecture is about passion...

But you have to have enough lucidity in the passion to understand that something is wrong,

So you cannot fall in love with a specific solution or then you never come back.

You need the lucidity from time to time to look and to say no, that is wrong.

by Renzo Piano