Architecture is about life in buildings. I aim to work with an enquiring spirit to challenge preconceptions and reinvent architecture in a way which meets the needs of the people it is being built for. At the same time, I believe there is a philosophy of building architecture to 'make visible how the world touches us'[1] which pursues aesthetic, atmospheric or spiritual qualities which transcend construction per se.
To this end I encourage myself to employ weak rather than strong tactics of urbanism which hope to enable 'haptic townscape[s] of intimacy and participation' [2]. It is important to work to promote community involvement in the design of their neighbourhoods, but also emulate great work by architects who have developed and employ a distinctive and attractive personal approach. Ultimately, a regard for the contextual culture, climate and economy should be the basis of excellent design which synthesises these elements as logical form and function to benefit the inhabitant and the wider landscape.
Architecture has always had its context in mind and with this knowledge can act sustainably. The attention given to energy reduction, saving carbon and a building's lifecycle is integral to a holistic approach.
Overall, the most important motivation is nevertheless not the theoretical pursuit but the desire to build. Making manifest one's ideas about architecture or anything else, will serve to give or take away their credibility and therefore provide the best foundation on which to improve and refine the creative process. In an era in which people are rethinking economies, processes and organisations from the ground up, perhaps architecture should also look towards its origins, and like Herzog & de Meuron, find the specific from the universal by joyfully rediscovering the fundamental nature of materials and matter [4].
[1] Maurice Merleau-Ponty
[2] Juhani Pallasmaa
[3] Chapter 8 Herzog & de Meuron, in 'Theoretical Anxiety and Design Strategies', Rafael Moneo
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