Architecture

Architecture

9 Days Ago

Nature and artificial, entirety and piece, universality and uniqueness, the past and the present. Architects are tormented by the constant conflict of these dualistic propositions! The deeper and more intense the tension is, the more dynamic the creation becomes. That is why architects must continue thinking.

~ Tadao Ando, from Tadao Ando – The Talks

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Of course, not just architects must continue thinking. I find so much more value within things (for example, a conversation) when I hold up pairs of opposites as Ando suggests. Each pair suggests a dimension for consideration, and it’s easier than just staring into the original thing looking for the interesting parts.

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Organic

May 7, 2023

The project started with the intent to regenerate a forgotten piece of land in a dense Coburg pocket. Felicity and her husband, architect Marc Bernstein, purchased the awkwardly shaped 250 square metre block to make it happen, but council deemed the land ‘undevelopable’, and banks were unwilling to approve finances.

~ Amelia Barnes from, An Ultra-Sustainable Home On An ‘Undevelopable’ Melbourne Site

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To be clear: The property is 250 square-meters, or ~1,700 square-feet. Get to a large computer screen. Get your beverage of choice. Then, click through and get lost on that site.

Meanwhile, the thing that struck me was the undulating ground cover outside the master bedroom. It’s good (but not particularly original) to use something that doesn’t require a lot of water (as opposed to turf grasses)—but to shape the ground into something interesting struck me as whimsical. If I don’t have to mow it, then it doesn’t need to be flat. I wonder where else, in the design of my own environment, am I stuck in my thinking.

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