Architecture is a hazardous mixture of omnipotence and impotence. It is by definition a c h a o t i c a d v e n t u r e... In other words, the utopian enterprise.
Rem KoolhaasRead
The acceptance of certain realities doesn't preclude idealism. It can lead to certain breakthroughs.
Interpretation
Accepting reality does not mean giving up on ideals; it can actually foster innovation.
This quote emphasizes the importance of recognizing and accepting the realities we face in life while still maintaining our ideals and aspirations. By acknowledging the world as it is, rather than as we wish it to be, we can find new ways to innovate and achieve breakthroughs in our pursuits, blending practicality with idealism for greater creativity and progress.
In practice
In a speech about overcoming challenges in innovation, this quote can inspire the audience to innovate despite obstacles.
Architecture is a hazardous mixture of omnipotence and impotence. It is by definition a c h a o t i c a d v e n t u r e... In other words, the utopian enterprise.
What is now called 'green architecture' is an opportunistic caricature of a much deeper consideration of the issues related to sustainability that architecture has been engaged with for many years. It was one of the first professions that was deeply concerned with these issues and that had an intellectual response to them.
Architecture is a dangerous mix of power and importance.
Japan lives with drastic segregation between the sublime, the ugly, and the utterly without qualities. Dominance of the last 2 categories makes mere presence of the first stunning: when beauty 'happens', it is absolutely surprising.
We live in an almost perfect stillness and work with incredible urgency.
The City is an addictive machine from which there is no escape
My joy is in your freedom, not your compliance. I do not want your worship, I do not need your obedience, and it is not necessary for you to serve me. Deity has no needs. "All that is" is exactly that: all that is. It therefore wants or lacks nothing, by definition.
My foundations support people in the country who care about an open society. It's their work that I'm supporting. So it's not me doing it. But I can empower them. I can support them, and I can help them.
Silence emerges from the sound of rain and spreads in a crescendo of gray monotony over the narrow street I contemplate. Iβm sleeping while awake, standing by the window, leaning against it as against everything. I search in myself for the sensations I feel before these falling threads of darkly luminous water that stand out from the grimy building facades and especially from the open windows. And I donβt know what I feel or what I want to feel. I donβt know what to think or where I am.
Conflict, of course, comes about because of the misuse of power and the clash of ideals, not to mention the inflammatory activities of unscrupulous and bigoted leaders. But it also arises, tragically, from an inability to understand and from the powerful emotions which, out of misunderstanding, lead to distrust and fear.
If there is something comforting - religious, if you want - about paranoia, there is still also anti-paranoia, where nothing is connected to anything, a condition not many of us can bear for long.
The truth is balance. However the opposite of truth, which is unbalance, may not be a lie.
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