QuoteProject
Architects work in two ways. One is to respond precisely to a client's needs or demands. Another is to look at what the client asks and reinterpret it.
Rem Koolhaas
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

Architects balance client requests with their own creative interpretations.

This quote by Rem Koolhaas emphasizes the dual role of architects: they must not only meet the explicit demands of their clients but also reinterpret and bring their unique vision to those requests. This balancing act is crucial for creating spaces that fulfill clients' needs while also offering innovative and thought-provoking designs.

Themes

ArchitectureDesignClientInterpretationCreativity

In practice

Example use cases

An architect might use this quote in a presentation to outline their design philosophy to potential clients.

More from Rem Koolhaas

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
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.
Rem KoolhaasRead
The acceptance of certain realities doesn't preclude idealism. It can lead to certain breakthroughs.
Rem KoolhaasRead
Architecture is a dangerous mix of power and importance.
Rem KoolhaasRead
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.
Rem KoolhaasRead
We live in an almost perfect stillness and work with incredible urgency.
Rem KoolhaasRead

Similar quotes

In a way, the characters often do take over.
Margaret MahyRead
Beauty, midnight, vision dies: Let the winds of dawn that blow Softly round your dreaming head Such a day of welcome show Eye and knocking heart may bless, Find our mortal world enough; Noons of dryness find you fed By the involuntary powers, Nights of insult let you pass Watched by every human love.
W. H. AudenRead
Singing has been a cherished gift, and my inability to sing has been a devastating blow.
Julie AndrewsRead
My kitchen is a mystical place, a kind of temple for me. It is a place where_x000D_ _x000D_ the surfaces seem to have significance, where the sounds and odors carry_x000D_ _x000D_ meaning that transfers from the past and bridges to the future.
Pearl BaileyRead
Hence it is from the representation of things spoken by means of posture and gesture that the whole of the art of dance has been elaborated.
PlatoRead
Songs for me are like a message in a bottle. You send them out to the world, and maybe the person who you feel that way about will hear about it someday.
Taylor SwiftRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.