Architecture begins to matter when it brings delight and sadness and perplexity and awe along with a roof over our heads.
Interpretation
Architecture transcends mere shelter when it evokes deep emotions and thoughts.
This quote by Paul Goldberger emphasizes that architecture is not just about providing a physical space for living; it is an art form that should connect with people on an emotional level. The true significance of architecture lies in its ability to inspire feelings of delight, sadness, confusion, or awe, making it an integral part of the human experience rather than just a functional necessity.
In practice
During a speech on the importance of urban design, one could reference this quote to highlight the emotional impact of architectural spaces.
New York remains what it has always been : a city of ebb and flow, a city of constant shifts of population and economics, a city of virtually no rest. It is harsh, dirty, and dangerous, it is whimsical and fanciful, it is beautiful and soaring - it is not one or another of these things but all of them, all at once, and to fail to accept this paradox is to deny the reality of city existence.
It is quite cruel that a poet cannot wander through his regions of enchantment without having a critic, forever, like the old man of the sea, upon his back.
Speak to me...be eloquent, be brilliant for me. Improvise! Rhapsodize!... I ask for cream and you give me milk and water... Please gather your dreams together into words. - Roxanne, Cyrano de Bergerac
In the haunted house of life, art is the only stair that doesn't creak.
Things men have made with wakened hands, and put soft life into are awake through years with transferred touch, and go on glowing for long years. And for this reason, some old things are lovely warm still with the life of forgotten men who made them.
The art of Frida Kahlo is a ribbon around a bomb.
Two types of films: those that employ the resources of the theater (actors, direction, etc...) and use the camera in order to reproduce; those that employ the resources of cinematography and use the camera to create
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