The sun never knew how great it was until it hit the side of a building.
Louis KahnRead
Architecture is the reaching out for the truth.
Interpretation
Architecture seeks to uncover and express deeper truths about human experience and the environment.
In this quote, Louis Kahn emphasizes that architecture goes beyond mere construction; it is an art form driven by the desire to discover and convey fundamental truths. It suggests that through the design and creation of spaces, architects have the opportunity to express profound insights about humanity, nature, and existence, ultimately creating environments that resonate with truth and meaning.
In practice
In a speech about sustainable design, one could use this quote to highlight the importance of creating spaces that reflect environmental truths.
The sun never knew how great it was until it hit the side of a building.
I sense a Threshold: Light to Silence, Silence to Light - an ambiance of inspiration, in which the desire to be, to express, crosses with the possible Light to Silence, Silence to Light crosses in the sanctuary of art.
Greek architecture taught me that the column is where the light is not, and the space between is where the light is. It is a matter of no-light, light, no-light, light. A column and a column brings light between them. To make a column which grows out of the wall and which makes its own rhythm of no-light, light, no-light, light: that is the marvel of the artist.
The room is the beginning of architecture.
The creation of art is not the fulfillment of a need but the creation of a need. The world never needed Beethoven's Fifth Symphony until he created it. Now we could not live without it.
We are born of light. The seasons are felt through light. We only know the world as it is evoked by light.
I discover poetry when I was in elementary school and I was so fascinated by it. Because I realised if you get the right amount of syllables and the right amount of words, in the right rhyme scheme and you put it all together. You make words just bounce of a page.
It is comparatively easy to become a writer; staying a writer, resisting formulaic work, generating ones own creativity - thats a much tougher matter.
There are musicians who go through their lives sort of shedding their skins. For me, I've always felt backward-compatible to Version 1.0.
I am sure the next step will be the electronic image, and I hope I shall live to see it. I trust that the creative eye will continue to function, whatever technological innovations may develop.
The drama's altar isn't on the stage: it is candle-sticked and flowered in the box office. There is the gold, though there be no frankincense or myrrh; and the gospel for the day always The Play will Run for a Year. The Dove of Inspiration, of the desire for inspiration, has flown away from it; and on it's roof, now, the commonplace crow caws candidly.
I compose music for films, and by the grace of God, I've got a few awards. That's it.
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