There is an increasing awareness of the interrelatedness of things. We are becoming less prone to accept an immediate solution without questioning its larger implications.
Arthur EricksonRead
Great buildings that move the spirit have always been rare. In every case they are unique, poetic, products of the heart.
Interpretation
Great architecture inspires and is often one-of-a-kind, rooted in deep emotional resonance.
Arthur Erickson emphasizes the rarity of buildings that truly elevate the human spirit, suggesting that such works of architecture are not only unique but also creations imbued with poetic qualities and heartfelt intention. These buildings stand out because they connect with our emotions and sense of beauty, transcending mere function to become art in their own right.
In practice
During a speech on innovation in design, one might reference this quote to illustrate the emotional impact of architecture.
There is an increasing awareness of the interrelatedness of things. We are becoming less prone to accept an immediate solution without questioning its larger implications.
We are not peddlers of the fashionable. We believe that good design defies fashion, is truly innovative, eminently sensible, yet a source of inspiration to those who have the pleasure of living with it.
Does an architecture to assuage the spirit have a place in all this? Unfortunately we are no longer the interpreters of our culture's myths but the followers of that dubious client, the developer, who has little patience with the art of architecture, the fine detail and obscure promise, which can upset his financial activity.
The tourist transports his own values and demands to his destinations and implants them like an infectious disease, decimating whatever values existed before.
Space has always been the spiritual dimension of architecture. It is not the physical statement of the structure so much as what it contains that moves us.
The obsession with performance left no room for the development of the intuitive or spiritual impact of space and form other than the aesthetic of the machine itself.
Elegance is not the prerogative of those who have just escaped from adolescence, but of those who have already taken possession of their future.
What makes me write is the rhythm of the world around me - the rhythms of the language, of course, but also of the land, the wind, the sky, other lives. Before the words comes the rhythm - that seems to me to be of the essence.
I don't think art is propaganda; it should be something that liberates the soul, provokes the imagination and encourages people to go further. It celebrates humanity instead of manipulating it.
Are not beauty and delicacy the same?
I've always felt toward the slightest scene, even if all I had to do in a scene was just to come in and say, 'Hi,' that the people ought to get their money's worth and that this is an obligation of mine, to give them the best you can get from me.
My eyes are vague blue, like the sky, and change all the time; they are indiscriminate but fleeting, entirely specific and disloyal, so that no one trusts me. I am always looking away. Or again at something after it has given me up.
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