Though I love the arts with all my heart - paintings, sculpture, theatre, and music - and think they are among the biggest achievements we humans can do, I am really convinced that architecture is among the most important.
Interpretation
Architecture is a vital art form that significantly impacts human life.
In this quote, Santiago Calatrava expresses his deep appreciation for the arts, noting their importance in human achievement. However, he uniquely elevates architecture above other art forms, suggesting that it plays a critical role not only in aesthetic experience but also in shaping the environment and everyday life, emphasizing its foundational significance in society.
In practice
During a speech about urban development, this quote can highlight the essential role architecture plays in our cities.
Building a bridge, in my opinion, is a symbolic gesture, linked with the needs of people who cross over it, and with the idea of overcoming or surmounting obstacles. A modern bridge can also be a work of art. It helps to shape our daily lives and becomes a vital experience for all the people who use it.
There is one way that architecture is superior to sculpture, and that is scale. You can walk into a building and have it all around you.
I paint and work as a sculptor, and I see architecture as an art... If you follow this approach you can use techniques to the service of man and to the service of an artistic idea, and beauty.
The architect works for so many years building it, and the moment you deliver it to the people is the moment when you are unnecessary.
When I work on sculpture, I don't have to worry about function. When I work on a piece of architecture, I must think about function all the time.
Architecture is one of the art forms best able to improve and revitalise cities both artistically and functionally.
A novelist has two lives-- a reading and writing life, and a lived life. he or she cannot be understood at all apart from this.
The Theatre of the Oppressed is theatre in this most archaic application of the word. In this usage, all human beings are Actors (they act!) and Spectators (they observe!).
The unsatisfied yearning of the artist reaches back to the primordial image in the unconscious which is best fitted to compensate the inadequacy and one-sidedness of the present.
The journey homewards. Coming home. That's what it's all about. The journey to the coming of the Kingdom. That's probably the chief difference between the Christian and the secular artist--the purpose of the work, be it story or music or painting, is to further the coming of the kingdom, to make us aware of our status as children of God, and to turn our feet toward home.
By definition, poetry works with qualities and dynamics that mainstream society is reluctant to face head-on. It's an interesting phenomenon that by necessity, poetry is just below the radar.
Dodging and burning are steps to take care of mistakes God made in establishing tonal relationships.
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