Carine Stanton: October 2007 Archives
PREAMBLE:
Childish innocence -The ability to believe in miracles-receptive
It was easier to believe
Easily impressed and tickled
by the thought that there might be more
Awe and wonder.
Excited at the
unexpected. Surprise me!
As adults we become
sceptical, doubtful, closed
Are you there God?
We still long for the
intangible
People still look for signs
And miracles
That lead to moments of
enlightenment
Surprise us!
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THEME: Surprise (unorthodox, unexpected)
PRINCIPLES:
Every building is part of a
continuum of history/ Every building is part of historical evolution
-It is impossible to design
without reference
-building should provide
comfort through familiarity
-building should provide
excitement through difference
A building is not a
background (-pacman theory)
-the building is an object
-the building should be
enticing, tactile and engaging
(---every part of a building
is different
---no part is allowed to
be regular
---the building is what it
contains
---we must want to
interact with the building
---the building should
provoke our curiosity)
A building is a sequence of
contrasting experiences
-a sequence should start
with the personable and end with the awesome
-every space should provoke
a different (religious/spiritual) emotion
-up is more spiritual than
down (hierarchy)
-building must contain the
vast and the tiny
Material
-the building must be both
smooth and textured
-the less probable the use
of a material the better
-the raw material is close
to God (processed material is close to humans)
God is in the ornament
-ornament must be based on
the reinvention of the familiar
-reinvention of the familiar
can take place in 3 domains: form, material and context but not function
-the functional should/must
become ornamental
-the traditional rules of
ornament still apply
(icons + religious
symbolism)
The steep hill flattened and she found herself atop a grassy plateau strewn with rocks. In the distance she saw a gathering of people. No, not people. As she moved closer she could make out the angular figures of crucifixes. Their awkward arrangement and stooped poses drew her closer still. What an odd collection. She longed to stand under these friendly giants, find shade and repose under their arms. Among this community of misfits and relics she found comfort.
As the evening sun yawned, she watched the crucifixes shadows stretch out. She had tried to determine what exactly these statues were for. They weren’t graves, or monuments. Before her a rhythmic pattern of darkness emerged from the crucifixes. In amazement she watched as the sun and crucifixes danced on the ground, casting strips of light and dark. Then, a face. A familiar one. What strange collaboration between heaven and earth was this? The ultimate architect communes with his disciples.
By now she has given up trying to decipher a message. She understands that she doesn’t have to know what it says, merely that it is communicating with her. And she feels uplifted.
