Bad/unnatural/ suffocating architecture - inorganic buildings to borrow from Frank Lloyd Wright whose work I’m a big fan of - is one of my pet peeves. And particularly in schools where we teach our kids. So many such buildings, at least here, are designed like prisons (which even the prisons shouldn’t be) and I always wonder is it cost - does good design really cost that much more - or is it just a failure of the imagination? “Falling waters” is of course iconic its embrace of organic architecture but even a small change in how we live would yield unexpected benefits - bodily and spiritual.
However, I fear the questions are larger and I don’t want to prescribe without a better/ broader understanding. I feel lucky to be in a part of the world where clemency of weather means we live in/outdoors almost all the time. But when I see those who suffer in harsher natural (not all that’s natural is automatically good or beneficial) conditions I wonder how we can redesign our/their life patterns to enable more organic living?
I found this by one of my favorite writers/ her newsletter The Marginalian (you may already know it) very enlightening and interesting both from a historical angle (history of the notion of empathy itself starting in art) and its implications in modern psychology and for human connection... PS> I refer to an authentic empathy despite the oversaturation of the culture with that word...https://www.themarginalian.org/2016/12/14/you-must-change-rilke-rodin-empathy/
I had a conversation recently with a friend, Hervé Franceschi, who has spent his life in communication (if not communion) with trees and animals. It sounds rather similar in terms of intention, tone and benefit! In short, it means be present in order to hear nature. The idea of empathy for a tree may be a bit far, but empathy with animals, absolutely! I had Adam Snow and Shelley Onderdonk, a couple of horse riders, breeders & polo players (Shelley's a vet), on my podcast (for pub Aug 20) and they talked about empathy with their horses, for sure. So much to think about!
To your point, more prosaically, we're staying in a budget hotel in St Andrews Scotland, and the room (on the 2nd floor) doesn't allow you to open the window. So, (a) we need AC ($$) to cool the room; and (b) we can't feel nor smell the beautiful outdoor air. Go figure!
Modern houses isolate us from nature, but few of us are architects. What can we actually do to change how we fit into nature? (We're not *isolated* from nature. We are *part* of it. When we damage it, we damage ourselves. When we ignore it, we ignore our home.)
We created the market for isolating, oversized, new homes. Developers build McMansions because they hate nature. They do it because people buy them and they care more about money than nature. So do the people that buy those houses.
But housing is an odd place to start IMO, because choice is inaccessible to so many people. Cars are a better place to start. We've created and are sustaining a society where we can't live without them and they're destroying nature faster than architecture.
We created the market for isolating, oversized vehicles, too. What's the point of getting out of that house if it's to roll around in a mobile living room that does more damage to nature than the house?
Bad/unnatural/ suffocating architecture - inorganic buildings to borrow from Frank Lloyd Wright whose work I’m a big fan of - is one of my pet peeves. And particularly in schools where we teach our kids. So many such buildings, at least here, are designed like prisons (which even the prisons shouldn’t be) and I always wonder is it cost - does good design really cost that much more - or is it just a failure of the imagination? “Falling waters” is of course iconic its embrace of organic architecture but even a small change in how we live would yield unexpected benefits - bodily and spiritual.
However, I fear the questions are larger and I don’t want to prescribe without a better/ broader understanding. I feel lucky to be in a part of the world where clemency of weather means we live in/outdoors almost all the time. But when I see those who suffer in harsher natural (not all that’s natural is automatically good or beneficial) conditions I wonder how we can redesign our/their life patterns to enable more organic living?
I found this by one of my favorite writers/ her newsletter The Marginalian (you may already know it) very enlightening and interesting both from a historical angle (history of the notion of empathy itself starting in art) and its implications in modern psychology and for human connection... PS> I refer to an authentic empathy despite the oversaturation of the culture with that word...https://www.themarginalian.org/2016/12/14/you-must-change-rilke-rodin-empathy/
I had a conversation recently with a friend, Hervé Franceschi, who has spent his life in communication (if not communion) with trees and animals. It sounds rather similar in terms of intention, tone and benefit! In short, it means be present in order to hear nature. The idea of empathy for a tree may be a bit far, but empathy with animals, absolutely! I had Adam Snow and Shelley Onderdonk, a couple of horse riders, breeders & polo players (Shelley's a vet), on my podcast (for pub Aug 20) and they talked about empathy with their horses, for sure. So much to think about!
To your point, more prosaically, we're staying in a budget hotel in St Andrews Scotland, and the room (on the 2nd floor) doesn't allow you to open the window. So, (a) we need AC ($$) to cool the room; and (b) we can't feel nor smell the beautiful outdoor air. Go figure!
Modern houses isolate us from nature, but few of us are architects. What can we actually do to change how we fit into nature? (We're not *isolated* from nature. We are *part* of it. When we damage it, we damage ourselves. When we ignore it, we ignore our home.)
We created the market for isolating, oversized, new homes. Developers build McMansions because they hate nature. They do it because people buy them and they care more about money than nature. So do the people that buy those houses.
But housing is an odd place to start IMO, because choice is inaccessible to so many people. Cars are a better place to start. We've created and are sustaining a society where we can't live without them and they're destroying nature faster than architecture.
We created the market for isolating, oversized vehicles, too. What's the point of getting out of that house if it's to roll around in a mobile living room that does more damage to nature than the house?
Walk. Ride a bike. Use transit.