What times

 
There is a big difference between what we think we know and what we do know but during the course of a day the two states merge and thus we move on in all our imperfections pretending that everything is under control. Meanwhile a parallel reality takes care of the real business of getting things done. At least this has been my experience so far as a practising architect. There are two aspects to planning: thinking about something and doing something. The difficulty comes, like with all things, in trying to find the right equilibrium so that the things that need doing are done properly and at the right effort and cost. For example, the hardest thing to do in playing the guitar is actually getting the strings to tune. Equilibrium of pitch, in a musical instrument has to be almost perfect.

Vitruvius, in his wisdom, spoke about the need to be aware of the 'meant' or 'signified' and the 'means' or 'signifying' as being two essential components of creating architecture. Distilled to common talk we get down to intending and doing. The former propels the latter but it is the quality of the latter that determines how the former is realised. Both require time and the two parts cannot be done simultaneously. Yet in the frenetic age of action that we live in, thinking is not given its due value, neither in time nor money. We are asked to get on with it. This is a serious oversight. What if we are not quite ready? Why did the allies wait right till June 6th 1944 for D-Day with the Nazi forces already weakened? Quite simply because in this case they could not afford to get it wrong. The future of the whole world hinged on that single event but there is also much that we cannot afford to get wrong in anything that has to do with logistics; especially because in architecture, things are done for keeps.

For keeps, now there is a scary thought. Art is however like that. So it takes courage to be an artist, which an architect is, by default. So I just call myself simply an architect, given that I just assume people know what that implies. If not, well, that's not my problem.

Doing things for keeps is what I think an artist does. Making something to last means you don't want people to get tired of your work. Firstly this means making it work and making it durable or even to make it age gracefully. This means taking care of details, getting it right the first time. It's about being sure. This requires clear thinking and a purposefully logical procedure of realisation.

What times we live in! Glass has become the most important building material. Through the glass we can see but the glass can shatter. It is not an insulating material in any way and it doesn't stand on its own but for the modern mindset there is something fatally attractive all the same. Why this is, I would ask another architectural philosopher to ponder on. Think on it, for goodness sake!

 
Lucignano, 31 1 2007