A philosophical standpoint that directly informs the
design method: concern to invoke genius loci, to make a specific place, to give
appropriate expression to architectural form.
There is an attempt to remain in touch with what, in another age, would be described as
romantic: the emotional appeal of nature, collective
archetypal aspects of human culture, and the individual
creative impulse.
Polarities figure prominently : positive / negative,
formal/random , orthogonal / organic. These are not
all-out oppositions but symbiotic dualities--sides of the
same coin. Orthogonal formality is posed against the site's
natural vagaries. The positive is defined precisely by the
negative: it needs the presence of the negative in order to
register, and vice versa.
The siting of the building, its various materials and its
different outlooks are all chosen with the aim of putting those who will inhabit it in touch with their surrounds, the genius loci.
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