The Functioning Aesthetic

"For each aspect there are responses of form. Consider the relationship of a maple or an elm to the sun. These trees are in a temperate climate and need to absorb a great deal of sun. They have wide leaves arranged in a spiral grouping that exposes the maximum area of leaf. In contrast the olive tree has a thin leaf. One side is light, the other dark. The leaf rotates so that the light always faces the sun, because it is essential to its survival that heat not be absorbed and that moisture be preserved. The same is true of the many cacti, which turn themselves perpendicular to the light. In the forest we find plants that usually grow in the shade under trees develop larger and broader leaf forms and spread themselves. Each plant develops a form that responds directly to it's survival needs."

Moshe Safdie, Beyond Habitat.

In the Industrial Age, the perspective model reigned supreme.
The detached viewer separated what a building looked like from what it was.
The contextual push of the flamboyant 80's was a misnomer.
Build for today, free from image and the context will be satisfied.
The international context demands this.

In the Information Age, the Uncertainty Principle dominates.
Our perception is not what we see.
Our perception is what we recognize.
Things look the way they do because that's how they work.
The appearance is the sum of the total system at work.
There is no superfluous detail in nature.
Morphology may be more useful than history.
Return the classical column to it's biological origin.
Nature as model is all we've got.
What does a house look like?
What does a spacecraft look like?
What do you look like?
How does a house look like?


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