Sometimes words speak to us. When I read the following from Witold Rybczynski’s book Looking Around, I knew it was something that spoke to me and my work.
“The making of architecture has always been a compromise – between the beautiful and the practical, between the ideal and the possible, between innovation and tradition. The compromise itself is a kind of achievement. ….Buildings like people have a life, perhaps even a soul. They age and weather and show the marks of human habitation. In the process they acquire character, a quality that embellishes and amplifies the architect’s original intention.”
Withold Rybczynski is a prolific writer, teacher, critic of architecture and technology, accessible to both architects and non-architects. His words capture the very essence of architecture. As he so simply states, it’s a balance between the beautiful (aesthetically pleasing) and the practical (functional, utilitarian, efficient). The second point he makes regarding buildings having a life and perhaps a soul is also true. A family living in a house gives it character that transforms it into a home.