Polarity

It is now the 19 July 2022, the hottest day on record.

​I recently had a coffee with Julia Fawcett OBE, the CEO of The Lowry Theatre in Salford. To my surprise she had read my blog and wondered why I hadn't written anything since 2018. I didn't really have a good answer. When I logged in I found a draft from 2017. Here it is -

A lot of the spiritual traditions say that there is only one thing. That the things we see as separate objects are actually all an expression of one continuous thing. An easy way to visualise this is to think about a computer. Do your files or movies have actual space in them? Are they discrete objects? No - they only exist as code that is arranged in a way that simulates our perception of real space.

If all is one and separation is just an illusion - it must follow that opposites are the same - thing. The space in a video is code. The wall in a video is code. In the real world we think of solid objects in a very different way to space. Enlightened beings tell us they are the same thing. The universe is just one big event.

The thing I have been preoccupied with in Architecture - from the beginning - is the choice to be rational or irrational. My degree thesis was entitled Irrational Rationalism. Do you build from an internal emotional, intuitive place or do you allow the external forces of an evolved system to dictate your work? The rational choice is to build upon what has gone before, to refine details that have stood the test of time in terms of function and aesthetics. it seems irrational to risk building new, untested ideas based on a feeling they might be of more value.

Architecture literally shows us these two opposing forces frozen into its existence. We sense the conservative evolution of structures enabling the building to stand. And we are inspired by the progressive responsive ideas that fit the building into this particular context by resolving an enormous set of unique problems specific to this time, client and culture. All the great works of architecture I've seen feel like worlds or even universes unto themselves. No separate parts. No separation.