NATURE
Mother nature does not make mistakes. We make mistakes by ignoring her. The Universe is nothing correctable.
NOTHING SUPERFLUOUS
“Fire and Water have no mercy” ~ old English proverb.
Nature knows everything and does not need our help. The only thing we should do is LISTEN to her. Work with her and not against. For Nature will always win and we will always lose, no matter how great we believe our Architectural plans are or how well Engineered they may be, when working against Nature we are wasting time. That is final. 99% of our creations will be destroyed by Nature.
You are not that good at Architecture, let us face the truth. I see Architects and Designers all around the world, graduates of High Educational systems, yet they practice against Mother Nature. Stop!
You are not that Good, not even close. The ultimate Architect is and always will be Nature. The laws of Nature, the Laws of the Universe are flawless!
Below is a reading from one of my all-time favorite books. It is not a dry Architecture book, or a stale, required reading for studying the LARE or some other exam. It’s a classic novel about a Simple Man and his Sword. The Great Saga of a Samuri from the 1500/1600 set in Japan. Even back then, the lowly Ronin possessed highly intimate understandings of Nature and the Universe. No Google, No Meta, No Telescope.
In this excerpt, Musashi attempts to work against Nature. His thinking is that with enough human force and labor he can create a nice and neat field where he can plant crops and build his Dojo. However, the universe has other plans, as the mountains and rivers and clouds teach him what he constantly ignores from the warning given by the town folks and his pupil. It takes several mundane storms to clearly deliver Natures wrath up on Musashi. However, Musashi does learn and does correct is ways, to the way of the Universe.
This reading also highlights the very important need for SITE ANALYSIS, a critical step in the “design process” that most amateurs and professionals set aside in a rush to please a client, or they just don’t know what it is. To complete a site analysis you physically have to be on site, there is no other way around it. Mother Nature will tell you exactly what the Landscape calls for and you must adapt to it.
The struggle continues in the following episode. Here on this strange land, Musashi reflects that will of the Architect (design to please people), seeing the property for only a brief moment (in the eyes of nature) and not taking into account the wise comments of the town folk that have been there for centuries, generation after generation. They have keen knowledge of what happens with the weather, the earth (volcanoes and earthquakes). the fire, the wind, the plants, the animals… Almost too late, he realizes that he is the Pupil and not the Master! The boy, the old town folks are the teachers. Nature and the Universe are the Masters. Under the Heavenly skies, we are the pupils, we can only learn…
***Please, I am not a good reader; I am surprised that I was able to learn English, teacher after teacher told me and my Mother that I had a learning disability. Slowly and steadily, I learn enough to get me through high levels of university course work, then on to Licensure. Spare me the comments, as a young child I heard the worst. I may miss pronounce a word or a sentence, sorry. For English is my 2nd, 3rd, and 4th language; however, it is my primary language. I live in a country dominated by the English language, but the Universe is my home and I dream in English, yet I have not mastered it… One day I will.***