Touch the Earth Lightly
“Touch the Earth lightly”
– Glen Murcutt
When I think of critical regionalism, Glen Murcutt is the
first architect that comes to mind. Like the quote above, Murcutt’s buildings
truly work with the land harmoniously, and adapt to the landscape and cultural
setting. We are taught in school to look at site conditions, but how many of us
actually use the wind directions for passive cooling or the water movement on
site as an architectural feature? Murcutt exemplifies this idea of treating
each site as its own unique canvas, and paints a building that fits perfectly
in its place, always respecting the natural landscape rather than manipulating
it. I think there is beauty in this simple, but elegant way of designing with
the land, and we can learn from Murcutt’s methods.
I think these are very important questions to ask during the initial steps of design and I appreciate Murcutt's thought process extending not just to the building and materials but to the whole life cycle of each part.
ReplyDeleteI agree. Architecture is so much more than form and aesthetics. These are only a small part and in my opinion should be a direct and specific response to a context. Like Murcutt, we should think of architecture as a part of a life cycle, responding to existing conditions and adapting to future ones.
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