The Space in the Image

When I look at "architecture," I find it so easy to focus on the materials, rather than the space that is shaped by the materials. After all, it is so easy to forget about the space because it is not visible.

(What makes the space that is occupied by a material different from the space that is immediately beside that material? I am often awe-struck by how we can even move through space. How can we displace it so easily?)

The tree does a particularly fine job of informing us of the space around itself. In this photo I am aware that the space around this building is particular, and I am again awe-struck to understand that the space described in this photo continues out in every direction into a great vastness seemingly incomprehensible to a material made being such as myself. As Peter Zumthor is so keenly aware, the materials become "architecture" when they glorify the space they share and help to define.

Brooklyn Brownstone Studies

The block party makes all the cars go away. Beautiful!

What is architectural design? It is the specification of products and materials that form and define space.

Brooklyn's brownstones are structures that endure through the generations. The "Brownstone" is a fantastic building type because it is flexible and increases human density without compromising human scale intimacy.

My intention in studying these most beautiful examples of human habitations in the fabric of the built environment, is to quantify why some streets, some particular brownstones and some front entrance "stoops" are more aesthetically and/or functionally pleasing than others. If I draw these existing structures, then perhaps a golden proportion will reveal itself, which I can then use to design future dwellings.