“It is a small part of life we really live. Indeed, all the rest is not life, but merely time.” Seneca, on the shortness of life

I want to create spaces where reflection, thought and appreciation for simplicity can occur. If I can halt people, not by force but enticement, even for a moment and induce an altered psyche to one more akin to meditation or acceptance just to be, then will I feel I have fulfilled my role as an Architect. For architecture I believe, is a combination of physical and psychological interventions; neither of which can stand alone.

I believe in understanding, or at the least seeking to understand, the impact of the built environment on the psyche of the user as a key element to creating sustained, meaningful and effective buildings. By looking to understand user perceptions, architects are surely better placed to create places where interaction can occur, rather then creating tunnels through which to pass. Architectural pedagogy and practice has a keen focus on the aesthetics, spatial arrangements and technology of the built environment, but unless one can start to look at how users perceive and are impacted by these basic elements of architecture, they become perfunctory and somewhat supercilious.

2011