The following quotes are meant to show the variety of viewpoints. The individuality
of the approaches guarantees the fact that organic building, even a century
after emerging, remains lively and up to date and is accepted by much of the
public.
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Louis H. Sullivan
”It is the pervading law of all things organic, and inorganic,
of all things physical and metaphysical, of all things human and superhuman,
of all true manifestations of the heart, of the soul, that the life
is recognizable in its expression, that form ever follows function.
This is the law.” (from: Louis H. Sullivan, Kindergarten Chats,1901-02)
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Antoni Gaudi
"Do you want to know where I found my prototype? An upright tree;
it bears its branches and these the twigs and these the leaves. And
each part grows harmoniously, magnificently, since the artist God has
created it."
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Johann Wolfgang Goethe
"He to whom Nature reveals her manifest secret, yearns for Art,
Nature's worthiest interpreter"
(from Johann Wolfgang Goethe, "Sprüche in Prosa" look
Naturwissenschaftliche Schriften" Hinweis zu Seite 15, 4.Band,
2.Abteilung)
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Rudolf Steiner
"If we carry this spatial system of lines and forces which - properly
speaking - is constantly active in us, into the physical world, and
if we organize matter according to this system of forces, then in setting
this system of forces free from ourselves and in organizing matter accordingly,
Architecture arises. (...) When we project the specific organization
of the human body outside of ourselves into space, we have Architecture,
the Art of Building."
(from R.Steiner, "Art in the Light of Mistery Wisdom", Anthroposophic
Press, New York 1935)
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Frank Lloyd Wright
”What we call organic architecture is no mere aesthetic, nor cult
nor fashion but an actual movement based upon a profound idea of new
integrity of human life wherein art, science, religion are one: Form
and Function seen as One, of such is Democracy.” (from: Frank
Lloyd Wright, 1939, The Architecture of Democracy) |
Hugo Häring
"The architect on the other hand creates a 'form', a work of spiritual
liveliness and fulfilment, an object belonging to and serving an idea,
a higher culture. This work begins where the engineer leaves off; it
begins with lending the work life. This lending of life is not to be
achieved by changing the shape of a building according to a viewpoint
alien to it but by awakening, cherishing and taming the essential shape
locked up within it." (from: The House as an Organic Creation) |
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Hans Scharoun
"Both buildings are based, like all tasks, on the determination
to grasp the object purely in its nature - 'purely' means the 'natural'
solution of the task." (from: H. Lauterbauch, Hans Scharoun) |
Alvar Aalto
”Form is a mystery which eludes definition but makes man feel
good in a way quite unlike mere social aid.” (from: Alvar Aalto
1955, Between Humanism and Materialism) |
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Christopher Day
”I try not to have a style, but it is easy to laps into one. What
I hold to my inspiration is a way of looking at things to gain insight
into what they really are and do, so that appropriate forms can arise.”
(from: Christopher Day, Places of the soul) |
Friedensreich Hundertwasser
"Nature, art and creation are a unity. We have only taken them
apart (...) The creation of Man and the creation of Nature must be reunited.
The division of this creation has had catastrophic consequences for
Nature and Man." |
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Bart Prince
”I have found that those who try to force a building to become
unusual for that sake alone or who work from the ‘outside-in’
rather than from the ‘inside-out’ are missing the very nature
of the possibilities inherent in each problem.” |
Ton Alberts
"We thus made a momentous discovery. Love is translated into form
and work. Love and work together find their echo in the materials and
form - and these bear witness to them for a very long time" (from:
Een organisch bouwwerk, 1990) |
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Frei Otto
"The present aim is to build houses and cities which are natural.
To be natural, a human product need not look like a plant or a tree.
The great aim (...) is that houses and cities together with plants and
animals should be a natural biotop, that in effect houses should not
be directed against nature but that man and his technology should be
an inseparable part of nature." (from: Natural Constructions, 1982) |
Santiago Calatrava
”Looking at the natural construction of animals and birds has
always been a fountain of inspiration for me.” (from: Santiago
Calatrava and Dennis Sharp 1996 , Architectural Monographs no 46)
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Hugo Häring
"We want to go to things and let them find their own shapes. It
would not be in line with this aim to give them a form, to determine
them from outside, forcing one or another derived principle onto them."
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