Reflecties

‘Inside the urban hubs of the Western world, a feeling of safety prevails. We continue to enjoy the highest standard of living ever known to humankind. At the same time, we are fully aware of the results of our culture of consumerism. Therein lies the greatest paradox: we are forced to actively forget reality to be able to enjoy the facade of excess we have created around us. Yet outside the main stages of the metropolis is where our work is needed. There are few architects who challenge the conventions of the profession and the ever-dictating forces of the market; they go where the real problems are and try to solve them with insight,economy and wit. These people are the pathfinders towards the new revolution in architecture,which will not focus on style, but on the balance between man and nature-or, in short survival.‘

Sami Rintala,
11 TH International Alvar Aalto Symposium, august 2009, Jyväskylä Finland

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‘Art is the most complex,vitalising and civilizing of the human actions.Thus it is of biological necessity. Art sensitizes man to the best that is immanent in him through an intensified expression involving many layers of experience.‘

László  Moholy-Nagy

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‘Voici la nudité,
le reste est vêtement.
Voici le vêtement,
tout le reste est parure.
Voici la pureté,
tout le reste est souillure.
Voici la pauvreté,
tout le reste est ornement.‘

Charles Péguy

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You don’t need to leave your room.
Remain sitting at your table and listen.
Don’t even listen, simply wait.
Don’t even wait, be quite still and solitary.
The world will freely offer itself to you to be unmasked.

Franz Kafka