We're always taught that we're building for permanence, but why? I like the idea of a prosthetic architecture! When a section is removed, the building readjusts its weight distribution, like a living body.
Elizabeth DillerRead
We try to make buildings last long and be resilient but also be not so idiosyncratic that they can't change.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Buildings should be durable yet flexible to future changes.
This quote emphasizes the balance that architects must strike between creating structures that are both enduring and adaptable. While resilience and longevity are important for buildings, they must also maintain enough versatility to undergo transformations, ensuring they remain functional and relevant over time in a changing environment.
Themes
ArchitectureDurabilityAdaptabilityDesignBuildings
In practice
Example use cases
During a presentation on sustainable architecture, this quote could emphasize the importance of flexibility in design.
More from Elizabeth Diller
All quotes βAside from keeping the rain out and producing some usable space, architecture is nothing but a special-effects machine that delights and disturbs the senses.
Elizabeth DillerRead
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Contemporary architects tend to impose modernity on something. There is a certain concern for history but itβs not very deep. I understand that time has changed, we have evolved. But I donβt want to forget the beginning. A lasting architecture has to have roots.
I. M. PeiRead
If you look at the Earth without architecture, its sometimes a little bit unpleasant. So there is this basic human need to do shelter in the broadest sense of the word, whether its a movie theater or a simple log cabin in the mountains. This is the core of architecture: To provide a space for human beings.
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I'm a bad customer for my own buildings! If I'm choosing an apartment, I choose one about five or six stories high so that I can see the people, the trees, and the world on the street. Beyond that, I lose contact with the ground!
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My passion and great enjoyment for architecture, and the reason the older I get the more I enjoy it, is because I believe we - architects - can effect the quality of life of the people.
Richard RogersRead
We shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us.
Winston ChurchillRead
Architects mostly work for privileged people, people who have money and power. Power and money are invisible, so people hire us to visualize their power and money by making monumental architecture. I love to make monuments, too, but I thought perhaps we can use our experience and knowledge more for the general public, even for those who have lost their houses in natural disasters.
Shigeru BanRead