Instead of using the machine as a metaphor for architecture, as Le Corbusier did, I use the human body. I want the public to know that it's them I'm designing for.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes designing architecture that is human-centric rather than machine-centric.
Michael Graves expresses a philosophy of architecture that prioritizes the human experience over mechanical or industrial design aesthetics. He contrasts traditional views, such as those of Le Corbusier, and emphasizes the importance of recognizing the users of a space, aiming to create designs that resonate with people's needs and feelings, making architecture a reflection of humanity itself.
In practice
This quote can be used in a presentation on modern architectural philosophy.
Form must never trump function. Some objects are made to look so smooth, you don't know where to pick them up or how to turn them on. If I'm designing a garlic press or cheese grater, I need my hand to fit comfortably on it. I like to know, instinctively, how to use it.
Good design should be available to everyone - and I do mean everyone. What I spent on the wheelchair I'm in could buy a small Mercedes. It's not only unfair to me; it's unfair to someone who's indigent but has the same needs. My goal is to make all objects affordable.
We've taken on health care in a big way in our office, ever since nine years ago when I was paralyzed. I was in eight different hospitals, three different rehab centers, and all the rooms were dreadful. As an architect, designer, and patient, I can do something to help.
I believe well-designed places and objects can actually improve healing, while poor design can inhibit it.
As a young man, even if I was going to see a play or a film by myself, I didn't feel like I was alone. There was something that was unfolding up there that brought me into it. And I recognised that. For those two hours, it made me feel like I belonged to something really good.
I was attracted by the curve — the liberated, sensual curve suggested by the possibilities of new technology yet so often recalled in venerable old baroque churches.
The faster the word sticks to the thought, the more beautiful is the effect.
The ideal and the beautiful are identical; the ideal corresponds to the idea, and beauty to form; hence idea and substance are cognate.
Well I got this guitar and I learned how to make it talk.
Like books and black lives, albums still matter.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.