Man has evolved a mutual relationship with nature on earth, but his power to change its surface has grown so tremendously that this may become a curse instead of a blessing.
Interpretation
Human advancements have allowed us to alter nature significantly, but this power may lead to negative consequences.
Walter Gropius highlights the paradox of human development in relation to nature. While we've cultivated a symbiotic relationship with the environment, our growing ability to manipulate it could turn into a destructive force, leading us to face unforeseen challenges and threats to our ecosystem.
In practice
In a speech about sustainable living, one could say, 'As Walter Gropius warned, our power to change nature could be a curse if not handled responsibly.'
The ultimate aim of all artistic activity is building! ... Architects, sculptors, painters, we must all get back to craft! ... The artist is a heightened manifestation of the craftsman. ... Let us form ... a new guild of craftsmen without the class divisions that set out to raise an arrogant barrier between craftsmen and artists! ... Let us together create the new building of the future which will be all in one: architecture and sculpture and painting.
A modern building should derive its architectural significance solely from the vigour and consequence of its own organic proportions. It must be true to itself, logically transparent, and virginal of lies or trivialities.
The utilization of flat roofs as 'grounds' offers us a means of re-acclimatizing nature amidst the stony deserts of our great towns; for the plots from which she has been evicted to make room for buildings can be given back to her up aloft.
Architecture begins where engineering ends.
Today the arts exist in isolation, from which they can be rescued only through the conscious, cooperative effort of all craftsmen. Architects, painters, and sculptors must recognize anew and learn to grasp the composite character of a building both as an entity and in its separate parts.
Good architecture should be a projection of life itself, and that implies an intimate knowledge of biological, social, technical, and artistic problems.
I am one who eats breakfast gazing at morning glories.
Animals are something invented by plants to move seeds around. An extremely yang solution to a peculiar problem which they faced.
The same stream of life that runs through my veins night and day runs through the world and dances in rhythmic measures. It is the same life that shoots in joy through the dust of the earth in numberless blades of grass and breaks into tumultuous waves of leaves and flowers.
Why this cult of wilderness?... because we like the taste of freedom; because we like the smell of danger.
All was silent as before - All silent save the dripping rain.
We can't negotiate the facts. We can't negotiate the truth about the situation. And for those who are too fearful to finish, it can be done and must be done. Make sure we succeed, . . . It is wrong for this generation to destroy the habitability of our planet and ruin the prospects of every future generation.
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