"Do you wish to rise? Begin by descending. You plan a tower that 
will pierce the clouds? Lay first the foundation of humility."

- Saint Augustine, Latin philosopher and theologian from Roman Africa.









NYC high rise building.

"Curiosity begins as an act of tearing to pieces or analysis."

- Samuel Alexander, Australian-born British philosopher






Architecture. London, England

"There's no black and white situation. 
It's all part of life. Highs, lows, middles."

- Van Morrison, musician 








Guggenheim Museum of Art, NYC.

 

"As it enters the ear, does it come in like broken glass

or does it come in like honey?"

- Eddie Condon, musician

The Royal Ontario Museum. Toronto. Crystal extension by Michael Lee-Chin.  

"Color in certain places has the great value of making 

the outlines and structural planes seem more energetic."

- Antonio Gaudi, Spanish architect 

Casa Batlló, Barcelona, Spain. By Gaudi

"Fishing is much more than fish. It is the great occasion

when we may return to the fine simplicity of our forefathers."

- Herbert Hover. 

Artists Handmade Houses, book. Photography by Don Freeman.

"And sometimes there is relief, sometimes there is new energy, and one stands up after it; till at last, someday, one perhaps doesn't stand up anymore, que soit, but that is nothing extraordinary, and I repeat, in my opinion, such is the common."

- Vincent van Gogh, Dutch post-impressionist artist

A theater made entirely out of straw and painted black. By Salto Architects, in Tallinn, Estonia.
Lasting from May to October 2011. It is a temporary building, operating for half a year, built for a specific purpose, programme and location.

"Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all 

the barriers within yourself that you have built against it."

- Rumi, Persian poet

Escalier de la Maison Horta, Brusssels, Victor Horta, c. 1900.

"Purveyors of political correctness will, in the final analysis, not even allow others their judgments... They celebrate “difference,” but they will not allow people truly to be different -- to think differently, and to say what they think."

Mark Berley

Frank Lloyd Wright, architect

“If you can't change your fate, change your attitude.”

Amy Tan, American Author

Aligholi Agha Bath House by Farhang; Isfahan, Iran

"Within you there is a stillness and a sanctuary to which you can retreat at any time and be yourself." Hermann Hesse, German Swiss writer Chris lee and Kapil Gupta of Serie Architects have completed the design of a banquet hall in Mumbai, India. They converted a disused building from Mumbais colonial past into a new banquet hall with a restaurant and bar called “The Tote.” The design was inspired by avenue of trees in the site.

"As if you could kill time without injuring eternity."

H.D. Thoreau, American author

 

“People have to really suffer before they can risk doing what they love” 
Chuck Palahniuk, author

Barcelona Pavilion designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe in 1929