Memoir of an Architect

I've been a student and admirer of architecture for a very long time. Having said that, growing up in the suburbs of southern California didn't afford me much in terms of inspiration. There were a few gems. I was only an hour or so from Louis Kahn, my hero, but my everyday was quite ordinary and so I was compelled to cherish each moment and memory I was afforded as a child.

That was many years ago. Since then information and ideas have become readily available if not pervasive in society. I could (and sometimes do) spend most of my day perusing architecture in periodicals and on the net and never revisit the same project. It seems as though there's no way I could ever keep up with the now, much less everything leading up to now. It's like having a free all you can eat buffet at your disposal 24 hours a day. The problem, of course is that you can only digest so much. You must be selective and exercise restraint or you'll make yourself sick.

Architecture, like anything, requires temperance and patience, two qualities that are overlooked in today's immediacy driven society. When I feel overloaded with information, I look back on projects and writings that have had a lasting impact and try to see something new. The pictures below are Kahn's masterpiece. I can't even begin to describe the elegance and poetry embodied in the structure, but it continually inspires and teaches me. Moreover, it reminds me that there is one essential ingredient in every architectural work that cannot be overlooked; time. I hope we all give projects sufficient time to teach us their lessons; each according to their worth.