“I plead for conservation of human culture, which is much more fragile than nature herself. We needn't destroy other cultures with the force of our own.”
Nature
“After 1980, you never heard reference to space again. Surface, the most convincing evidence of the descent into materialism, became the focus of design. Space disappeared.”
DesignAll Quotes by Arthur Erickson
“Only when inspired to go beyond consciousness by some extraordinary insight does beauty manifest unexpectedly.”
Beauty“Vitality is radiated from exceptional art and architecture.”
Architecture“Inspiration in Science may have to do with ideas, but not in Art. In art it is in the senses that are instinctively responsive to the medium of expression.”
Science“The way of architecture is the quiet voice that underlies it and has guided it from the beginning.”
Architecture“No phenomenon can be isolated, but has repercussions through every aspect of our lives. We are learning that we are a fundamental part of nature's ecosystems.”
Learning“Great buildings that move the spirit have always been rare. In every case they are unique, poetic, products of the heart.”
Architecture“We have today a fairly thorough knowledge of the early Greco-Roman period because our motivations are the same.”
Knowledge“Modernism released us from the constraints of everything that had gone before with a euphoric sense of freedom.”
Freedom“We are stymied by regulations, limited choice and the threat of litigation. Neither consultants nor industry itself provide research which takes architecture forward.”
Architecture“You have to see a building to comprehend it. Photographs cannot convey the experience, nor film.”
Experience“Does an architecture to assuage the spirit have a place?”
Architecture“Rationalism is the enemy of art, though necessary as a basis for architecture.”
Architecture“Roman civilization had achieved, within the bounds of its technology, relatively as great a mastery of time and space as we have achieved today.”
Technology“Today's developer is a poor substitute for the committed entrepreneur of the last century for whom the work of architecture represented a chance to celebrate the worth of his enterprise.”
Architecture“Western history has been a history of deed done, actions performed and results achieved.”
History“The new architecture of transparency and lightness comes from Japan and Europe.”
Architecture“Architecture doesn't come from theory. You don't think your way through a building.”
Architecture“After 1980, you never heard reference to space again. Surface, the most convincing evidence of the descent into materialism, became the focus of design. Space disappeared.”
Design“Part of our western outlook stems from the scientific attitude and its method of isolating the parts of a phenomenon in order to analyze them.”
Attitude