Beginnings/Order/Proportion

In Juhani Pallasmaa's "The Geometry of Feeling: A Look at the Phenomenology of Architecture" he makes several comments that I find quite interesting. He says that if a building doesn't fulfill the expectation to phenomenologically symbolize the human existence it is "unable to influence the emotional feelings linked in our souls with the images a building creates." He also discusses what he calls the "Architecture of Memory" stating that "architecture of the mind emerging out of feelings and memory images is built on different principles from the architecture develped out of professional approaches."
Tell a memory of architecture that is dear to you. According to Pallasmaa's theory what would have been the phenomenon influencing your emotions to the point that it caused you to remember this particular experience so vividly? Do you agree with Pallasmaa on the idea that professional designs are based on different principles than your architectural memories? Or do you disagree, by disagreeing I mean would you say that you use memories often to approach projects in school?

People/Place/Occasion

How do you feel about Samuel Mockbee's statement that "everyone, rich or poor, deserves a shelter for the soul"? How do you think you could uphold that statement with projects that you are currently working on? Do you think every structure should?

Craft, Making, and Tectonics

"Corruptio optimi pessima! (Corruption of the best is worst!) Some materials promise far more than others but only the workman can bring out what they promise. In this domain of quality our environment is deteriorating." Pye, in his "The Workmanship of Risk and the Workmanship of Certainty", argues that what threatens craftmanship most is not bad workmanship in mass production but because each product is so uniform that it lacks depth and character. This reminds me of African tribal craftmanship where they believe that gods and spirits come and live in each thing they create. Do we stay with our uniform and lifeless plastic products and try to put uniqueness in them? How would we do that? Or should we try to retreave some of the ancient arts?

Sustainable Practices and Thinking Ecologically

There are two main reasons why people look at sustainable practices: for environmental issues and then for what could be called social justice. When sustainability or green products are discussed it always goes straight to ecological topics such as the ozone layer and depleting raw material supplies. Do you think that maybe you personally think of using sustainability because of energy and land fields or because of the social justice factor?

Globalization or Localization?

Which do you agree with most, globalization of everything including the economy and architects or localization? Some people think that architecture is deeply rooted in every culture. In your opinion does the loss of a culture cause the loss of the vernacular architecture (it could be looked at vice versa)?

On the relationship between electronics and architecture

Science and technology goes at its own pace seemingly without regard to its affect on society. The consumer demand of the fast-paced, emotionally void, and irrevocably selfish upcoming generations pushes our market to constantly further the scientific realm of electronic technology for the development of new toys or cool gadgets that could cut time or make us more efficient. Do you think that this demand and consummation of technology in our society is healthy? Do you think the emphasis on the technology will take away or water-down our opportunity to express ourselves through the creation of structures in a senatorial or emotional manner if we had to create "hybrids" between computers and the built environment such as the 'intelligent buildings' suggested in Mitchell's e-topia?