Читать книгу Inseminations - Juhani Pallasmaa - Страница 30

I have called architecture an ‘impure’ and ‘messy’ discipline because it contains inherently irreconcilable ingredients, such as metaphysical, cultural and economic aspirations, functional, technical, and aesthetic objectives, etc. In fact, I cannot think of a more complex human activity, or artefact, than architecture. The conflicting aspirations that are an inseparable part of human architecture tend to turn our constructions towards irrationality. The great Norwegian architect Sverre Fehn once said to me in a private conversation: ‘The bird's nest is absolute functionalism because the bird is not conscious of its death’.³⁶ Our actions, however, are deeply motivated by our suppressed fear of death. To condense the ‘illogical’ nature of architecture, we can say that architecture is at the same time the means and the end.

As Alvar Aalto claimed in the 1950s that only artistic vision can bring the thousands of conflicting ingredients in an architectural problem into a harmonious synthesis.³⁷ Yet, in the perspective of sustainability, the various crucial qualities of this synthesis have to pass a critical evaluation and measurement. I am not preaching of a ‘scientific architecture’, I suggest an architecture that is grounded in the full existential understanding of human destiny, and this view certainly calls for a deeply lived vision more than scientific formulations. Our task is more ethical than technical. Architecture is not only engaged with today, it also expresses what we want to become. We build and dwell in accordance with our thoughts, fears and dreams.