I say it every week—architecture can be distilled down to two things: shelter and story.
Truth is, it’s easy to get caught up in the nuts and bolts of shelter, just like we get caught up in the nuts and bolts of the practicalities of daily life. But can I say this … as important as those practicalities are, that’s the easy stuff. Shelter is easy. A lean-to, an animal skin and a fire—shelter done.
But if a house is to become a home it must be imbued with story in the same way that if living is to become a real life it must embark on the adventure of finding its authentic self.
Your life, and your home, is your story—the story of who you are and what you are all about.
Architecture, perhaps like no other art, tells the human story. It’s why Frank Lloyd Wright called architecture the mother of all arts.
Because the art of building emerges from the art of living.
And there’s the real challenge. The real hurdle.
We live in a world where profit means getting everyone to suppress their uniqueness and settle for the middle of the road mediocrity of the same mass produced story. That system counts on—no, depends upon—you staying largely asleep to yourself. And when you’re not asleep, it prefers to keep you too busy to do anything about.
In that kind of world, living well, living awake, living intentionally and self-reflectively and with the kind of passion that just might lead you to become the best version of yourself, such a life is not only different, but downright revolutionary.
And your home … your home has only one true purpose: to help you live that authentic life. Not just from the surface of the practical, but from the depths of the passionate.
You are here for such a short time, and in that blink you have this one life, this one time to be you. My hope for you is that in that time you find your most uniquely passionate you. Because that’s exactly what our world needs most. It’s what it has always needed and what it always will need most. Not endless rows of cookie cutter people living in endless rows of cookie cutter houses, but page upon page of unique and meaningful stories.
So when folks are surprised that I “take quite a philosophical approach to building homes,” my only reply is, “Why wouldn’t I?”
Your home is about you. The art of building emerges from the art of living. And the whole reason to build a beautiful home is so it can help you build yourself a beautiful life.