Architectural Essentials

Abstract

Both architecture and cooking conceal the essentials of life within them. In my architecture I strive to track down these essentials hidden within things and to express them architecturally. I understand the essence of architecture — and of cooking — as “lessness.” Before establishing a link between my architecture and cooking, I would like to define this idea of “lessness” more precisely in architectural terms first. I think of architectural space as emptiness, as a mass of air, as depth, as silence, as something without which there can be no horizon. Space as spatium, as extensio, extending in all directions. For me, creating architectural space means in Heidegger’s sense creating a place, it means placing and ordering, to retain openness. Openness, free space gives presence to the appearance of things and humans. Measured placing allows things to belong to their place and thus to relate to each other. The principle of the medieval monastery is a source of inspiration for me. Here walls create a perfect, enclosed space. When we enter a monastery, we inevitably feel the intensity of this space.