Thought of the day....

While researching "natural architecture", I came across a residence designed by Bart Prince. The image below intrigued me - and I thought I would create a sketch problem for myself out of the inspiration from the photo....

While looking at this photo, I noticed how the architect intersected the trees (surrounding nature) with his structure - almost without purpose or reason. To be honest, it looks to me, as if a space ship has crashed amongst the trees and is suspended in midair - and at first glance I wasnt sure if I could fully appreciate the design. But then I realized, what better way to create a dialog between the surrounding landscape and the architecture itself - without being too invasive. The trees were saved - in fact the building was "weaved" into the setting, incorporating the trees into the design.

So I decided to make a quick sketch of this "weave" (an extremely loose interpretation). Afterwards, I took a step back...I re-examined the trees and where the structure "fell" amongst the trees.


If we take a look at a simple tree sketch - and "highlight" the negative space - the space we typically work around/within - the negative space has interesting geometry, shape and size.

Basically this got me thinking... in order to "preserve" nature or to be "respectful" to nature - must we remain within these "negative boundaries?" The alternative, of course, is to simply eliminate the "nature" (tree - area of which the negative space belongs) - but if we decide to work within that space - what kind of architecture can be created?