Arthur Erickson Quotes

Architecture students are generally given theoretical projects, often located at distant locations, and told to come up with a design.

Architecture is by definition a very collaborative process.

I wanted a real profession. And I'd always been interested in architecture and in design and in, really, what makes things work. And understanding what's kind of behind the walls and why things stand up and some things don't.

I am but an architectural composer.

I don't see that any buildings should be excluded from the term architecture, as long as they are done properly.

Something like 'Abstract' can really give people access to the behind-the-scenes of how our physical surroundings take shape.

Ultimately, the artistic part of architecture has always interested me.

I would say that many architects are very logical. They start their process from analysis and from rational processes to try and find the 'right' answer, like solving a mathematic equation.

Of course I know very little about architecture, and the older I get the less I know.

Frank Lloyd Wright made houses right up until the end. I think that's important because it gives you a direct connection to all the basic aspects of architecture - the spatial energy of the place, the construction, the materials, the site, the detail.

A great building must begin with the unmeasurable, must go through measurable means when it is being designed and in the end must be unmeasurable.

Architecture is the thoughtful making of space.

You think about the beauty and what you want to transmit. If I think about designing, I can't design.

People kind of tend to mystify design and architecture by suggesting you need to train.

I am immersed in architecture all day, working in my office or teaching.

When you design a building, you start from a general philosophy, and you come down, and you start from detail and come up. Only the theoretical architect believes that you can make the concept and then sometime, somebody will come to build it.

I initially thought I would be an architect, maybe. So I went to architecture camp and quickly learned that I did not want to be an architect. I was like, 'No. This is not for me.'

I would have loved to have been an architect - which, actually, would have been a disaster.

Architecture is about public space held by buildings.

I think about architecture all the time. That's the problem. But I've always been like that. I dream it sometimes.

To me it was fascinating, the idea of going to university and studying a subject - architecture - that I had already faced in building some small houses.

When I work on sculpture, I don't have to worry about function. When I work on a piece of architecture, I must think about function all the time.

Just taking a piece of dirt and envisioning the building you'd like to put on it - it's an amazing process.

I think architects design outside in. Or they design basically outside. They don't get in the building anymore.

Architects create spaces that accommodate human activity.