Vernacular Architecture Quotes

I wanted to disconnect from contemporary architecture

I think the chance of finding beauty is higher if you don't work on it directly. Beauty in architecture is driven by practicality. This is what you learn from studying the old townscapes of the Swiss farmers.

The most enjoyable things are the old eighteenth-century terraces that are still standing, that domestic architecture.

I think it's important to approach a house in a way that's reflective of the original environment. Maybe I'm a sentimentalist, but I think that certain geographies call out for certain architecture. I like residences that reflect their place.

Good buildings make and are made by their settings, and they are appropriately different in different locations. Climate, culture, topography and materials have helped create regional architectural languages that seem curiously right for their locations and for all times.

For me, I think the most exciting thing in architecture is the re-emergence of the locally-focused architect.

Some of the best work that's happening right now is from architects who have remained in their home countries and who have focused on a local or national identity and the idea of critical regionalism.

As the architecture of a country always follows the earliest structures, American architecture should be a refinement of the log-house. The Egyptian is so of the cavern and the mound; the Chinese, of the tent; the Gothic, of overarching trees; the Greek, of a cabin.

Architecture is not merely national but clearly has local ties in that it is rooted in the earth.

Most of the wonderful places in the world were not made by architects but by the people.