Lay a beam between these two towers of such width as we need to walk on: there is no philosophical wisdom of such great firmness that it can give us courage to walk on it as we should if it were on the ground.
Infrastructure is much more important than architecture.
The loftiest edifices need the deepest foundations.
Any structure must have a strong foundation. The cornerstones anchor the foundation. For some reason the cornerstones that I chose to begin with I never changed.
You can't build a great building on a weak foundation. You must have a solid foundation if you're going to have a strong superstructure.
Engineering is achieving function while avoiding failure.
Architecture is the reaching out for the truth.
The foundation stones of a great building are destined to groan and be pressed upon; it is not for them to crown the edifice.
The ultimate goal of the architect...is to create a paradise. Every house, every product of architecture... should be a fruit of our endeavour to build an earthly paradise for people.
Failure is Central to engineering. Every single calculation that an engineer makes is a failure calculation.
Most software today is very much like an Egyptian pyramid with millions of bricks piled on top of each other, with no structural integrity, but just done by brute force and thousands of slaves.
A house built on sand is, in fair weather, just as good as if builded on a rock. A cobweb is as good as the mightiest chain cable when there is no strain on it. It is trial that proves one thing weak and another strong.
The very essence of architecture consists of a variety and development reminiscent of natural organic life. This is the only true style in architecture.
A building has integrity, just as a man and just as seldom! It must be true to its own idea, have its own form, and serve its own purpose!
Hence no force, however great, can stretch a cord, however fine, into a horizontal line which is accurately straight: there will always be a bending downwards.
Contemporary architects tend to impose modernity on something. There is a certain concern for history, but it's not very deep.
Pressure can burst a pipe, or pressure can make a diamond.
A lasting architecture has to have roots.
Proper accounting is like engineering. You need a margin of safety. Thank God we don't design bridges and airplanes the way we do accounting.
Form and function are a unity, two sides of one coin. In order to enhance function, appropriate form must exist or be created.
The loftier the building, the deeper must the foundation be laid.
Architecture is the beginning of something because it's - if you're not involved in first principles, if you're not involved in the absolute, the beginning of that generative process, it's cake decoration.
Architecture starts when you carefully put two bricks together. There it begins.
Architecture is an expression of values.
Nothing requires the architect's care more than the due proportions of buildings.
