24 hours is all I need. I wish I did not have to sleep or encounter the human age of evolution. there is a tendency for me to sometimes become a cyborg or to draw forever without being disturbed, but I feel I may not recognise myself in the future of the abyss that all Architects at one point go through, maybe we may attract all types of species but it is without intentional attraction.
The studio culture is what all designers need, the need to collaborate, the need to go to crits, the need to go to the pub with our lecturers and discuss the meaning of life. As my friend Bobby once said "I drink to make other people interesting" how right he is. When i look at the buildings I want to create, I guess, I can connect them to outer space and spaceships as the forms are created by the influence of flight, we may think of Leonardo da Vinci's flying machines and the connections of thought, that form and function actually has. We don't want to live on the results of the 20th Century but rather explore more...
The studio is born out of necessity, it can be created in any room, in any space, in any time, in any sequence, with whoever you want, whenever you want. there are still professors today at a good age still teaching, how wonderful this is! your never too old for anything! De Montfort University was the best time and after a year out placement, I went to Edinburgh University. Having travelled extensively to different countries and principle cities, you search for the answers to your own questions and you eventually will always end up back at home. America opened my eyes to the expanse of how large buildings can be, whilst Istanbul and the speed of the taxis missing each other are one inch apart, whilst this can also be compared to Indian taxi drivers or the most common near miss event with the Rickshaw. Why did Bill Gates fly 2000 Indians over each month to work for Microsoft? Was it because they could calculate faster than any machine including IBM's deep blue, or was it that they worked like ants with an imaginary sugar hill? who knows, but you start thinking about the way things work in the world if your an Architect.
We can say that the studio culture today is missing in the post pandemic world, we are living in a constant dream state watching our screens and entering into the virtual world each morning when we switch on our computers or stare at our screens, yes its true. I have faith that the old world will return. (I don't want it to be George Orwell's 1984 all the time!) I will be able to go to Starbucks and just drink my coffee without the phone, just like a psychopath and time would slow down, that's what coffee shops are like, they are like Einstein's equation, It's like being in a train whilst you walk and the relative velocity becomes zero, although Elon Musk will be doing good with these calculations after being inspired by Hari Seldon, the great psychohistorian who built trantor. A city of ever expanding Steel.
One cannot deny the future for it is here right now, imagine a city on Mars and the thought process one requires to discipline your entire life to helping humanity, what will happen to human civilisation once the Sun becomes a red giant and engulfs Earth? to not get to Mars would be Elon Musk's failure, however, after selling his beautiful house in Bel Air for a 2 bedroom cottage and sleeping on the factory floor to build his Tesla cars, due to high demand for the various versions of the mass produced Model 3. I must admit I am inspired by his creative journey.
What has become real is rockets that can take off in orbit and land on a ship with precise relative velocity, now you can calculate targets like ballistic missiles with auto correction built in.
We are already preparing to launch into space see:-
Starship test flight https://youtu.be/TeVbYCIFVa8
Mission to Mars a new colony https://youtu.be/-Oox2w5sMcA
Starship update streamed live on 11th Feb 2022 see:-
Cities will be built on Mars the experimental protocols of the battery, the car, the tunneling and the connected space that we don't quite yet realize is actually happening in California. On my last visit to Space X, I asked if I could meet Mr Musk, and I was handed one important contact to get closer to him (usually you are 5 contacts away from meeting someone truly great) and I wanted to ask him about Hari Seldon and how he was inspired by the fictional character created by the Great Isacc Asimov. Still I will write him a letter for our next meeting, he is kind enough to give interviews and down to Earth like most Entrepreneurs are, because they have done all the hard work, the hard graft, the late super nights, the 16 hour days end on end, and that's what makes them feel good and success then all of a sudden automatically comes to you and I am sure we can all find our own creative inspiration.
The studio culture is where we were all trained, The office automatically becomes a studio when creative work can be accomplished. We would work late into the night create the atmosphere of the architecture that wanted to be born and the studios and the crit's offered this. We enjoyed model making and pushing the boundaries of what was possible,
The Yale experience gave me the feeling of the Ivy league schools together with Cornell and the Architectural Association all influencing the independent thinker with no boundaries.
"We want to break Free" as Freddy Mercury would say...
However I would like to leave you all with one last thought.................................................Godspeed!
