THE POETICS OF LAND, SKY AND SPIRIT
GIVING RISE TO FORM, SPACE AND ARCHITECTURE IN THE SOUTHWEST
To honor this place, the Southwest, what we build is more of a growth out of the gifts of the world found here than it is a mere tabula rasa , blank slate, where we can merely ‘put' anything that fits the magazine images that so overwhelms popular culture. To build in harmony with the land, the sky and spirit born of Native American, Spanish and the Western settler's influence is to resonate with a presence that transcends mere form and material.
The land: Open and vast, infinitely extending, not in straight lines but meandering in rhythm with the contours of the fields, arroyos, vegas, rivers and bosques punctuated with hills, peaks and mountains, and given a rich texture of piñon and cottonwood trees, chamisa, cactus and sage that imbue this place with not only a sense of power and visual gravity but a fabric of color and life.
The natural adobe walls that support wooden beams, vigas and latillas of the pueblos and haciendas rests on materials hewn from the earth blended with the same visual gravity and presence of the land. The mass of the walls and roof and rooms rise and fall in a proportion that suggests a harmony with the rugged landscape in which they rest, nestled amongst the natural plants native to the place.
The Sky: No words can aptly describe the power of the sky and sense of space found in the Southwest. Artists spend a lifetime attempting to capture the shear force that informs the sense of space here that is born of a sky of awesome beauty and spirit. It involves the whole body of senses and mind of awareness to feel and comprehend the size, glow, color and clarity of the sky found here in the Southwest. The very air has a scent that speaks of the combination of land and sky.
The sky; descending to the horizon of the land in a marriage of atmosphere and presence is beyond mere fact. It has solidity by its own nature and is an encompassing plenum of all that arises into becoming. The Sangre de Christos Mountains (Blood of Christ), so aptly named when the orchestration of golden light of the setting sun, the deep blue and mauve of the sky and the natural color of the mountains produces a transcendental glow of deep purple and red that can only be experienced but rarely voiced. Or the utter clarity of the brilliant blue sky punctuated with towering, cumulous clouds born of the monsoon flow in summer. If one is fortunate enough to build where the night sky is not overwhelmed by the artificial lights of the city, then the dome of the vast tapestry of black sky and brilliant stars subsumes anything of the scale of man. And yet, to light the interior with a golden sepia tone praises the night shadows as the sister of the mellowing day.
One can only attempt to capture alive , this space and sky and to frame it, to allow its presence into our built environments. To allow it in by incorporating it, (taking into the body) into the building and the body of woman and man, we are crafting the only voice, save that of the poets, competent enough to express this marriage.
Spirit: To speak of the Spirit that is one with the Land and Sky, that is more than the history of the place is the one intangible that is the solar light that enlightens the entire Southwest. The culture of the Native Americans of the Pueblos; the buildings, the art and unequaled craftsmanship of pottery, jewelry, textiles, furniture, wood carving and the ceremonies are woven into the soul of the Land and Sky. One can hardly look at the world of the Southwest and not feel the presence of a culture whose very existence was a marriage of world, soul and spiritual force. The Spanish Conquistadors who conquered yet left a living heritage mixed with the ancient people and the old European mind as well as the Western settlers (the cowboy West) are a deep spring that has soaked into the bones of this world.
The form of building and art that is an echo of this history and this presence is the becoming of form, space and spirit that is resonant with the history that is a present reality. Here, in the Southwest, the refined elegance of traditional form is not a dead monument to a dead past or a tired style that just doesn't fit anymore. It is, however, a manifestation of that very present reality . Contemporary building informed by this spirit can also be that manifestation of presence when it is not principled solely on style. Style without roots to the spirit of a place cannot echo within the meaning of one's life. Building that is principled on the legacy of this land, sky and spirit is an architecture that honors that legacy and enlightens all who dwell in a built environment that speaks of a greater meaning beyond the mere gesture of four walls and a roof.
Elements of Design | Living With Land | The Nuts & Bolts of Architecture
