50. Editor's Choice Edition: Designing The Indescribable

“… But then the whole question is, where is that source which came up from the earth, deep from the earth? And where is the connection when you merge with the ocean? And what is that link, what have you done?”

This week, in honor of our 50th episode, we will be hearing from two incredible architects as they describe their pursuits of the indescribable. This special editors choice edition combines our conversation with Javier Sánchez as well as our conversation with Pritzker Prize winning architect, B.V. Doshi. 

Timestamp Outline

1:45  In the shadows of masters: the complexity of being in and performing in the world
4:24  “Time has to prove that you have done something good, or maybe not. But it’s only time. Architecture is, I think, about time.”
5:06 Teaching at Kansas State University, a transformative time
7:23 A paradox of developer-architect
8:22 “We are a species grappling with what is best for humans and what is best for capital.”
10:07 The transformative power of running
13:16 Nature and landscape from the perspective of Peruvian Chasqui, Mexican Tarahumara runners, and 100k Andes marathon in Peru
17:00 Roman saying: mens sana in corpore sano
18:59 Tears and Japanese temples
20:14 Ways of knowing the world: modernism, meditation, extreme running...
20:55 Mexican modernism, Le Corbusier, Teodoro Gonzalez de Leon, influences from the North and West, and Pre-Columbian indigenous aesthetics and ways of being
22:17 Digital vs hand work
24:08 Storytelling as a design tool: architect friend Sebastian Mariscal
25:03 “Architectures of not thinking?”; Ginkaku-ji pavilion in Japan
27:48      What is architectural teaching for you? What is pedagogy in a studio?

31:52 The origin of the river Nerbudda in Madhya Pradesh: stones, a small spring
33:00 On inner force and the river of life: “So you are touching the ground and flowing at the same time - it’s very much like us, human beings.”
35:48 “So practice goes on, work goes on. But then the whole question is, where is that source which came up from the earth, deep from the earth? And where is the connection when you merge with the ocean? And what is that link, what have you done?”
39:31 What is the real essence of architecture today?
39:50 “Is [dwelling] a place you go or is it something you’re only buying and selling?”
41:01 “Building is a living being. How do you celebrate life?”: celebration as a way to connect our inner self to the outer world
42:03 On vastu purusha, music, dance, poetry, rhythm, navarasa and the essence of architecture
45:12 Stella Kramrisch, bulging columns in Ellora, spandana (energy), and vastu shastra (the science of environment)
47:23 Which projects still vibrate energy to you?
47:49 The story of the house: Le Corbusier, a woman descending a staircase, sense of theater, movement, proportions, and the heart and body-memory of spaces
51:19 Intuition as the inner force: “The body remembers, your heart remembers, and as long as your mind is not working, you are better off.”
52:39 The story of Sangath: early morning bike rides as a student, village landscapes, animals, trees, platforms, and benches made of earth
53:30 What is the rasa of life?
56:56      “I have created a fluid architecture, architecture which is giving you different experiences… it talks to climate, local place, craftsmen, and it can be enjoyable.”: Amdavad ni Gufa, not done in a finite way