When I look upon the marvels of this planet, I see dwellings. Dwellings that mimic the landscape, draw upon it's lessons and accent it's features. Humans within the landscape, living in the cliffs and under the hills, and up in the sky.
Nature inspires me to dream of buildings that employ crystallization like rocks, structural systems like the Xylem in a tree or the exoskeleton of an insect, buildings that filter light and clean the air like a rain forest or that store their energy in complex starches like the tail of a lizard or a Yam.
Above all however, is the concept that the buildings work with the earth, within the ecosystem which it resides and utilizing the local features available to it. Historically, human development has done exactly the opposite.
A quick study done years ago while getting my Masters in Architecture from UCD. The premise was to take a complex idea derived from nature and graphically represent it in a clear, concise drawing.
Most likely I was inspired by:
a) my love of Structures I and II and Mechanical Engineering
b) the value of analyzing, simplifying, developing and representing (graphically) developed during Precedents by Mark Gallertner,
3) The teaching's of Keith Loftin in a design studio who instilled in me a process of design so simply I'm only now truly understanding how it has helped me develop my own design process which has further develpment into my own language and style, identifiable amongst other architects works as 'oh, that's dbBrad's work.'
