Adolf Loos used to say that “the good architect is the one who starts from where his predecessors ended”, so that he continues the process of their ideas, of their inventions- creating a path long like the history. The importance of this concept stands in the idea that it is not worthy to start every time from zero, but it is good to treasure the experiences of those who came before.
To put aside the pride and the presumption- and to learn. To learn and take note. A subject like architecture needs direct and indirect collaboration, it doesn’t know limits to immensity if we think to all the fields in which it can be applied, to all the contexts in which it is present, not to mention its history.
A good architect has to follow the way of evolution, for sure. He cannot construct exclusively according to his own conceptions. A good architect should look all around, valuable ideas do not solely come from our strokes of genius, but also from what surrounds us. In the same way, development and evolution, i.e. the technological one, but also the spatial-formal one, are originated from the reality around us.
In this sense, “the bricklayer that knows the Latin” has to be interested and updated on developments that ideas and people bring to his own life. This is how the incredible machine called history goes on.
To observe and understand is needed, while to look and see is not enough. It is quite useless to leaf through one of those architecture books, where pictures follow one another without any explanation, showing scenarios that will never happen again, after taking the picture and using Photoshop.
To observe, to read, to listen is needed..
