--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: A proper building grows naturally…" description: "\"A proper building grows naturally, logically, and poetically out of all its conditions.\" — Louis Sullivan" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f21/louis-sullivan-21857_building_a-proper-building-grows-naturally-logica_1512706.jpg" --- # A proper building grows naturally, logically, and… ![“A proper building grows naturally, logically, and poetically out of all its conditions.” quote by Louis Sullivan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f21/louis-sullivan-21857_building_a-proper-building-grows-naturally-logica_1512706.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f21/louis-sullivan-21857_building_a-proper-building-grows-naturally-logica_1512706.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f21/louis-sullivan-21857_building_a-proper-building-grows-naturally-logica_1512706.jpg) > “A proper building grows naturally, logically, and poetically out of all its conditions.” [Louis Sullivan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louis-sullivan/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. A building should develop organically, with logical and poetic harmony, reflecting its environment and conditions. **In simple terms:** Buildings grow naturally, logically, poetically. Key Takeaway Design structures that respond to their context. Themes architecture design organic growth poetry Mood inspirational thoughtful Type philosophical practical When to use this quote - urban planning - sustainable construction - public spaces - educational curricula Key Concepts form follows function contextual design aesthetic harmony Questions to Reflect On - How can architects balance logic and poetry? - What conditions most influence design decisions? A Different Perspective Practical constraints may limit ideal designs. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Building](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/building/) [Building Grows](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/building-grows-5572264/) [Conditions](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/conditions/) [Engineering](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/engineering/) [Grows](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/grows/) [Grows Naturally](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/grows-naturally-3262923/) [Logically Poetically](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/logically-poetically-5572266/) [Naturally Logically](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/naturally-logically-5572267/) [Proper Building](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/proper-building-5572265/) ## Related quotes > [Marijuana grows naturally...Don't you think making nature against the law seems a bit, I don't know, unnatural?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-hicks/marijuana-grows-naturally-don-t-you-think-making-nature-against-the/) [Bill Hicks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-hicks/) > [Why is marijuana against the law? It grows naturally upon our planet. Doesn’t the idea of making nature against the law seem to you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-hicks/why-is-marijuana-against-the-law-it-grows-naturally-upon-our-planet/) [Bill Hicks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-hicks/) > [My objective is to design a space that nobody else can come up with while using the material that anyone can use.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tadao-ando/my-objective-is-to-design-a-space-that-nobody-else-can-come-up-with/) [Tadao Ando](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tadao-ando/) > [Some architects have a preconceived notion of what a building should be](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/curtis-w-fentress/some-architects-have-a-preconceived-notion-of-what-a-building-should/) [Curtis W. Fentress](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/curtis-w-fentress/) > [I think the ethics and morals of genetic engineering are very complicated. It intrigues me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roger-spottiswoode/i-think-the-ethics-and-morals-of-genetic-engineering-are-very/) [Roger Spottiswoode](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roger-spottiswoode/) > [Design certainly has a cosmetic, aesthetic aim. It always aims at making things beautiful. But relevance is just as important. 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Your personal choice plays a big role.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gauri-khan/design-is-a-very-personal-thing-it-s-like-art-your-personal-choice/) [Gauri Khan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gauri-khan/) > [I design some of my own clothes now.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kiernan-shipka/i-design-some-of-my-own-clothes-now/) [Kiernan Shipka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kiernan-shipka/) > [Batley and Spen has a high proportion of people working in manufacturing, and we can boast the full range of industries, including high-skilled, precision…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jo-cox/batley-and-spen-has-a-high-proportion-of-people-working-in/) [Jo Cox](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jo-cox/) > [Design is not making beauty, beauty emerges from selection, affinities, integration, love.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louis-kahn/design-is-not-making-beauty-beauty-emerges-from-selection-affinities/) [Louis Kahn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louis-kahn/) > [“Nothing is easier than yesterday's solutions.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roger-sperry/nothing-is-easier-than-yesterday-s-solutions/) [Roger Sperry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roger-sperry/) > [The bones of my architecture are very much related to the structure, to the physical fact of how a building can stand up; it's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/santiago-calatrava/the-bones-of-my-architecture-are-very-much-related-to-the-structure/) [Santiago Calatrava](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/santiago-calatrava/) ## More by Louis Sullivan > [Happiness and depression cannot blossom on the same vine. Some people affirm their woes and beg for sympathy. Others, unfortunately, cast gloom wherever they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louis-sullivan/happiness-and-depression-cannot-blossom-on-the-same-vine-some-people/) [Louis Sullivan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louis-sullivan/) > [It cannot for a moment be doubted that an art work to be alive, to awaken us to its life, to inspire us sooner…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louis-sullivan/it-cannot-for-a-moment-be-doubted-that-an-art-work-to-be-alive-to/) [Louis Sullivan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louis-sullivan/) > [It is the mass dream of inverted self, populous with fears overt and secret, that forms the continuous but gossamer thread upon which are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louis-sullivan/it-is-the-mass-dream-of-inverted-self-populous-with-fears-overt-and/) [Louis Sullivan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louis-sullivan/) > [How strange it seems that education, in practice, so often means suppression: that instead of leading the mind outward to the light of day…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louis-sullivan/how-strange-it-seems-that-education-in-practice-so-often-means/) [Louis Sullivan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louis-sullivan/) > [The architect who combines in his being the powers of vision, of imagination, of intellect, of sympathy with human need and the power to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louis-sullivan/the-architect-who-combines-in-his-being-the-powers-of-vision-of/) [Louis Sullivan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louis-sullivan/) > [What are books but folly, and what is an education but an arrant hypocrisy, and what is art but a curse when they touch…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louis-sullivan/what-are-books-but-folly-and-what-is-an-education-but-an-arrant/) [Louis Sullivan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louis-sullivan/) > [Form follows function.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louis-sullivan/form-follows-function/) [Louis Sullivan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louis-sullivan/) > [National Health Insurance means combining the efficiency of the Postal Service with the compassion of the I.R.S. ... and the cost accounting of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louis-sullivan/national-health-insurance-means-combining-the-efficiency-of-the/) [Louis Sullivan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louis-sullivan/) > [The chief characteristics of the tall building is that it is lofty. It must be every inch a proud and soaring thing, rising in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louis-sullivan/the-chief-characteristics-of-the-tall-building-is-that-it-is-lofty-it/) [Louis Sullivan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louis-sullivan/) > [If with open mind one reads and observes industriously and long; if in so doing one covers a wide field and so covering reflects…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louis-sullivan/if-with-open-mind-one-reads-and-observes-industriously-and-long-if-in/) [Louis Sullivan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louis-sullivan/) > [To teach is to touch the heart and impel it to action.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louis-sullivan/to-teach-is-to-touch-the-heart-and-impel-it-to-action/) [Louis Sullivan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louis-sullivan/) > [The feudal concept of self-preservation is poisoned at the core by the virulent assumption of master and man, of potentate and slave, of external…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louis-sullivan/the-feudal-concept-of-self-preservation-is-poisoned-at-the-core-by/) [Louis Sullivan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louis-sullivan/) > [Implicit in true freedom of spirit lies a proud and virile will. Such glorious power of free will to choose, envisages beneficent social responsibility…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louis-sullivan/implicit-in-true-freedom-of-spirit-lies-a-proud-and-virile-will-such/) [Louis Sullivan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louis-sullivan/) > [The problem of the tall office building is one of the most stupendous, one of the most magnificent opportunities that the Lord of Nature…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louis-sullivan/the-problem-of-the-tall-office-building-is-one-of-the-most-stupendous/) [Louis Sullivan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louis-sullivan/) > [What the people are within, the buildings express without.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louis-sullivan/what-the-people-are-within-the-buildings-express-without/) [Louis Sullivan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louis-sullivan/) [Explore all 28 Louis Sullivan quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louis-sullivan/) ## More Building quotes > [You, of Canada, are building a magnificent record of achievement. My country rejoices in it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dwight-d-eisenhower/you-of-canada-are-building-a-magnificent-record-of-achievement-my/) [Dwight D. Eisenhower](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dwight-d-eisenhower/) > [One of the things the United States does well is building coalitions. What the U.S. knows is that if you don't have a coalition…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shimon-peres/one-of-the-things-the-united-states-does-well-is-building-coalitions/) [Shimon Peres](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shimon-peres/) > [Surely, if Mother Nature had been consulted, she would never have consented to building a city in New Orleans.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mortimer-zuckerman/surely-if-mother-nature-had-been-consulted-she-would-never-have/) [Mortimer Zuckerman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mortimer-zuckerman/) > [Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/believing-with-you-that-religion-is-a-matter-which-lies-solely/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [Peace is an ongoing process. It begins with the first step and it does not end. We, all of us alive today, are the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-krieger/peace-is-an-ongoing-process-it-begins-with-the-first-step-and-it-does/) [David Krieger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-krieger/) > [I've done so many other projects where you're in a room with a reader and you're acting your lines out: 'We have to get…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-cummings/i-ve-done-so-many-other-projects-where-you-re-in-a-room-with-a-reader/) [Jim Cummings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jim-cummings/) > [Absolutely, you can improve and become better at toughness. It's a talent, but it can be acquired, too. I think of it like building…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-harbaugh/absolutely-you-can-improve-and-become-better-at-toughness-it-s-a/) [Jim Harbaugh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jim-harbaugh/) > [ T\]he church is not a place. It's not a building. It's not a preaching point. It's not a spiritual service provider. It's a people… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-dever/t-he-church-is-not-a-place-it-s-not-a-building-it-s-not-a-preaching/) [Mark Dever](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-dever/) > [I'd like to play Ian Paisley, actually. I'd need building up, though he's very frail now.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/liam-neeson/i-d-like-to-play-ian-paisley-actually-i-d-need-building-up-though-he/) [Liam Neeson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/liam-neeson/) > [Death is but an aspect of life, and the destruction of one material form is but a prelude to building up of another.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/death-is-but-an-aspect-of-life-and-the-destruction-of-one-material/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Some architects have a preconceived notion of what a building should be](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/curtis-w-fentress/some-architects-have-a-preconceived-notion-of-what-a-building-should/) [Curtis W. Fentress](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/curtis-w-fentress/) > [As for the forces, electromagnetism and gravity we experience in everyday life. But the weak and strong forces are beyond our ordinary experience. So…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-witten/as-for-the-forces-electromagnetism-and-gravity-we-experience-in/) [Edward Witten](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-witten/) > [I'm 30. I'm about to hit my prime now. I need to act and keep building.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dillian-whyte/i-m-30-i-m-about-to-hit-my-prime-now-i-need-to-act-and-keep-building/) [Dillian Whyte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dillian-whyte/) > [The essential functions of the mind consist in understanding and in inventing, in other words, in building up structures by structuring reality.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-piaget/the-essential-functions-of-the-mind-consist-in-understanding-and-in/) [Jean Piaget](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-piaget/) > [Practically every time I speak up at a school conference, a political event, or my apartment building association's annual meeting, I'm met with a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pamela-druckerman/practically-every-time-i-speak-up-at-a-school-conference-a-political/) [Pamela Druckerman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pamela-druckerman/) [Browse all 5,974 Building quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/building/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "A proper building grows naturally, logically, and poetically out of all its conditions.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Louis Sullivan" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louis-sullivan/a-proper-building-grows-naturally-logically-and-poetically-out-of-all/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Building" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louis-sullivan/a-proper-building-grows-naturally-logically-and-poetically-out-of-all/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f21/louis-sullivan-21857_building_a-proper-building-grows-naturally-logica_1512706.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f21/louis-sullivan-21857_building_a-proper-building-grows-naturally-logica_1512706.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f21/louis-sullivan-21857_building_a-proper-building-grows-naturally-logica_1512706.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“A proper building grows naturally, logically, and poetically out of all its conditions.” — Louis Sullivan", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Louis Sullivan", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louis-sullivan/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "A proper building grows naturally, logically,...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louis-sullivan/a-proper-building-grows-naturally-logically-and-poetically-out-of-all/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louis-sullivan/a-proper-building-grows-naturally-logically-and-poetically-out-of-all/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```