Architecture Quote by Sylvia Lavin
““Architecture’s most kissable aspect is its surface. Space is hard to get a hold on. Structure has historically been inadequately pliant. Geometry—well, who really wants to kiss a square? Architecture also has more surface and more kinds of surface than anything else: outside, inside, soft and hard, there’s a surface for everyone. Finally, surfaces are where architecture gets close to turning into something else and therefore exactly where it becomes vulnerable and full of potential.””
About This Quote
Source Lecture: Architecture and Surface, Sylvia Lavin, 2019
Surfaces in architecture offer tactile and visual potential, making structures vulnerable yet full of possibility.
In simple terms: Surfaces give architecture potential and vulnerability.
Key Takeaway
Explore and design varied surfaces.
Themes
design
materiality
vulnerability
potential
Mood
analytical
creative
Type
theoretical
inspirational
When to use this quote
- building facades
- interior finishes
- public installations
Key Concepts
architecture theory
phenomenology
material science
Questions to Reflect On
- How do surfaces influence user experience?
- What balance between form and function?
A Different Perspective
Overemphasis on surface can neglect structural integrity.
![“Geometry, which should only obey Physics, when united with it sometimes commands it. If it happens that the question which we wish to examine is too complicated for all the elements to be able to enter into the analytical comparison we wish to make, we separate the more inconvenient [elements], we…” quote by Jean le Rond d'Alembert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/0d9/jean-le-rond-d-alembert-26487_able_geometry-which-should-only-obey-physics_6945.jpg)
