Architecture of a Muted Intensity

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Anatomy Stimulating architecture exists in the mind and in the senses of the individual engaging with it. It excites, it calms, it satisfies, and it amazes. It comforts, inspires, encourages, delights—it questions. But of course, we cannot rely on the ethereal qualities of architecture alone, because after all, it is the physical condition of architecture that ultimately generates an emotional response. The formal qualities of a space and the responses they evoke rely on their composition, their relationships, their scale, proportion, their texture. Stimulating architecture is not compatible with the mundane, it requires originality and rejects banality. Rather than producing the expected, a design challenges our expectations and poses questions. Spaces that are engaging are the spaces that will ultimately stand the test of time; never ageing and perpetually valued. Engaging spaces are unique, they are timeless. Engaging spaces are individual, they are not imitations or copies. What exists and how can it be enhanced? What should we expect and what are we perceiving? Contradictions are crucial. They show immediate relationships and they are direct. They are

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