Zumthor and Hadid are (were) without a doubt among the best architects of today. They also represent two sides of a spectrum.
Hadid: Artistic, peak expression of human capability and imagination, lightness, outwardness, sky.
Zumthor: Naturalistic, acknowledging and catering to the needs of the human soul, heaviness, inwardness, earth.
The rest of architecture seems to float somewhere in between.
Hadid’s principles have found to match wonderfully with the ambitions of those assigning the creation of grand office buildings and housing projects.
Zumthor’s principles seem to lend themselves more for spas and sanctuaries.
I’d love to see Zumthor’s principles being applied to office buildings and housing projects. It’s hard to imagine what those would look like… but they would surely be very nurturing places to live and work in.
1. UNDERSTANDING THE PROBLEM
On sustainability
2. UNDERSTANDING HOW THE WORLD WORKS
On nature
On human nature
On the meaning of life and living
On culture
On morality
3. UNDERSTANDING HOW CHANGE WORKS
On the Next Level Society
On behavioral change
On marketing sustainability
4-A. FIXING HOW WE DESIGN THE WORLD
On naturalness
On naturalness in behaviour
On naturalness in art
Artworks of interest
On naturalness in architecture
Architecture of interest: naturalness
On livable architecture
Architecture of interest: livability
On naturalness in design
Design works of interest
4-B. FIXING OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH OURSELVES
On well-being, self care and happiness
4-C. FIXING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN BUSINESS AND SOCIETY
On responsible business
On Positive Design & design ethics
On privacy
Progressieve bureaus van Nederland, 2021
OTHER NOTES AND WRITINGS
On digital design, CX/UX, and technology
On the travel & hospitality industry
Miscellaneous