TENSION

My karate master tells me tension slows you down and isn’t as powerful. Of course I know this to be true, but it doesn’t stop unconscious clenching. Especially when you’re being watched. Architecture is a public art. People use what you design. This can cause mind tension, ideas don’t flow in the same way that kicks and punches betray effort.

My meditation master is 87. He has been walking up a hill to sit in a church and meditate for many many years, I’m not sure exactly how many. I do know he’s been meditating for 61 years. He starts at 5am and finishes at 7am. Then again in the afternoon from 4pm to 6pm - EVERY day! Anyone can go and sit with him. people come from all over the world. He tells me to let go of the world. To look within. He is the epitome of a man without tension.

I could argue that architecture is tension. Its physical manifestation is definitely in the world. It cuts into the earth. And its very existence will cause conflict with something or someone. And I’m also a lover of Robert Venturi’s book - Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture. I could also argue the opposite, in the same way Bob later regretted saying ‘Less is a bore’ about Mies. I believe both positions can be taken at the same time.

Tension and conflict are a part of combat. But the martial artist still says relaxed. The architect must also stay relaxed amidst the chaos of a building project.