In restrospect ,my education in design seems somewhat a-historical.Our role models were the pioneers and inventors of Das Neue Bauen.We regarded architectural history as part of our general education,Which had little influence on our work as designers. Thus, we frequently invented what had already been invented, and we tried our hand at inventing the uninventable.
This kind of training in design is not without its educational value. Later,however, as practicing architects,we do well to get acquainted with the enormous repository of knowledge and experience contained in the history of architecture. l believe that if we integrate this in our work, we have a better chance of making a genuine contribution of our own.Architecture is, however, not a linear process that leads more or less logically and directly from architectural history to new buildings. On the search for the architecture that l envisage, l frequently experience stifling moments of emptiness, Nothing l can think of seems to tally with what l want and cannot yet envisageAt these moments, | try to shake off the academic knowledge of architecture | have acquired because it
has suddenly started to hold me back.This helps. l find l can breathe more freely. l catch a whiff of the old familiar mood of the inventors and pioneers. Design has once again become invention. The creative act in which a work of architecture comes into being
goes beyond all historical and technical knowledge. lts focus is on the dialogue with the issues of our time. At the moment of its creation, architecture is bound to the present in a very special way. lt reflects the spirit of its inventor and gives its own answers to the questions of ourtime through its functional form and appearance, its relationship with Other works of architecture, and with the place where it stands