The natural and built environments together provides the framework for man's activities and experiences. This framework may either enhance or detract from our lives. This is what architecture is all about. The way the environment is put together is potentially one of our most exciting and widespread pleasure sources. Just as a painter mixes his pigments to create a painting and a writer joins works to make a coherent statement, the architect joins materials together in such a way that the combination is much more meaningful than the sum of the individual parts, and by so doing, he may add more meaning to peoples lives.
Good architecture is about experience.
Just outside the village of Assisi, Italy, there is a small mountain hermitage built by the followers of St. Francis. The stones and earthen tile roof caress the earth with a sense of assurance and respect. There is total harmony. The earth is its brother. In the center of the small complex of buildings is a small terrace which is open to the sunlight and a view of the valley below.