Notes from ‘Theoretical Practice’ 

I was cleaning my old notes and found a paper where I had noted these from the book ’Theoretical Practice’ by David Chipperfield. One of the few texts written by Chipperfield. This was when I was a student and had just discovered Chipperfield. I was intrigued then by the title of the book, as one would always associate with the likes of Tschumi and Eisenmann for architects inclined towards theory. This tone of the text felt different for ’theory’. It was more crisp and basic. I could understand what I read for a change (which was unusual compared to other theory texts). I am so thrilled to see these notes for two reasons. My interest in Chipperfield is still very alive, reminding the ideal-seeking-mindset of college days. The second reason is the much needed reminder “architecture is (only) the backdrop of our life” (only added by me). I always refer to this another quote of Chipperfield that ’scale’ and ’time’ are our enemies, but was never  able to place the source. It is a relief now. This book has been out of print for sometime. This piece of note and what it articulates is important reminder for me. I am delighted that I had written this down around a decade back and reassures the need for reading and writing.

“Once we accept that architecture is capable of changing little, we can consider it as real power. The questions architecture can pose are limited, and architecture cannot, by definition, provide answers. Architecture is the backdrop of life and has, as such, the possibility of influencing the way we act. It can make our lives much easier and can offer a vision of order in the world of chaos. It can remind us of simple values. It can make our world more material and bring us in touch with the very elements it shelters us from. It can heighten our senses, our anticipation and experience”

“Its modest ambition is to make the spaces we inhabit more beautiful and the thing we touch more meaningful. The power of architecture is to be silently profound”

“We need to find ideas and clues in the resolution of the simple and everyday problems, to avoid the spectacular in order to make the everyday special. In this vision the simple decisions become the most critical, the margins become more central, in making architecture in which, while questioning the way we act, affirms values and resolves contradictions”

“Our enemies are ‘scale’ and ‘time'”