Site repair
A small fact about Frank Lloyd Wright’s famous Fallingwater house:
Wright designed the home above the waterfall: Kaufmann had expected it to be below the falls to afford a view of the cascades. It has been said that he was initially very upset with this change.
Contrast this to Chrisopher Alexander’s advice in A Pattern Language 104, “Site Repair”
Buildings must always be built on those parts of the land which are in the worst condition, not the best. This idea is indeed very simple. But it is the exact opposite of what usually happens; and it takes enormous will power to follow it through.
Building the house directly on the waterfall makes for a stunning piece of architecture, and the house’s fame was surely enhanced because of it. Maybe the Kaufmans came to enjoy the unexpected placement of the house.
But it’s a reason I sometimes don’t describe Christopher Alexander as an architect. While I enjoy his buildings, what is really special about them is their relationship with their surroundings and, in a campus setting, with each other. It was his planning, his integration not just of physical spaces but of people and systems, that made his work so valuable.
Consider the site and its buildings as a single living eco-system. Leave those areas that are the most precious, beautiful, comfortable, and healthy as they are, and build new structures in those parts of the site which are least pleasant now.
I wonder… in what other parts of life do we rush to consume beauty, rather than appreciate and nurture it?