The Creator's Words

"Form is what it wants to be; what things are and what they do. We need to discover realities and meanings. I do not want to be mystical about this—while I find [Louis I. Kahn]'s ideas stimulating and respect them, I think the mystical part is something that will be transformed or disappear. Things have purposes, and this is why you make them. What they want to be, in a way, is as efficient and effective as possible. You can measure the success of a design in terms of its responsiveness and effectiveness. Effectiveness puts, however small, to which it responds. Form, then, is a composition of satisfying structure, with the 'wants-to-be-ideas' suggestive of some kind of design very specifically for it. Form should not be judged by some arbitrary standard, but only as good or bad in relation to a specific purpose. If you think otherwise you so limit your interpretation of the past, present and future that it ceases to be as complex, and as interesting, as you ought to be able to think it is."

—Joseph Esherick. from Paul Heyer. Architects on Architecture: New Directions in America. p112.