Pianousestherooftoprovidethatcontrol;Gehrytends
tousethewholevolume.HehaddonesoearlierattheVitra
InternationalFurnitureMuseuminWeilamRhein,Germany–
justacrosstheborderfromtheBeyelerCollection–andthe
FrederickR.WeismanMuseuminMinneapolis.
Theabovetwoparagraphscontainfacts.Theyalso,
however,implyconclusionswhichareinevitablyassumptions.
Evenwherethereisaseeminglyconfirmatorystatementby
Gehrythat‘Iapproacheachbuildingasasculpturalobject,
aspatialcontainer,aspacewithlightandair...’whichhas
alreadybeenquoted,itisunwisetomakecategoricalclaims.
Wemayseesimilarities,deducesources,haveacknowledge-
mentofinfluencesandyetremainunsurethatanyconclusions
wedrawactuallymatchthedesignprocesswhich
occurred.
Ithereforeproposetoturntowrittenstatementsbya
numberofsignificantarchitectswhichmightcontaintheir
opinionsonthecharacteristicsofthedesignprocess.Thisis
nottoputfaithinsuchstatementsasinfalliblepronounce-
ments;toooftenarchitectswritewhatturnsouttobeapost-
rationalisation.Neverthelessthesewritingsrepresent
publishedmaterialwhichhaspresumablybeencheckedand
approved;weareassessingaconsideredopinionbytheperson
mostinvolvedandnotbyanoutsider.
AnexhibitionwasheldatMITinMayandJune1979of
sixexamplesshowingprocessinarchitecture.Thecatalogue
recordedinterviewswiththearchitectsconcerned
(Cruickshank,1979).DonlynLyndon–withMoore,Turnbulland
WhitakeroneofthedesignersofthecondominiumattheSea
RanchonthePacificcoastandalsooneoftheauthorsofThe
PlaceofHouses(Mooreetal.,2001)–wasoneofthesixexhibited
andinterviewed.Lyndon’sstatementsarebothgeneraland
specific.(LLisLanceLaver,DLisDonlynLyndon.)
LL:InwhatwayisIslamicarchitectureasourceforthe
courtyard?