Book 4 — Part 1

A person who adheres to classical 19th- or 20th-century beliefs about the nature of matter, will not be able, fully, to accept the revisions in building practice that I have proposed, because the revisions will remain, for that person, too disturbingly inconsistent with the picture of the world. The old world-picture will constantly gnaw at our attempts to find a wholesome architecture, disturb our attempts, interfere with them — to such an extent that they cannot be understood or used successfully.

Unless our world-picture itself is changed and replaced by a new picture, more consistent with the felt reality of life in buildings and in our surroundings, the idea of life in buildings itself (even with all its highly practical revisions in architectural practice) will not be enough to accomplish change.