5 Mirrors of the self in every building detail

When a field of centers is completed all the way down to its atoms and the building truly comes to life, it begins to get a special sensuous quality, which is not predictable from the intellectual idea of the field of centers.
The substance will then speak directly to our feelings, and create an atmosphere of sensuous harmony quite different from the abstract representation of the larger field.

Wholeness is not something superficial which makes good design, or nice layouts, or ecologically satisfying buildings. It is a thing which is global, enormous in its extent, and nevertheless penetrates every microscopic aspect of a building, and connecting the large, the middle-sized and the very small in a life-supporting unity.
In any building which is whole, the material substance out of which the thing is made is fundamental to its beauty, fundamental to its wholeness. The reason that these “extras” must be just right is that the field of centers simply cannot exist unless the material conditions are appropriate. This is not a new idea beyond the field of centers. It is the same idea. The wholeness still lies in the existence of the field but this field requires very definite conditions in its microstructure simply in order to exist.

The material substances a thing is made of and the detailed procedures of fabrication that control the microstructure, if they are wrongly chosen, can destroy the field. If they are chosen correctly, then the actual substance of the building begins to come to life.

#book/The Nature of Order/3 A Vision of a Living World# #book/The Nature of Order/3 A Vision of a Living World/14 Construction elements as living centers#