Mission part 3

In the right frame of mind many of us can achieve this kind of happiness by simply looking at an interesting sky, but our ‘frame of mind’ does not often allow this. All too often we are distracted by a foreground in which we cannot take pleasure. Ruskin suggested that nature was rarely ugly whilst most of the man-made environment was hideous.	Venice
It seems that whatever our creed or skin or age or social status almost all of us are able to enjoy much of the natural and artificial environment if we feel we ‘belong’ in it. This joy seems to transcend religious and political conventions and provides a strong impetus to social cohesion in place of social deprivation and division and extremism.	The Bromley-by-Bow Centre
Of course there is no sea at Bromley by Bow in East London, where our largest built project is situated, but there are a range of places and connections from the wide open park, through intermediate spaces like the Health Centre courtyard and intimate rooms like consulting rooms. We’d like to think all these spaces satisfy human curiosity and provide both shelter and a subtle psychological challenge that encourages a sense of personal possession and repose.	The Bromley-by-Bow Centre
We are not suggesting tourism is a panacea for all human misery or deprivation, and nor are we suggesting that novelty is critical in architecture. Rather the opposite: We think that an environment that is immediately habitable because it encourages a person to sit down or to run or to dream or to examine it in detail is better than old-fashioned twentieth century ‘wow-factor’ architecture that is designed to impress and somehow to establish a hierarchy in human relationships from the beggar to the king or from the user to the official. Wow is OK when it relates to nature but dangerous when it defines class divisions.	Barcelona