After my noon meeting at GIOS I spent a few hours in a park with Mojangles hiding in the shade of a small tree, him occasionally bounding into the lake chasing ducks while I sat and read.

I then headed over to meet with Vern Swaback of Swaback Partners who is one of the last proteges of the great Frank Lloyd Wright. I was welcomed into his beautiful architecture office and informed that Vern is a great lover of dogs and there was a space out back for Moses to hang in the shade and drink water to his hearts content.

Vern and I sat down in his office surrounded by drawings, designs, maps and models and I told him of how when I was back studying film I spent most of my time between classes in the school of architecture sitting in on drawing crits and having dialogs about design. I've always loved architecture since like film it's one of the few disciplines that incorporates a wide range of creative aspects.

Vern and I launched into your dialog and he spoke of his insights on humanity, design and nature. We stumbled into the realm of the ethereal talking about the larger picture before finally returning to what it is that Vern deems fundamental.

Beauty.
"It is the relatedness of all things that creates value... Invest wisely in beauty. It will serve you all the days of your life." - Frank Lloyd Wright

Vern spoke to me about how if we persue beauty we invariably will sove most of the worlds problems. Now what's important is to define beauty as Vern is speaking about it. He is not talking about purly aesthetic beauty but true beauty. True beauty as it is found in nature is the beauty that is found in nature's ability to create highly complex magical forms yet not waste a single element. True beauty is found in nature's efficiency and and use of materials while also in it's aesthetic form. Vern spoke to how if we design with nature we find ourselves building not just buildings but whole systems of living, thinking, and being in which all the component parts feed one another and the surrounding landscape. Nothing is wasted and true beauty reigns supreme above personal ego, developers, and the endless capitalistic drive.

Although Vern also points to the inescapable importance of ego since it also serves to drive us towards a higher ideal for ourselves and for the world around us. Perhaps in this pursuit of ourselves, we may also pursue pure beauty, and arrive in a world where our spirit and the reflected built environments in which we live, both speak to the perfect wholeness of the universe.

peace,
d

Pics
Leaving Pheonix by sunset.... gasp
Campspot up in Flagstaff
Moses.. Hunter.