The Inner Studio - Riverside Architectural Press

THE INNER STUDIO
disciplined us. We are rapidly losing our capacity to understand the
value of the wild and to accept the nature of things. We are in
danger of forgetting that all things rise and fall naturally and that
life itself is precious. We find ourselves more identified with and
more dependent on the built world for our lifestyle, hopes, dreams,
and inspirations. How can the built world reveal more of what we
once learned from the natural world?
I think the answer rests with understanding our psyche. Our
own bodies and minds are full of the psyche’s wisdom and this is the
starting point for the designer’s transformation of the built world.
The psyche is our final frontier, our greatest natural resource. It is
our home, yet strangely independent and resistant to all our desires
for control and power. The psyche is as magnificent, mysterious,
and fragile as a vast wilderness and it is always with us. It is our
most intimate geography during crucial moments of design because
it is the setting for all of our creative wrestling. Psyche is the place
where we synthesize our understanding and imagination and make
sense of the world. And with experience, we come to know the
unconscious takes the same attitude toward the ego as the ego takes
toward the unconscious. How can designers bring the wisdom of
the natural world to bear in their work? By tuning into their inner
world during the process of design.
Tuning into a relationship with the psyche invites a new sense of
meaning, beauty, and strength to enter our work. A relationship with
the bright and dark dimensions of our own psyche means we learn
as much from the unknowns beyond our control as we do from
those experiences where we enjoy mastery. Inner events occur naturally.
They are deeply programmed into our psyche because we need
them to teach us inspiration and self-acceptance and help us to stay
humane. Tuning into the laws of the psyche changes things from
within and gives the modern soul a chance of creating physical
places that make us feel at home in the built world. We will not be
able to give nature its rightful place in the built world until we accept
the rightful place of psyche in our lives. Provisional and everlasting,
the psyche emerges as a modern and timeless place of learning.
Second, the struggle, joys, and complexity inherent in the
creative process are like an invisible building material that will
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