Descartes' Discourse on Method laid the foundation for Modernist culture as we know it. The dualism he proposed divided the world and placed it into categories of polar opposites. Since his proposal, we have seen architecture as superior to nature. In fact, we have seen it as harmful to architecture. In recent times the reaction against this has flipped the view somewhat to encompass a view that buildings are harmful to nature. Realistically both are true. If you are a pessimist. This building occupies the space between buildings and nature.
Network theory has taught us a valuable lesson about the way in which the world operates. It is simply not possible to view the world as an abstract form of cause and effect. The Modernist spirit of control attempted to simplify everything to its root cause and believed that controlling each one individually would result in the desired effect. Network theory proposes a system of nodes and links. In a system certain nodes can be removed or altered and indeed have the effect that was pursued. However its not always that simple. Some nodes are more tied in then others. If we reduce our view of the World Trade Center to that of one simple node, we need not look any further for an example of what happens when one node is removed.
Is it possible that the oversimplification of life in the Modernist view stripped away emotional thought and feeling? The perfection of the world offered by the Modernist utopia has left us desperate to feel something, anything. The pursuit of the grotesque, the imperfect, and the ugly embraced by the avant garde is rooted in this. In contrast to the Greek ideal beauty, the Modernist Empire, contemporary society acknowledges that the most interesting experience of any day exists in the space between. The Architectural Lacuna is interested in studying what Descartes wasn't. The rational and the emotional are inextricably linked and it is the job of the architect to design the link.
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