That’s the plan.

Last time, we talked about how we need both the Cartesian idea of division and the older idea of harmony.

But what does it mean to think about harmony in architecture?

To answer that, let’s start with a bigger question: What is Earth, really?

Actually, almost everything on Earth—including all life—runs on a single source of power.
Do you know what that is?

Exactly.

Everything—from the activities of cells and ecosystems to the weather in the atmosphere and oceans—exists within a cycle where energy from the sun flows through, circulates, and is eventually released back into space. (*1)

For example, weather is a system that circulates air, water, and other elements using the sun’s heat.

Life, too, is a system that circulates energy and materials—like carbon, oxygen, nitrogen—through photosynthesis in plants and respiration in animals.

All of these systems share one thing: they receive something, transform it, and pass it on to the next stage, like a relay.

This relay of receiving and passing on is what makes Earth so full of life and vitality.

But then came a species that takes and takes, without passing anything on—a rule-breaker.

Exactly.

Nature has a strong ability to restore balance, so it doesn’t get thrown off easily.

But humans, driven by growth and ignoring harmony and cycles, have become too powerful.

Our impact is now so great that it’s even etched into the Earth’s geology.

That’s why scientists call our era the Anthropocene—the age of humans. (*2)

Now, let’s bring this back to architecture.

For years, as an architect, I didn’t know how to approach environmental issues.

Honestly, all the talk about energy saving and SDGs felt so overused, so hollow…

I wondered if we were forgetting something essential.

That maybe architecture, in the name of sustainability, was actually making people less free.

I couldn’t use the word environment casually when I didn’t fully understand it—it felt like lying to myself.

So I moved my studio into nature to change my own environment first.

Then I spent years studying everything—from environmental philosophy to architectural examples and even building environmental engineering.

And eventually, I realized something: Thinking about the environment is the same as what I’ve always thought about in architecture.

Yes.

I’ve always asked: ‘What kind of architecture sets people free?’

Or rather, ‘What kind of architecture makes people feel: it’s okay for me to be alive in this world?’

And now I see—that’s exactly what thinking about the environment really means.

…Let me calm down a bit.

In short, if we can place architecture within the harmony and cycles of nature,

then architecture can affirm life itself.

And if we can create that kind of architecture, it will be full of vitality, full of excitement.