Camels and pinheads? What a splendid inversion by Mr. Mense. Most amusing, but history demands that we
keep angels and needles in the game.
So yes, let us keep Spiro's charming admonition in mind. In that spirit it is also worth remembering why his erstwhile colleague, Amos Rapoport ( "HOUSE, FORM AND CULTURE") turned away from architectural discourse in general and writes mainly about environment, form and culture, with clarity and precision, born of direct experience of the places about which he writes.
But then Amos does not build and neither did Spiro.
However neither would have doubted the wonderful contributions of Laurie Baker, India's great yet modest architect in South Kerala. Baker wrote all of his principles of good design on a single sheet of paper and followed them faithfully in making beautiful sustainable and highly economical buildings that made his clients deeply happy.
His work achieved a rare balance between real needs, vernacular methods and modern design.
I think that Kahn would have loved him.
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Patrick Quinn FAIA
Albany NY
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