This wasn’t funny at the time, but such a speed bump on my career path was a building block in my character—at least I hope so.
I was dreaming of sushi. More accurately, I was tired and disoriented, as life loves to do to those who choose to participate. As a young Manhattan architect in the late 1980’s, thrilling yes, but it was late and I was hungry.
When you meet a chef, do you ask, “Do you cook chicken or fish?”
If you did ask such a stupid question, the chef would be thinking how absurd you sound. At the same time, this chef would be thinking of the thousands of things he cooks, in addition to “chicken or fish.”
When someone meets an architect, the first (and only) question is typically, “Do you design residential or commercial?” Please realize that the field of architecture—that the world— is made up of much more than houses and office buildings.
How many friends of yours have hung out with First Lady Jackie Kennedy Onassis, as well as President Barack Obama? How many friends of yours have designed for Microsoft’s Bill Gates, as well as Apple’s Steve Jobs? Or renovated a house that sits on 60,000 acres in Austria?
Staying below the radar, David E. Martin, architect and humanitarian, has done the above. And that’s just for starters.
I have written about a number of things that are in essence, big pains in the butts. Recently, I asked two colleagues, Christine Fang and Ji Ahn, who practice mindfulness and meditation: What do you do with the discomforts of life? I requested of them to provide me a peek into their training.
They tossed back some words: adventure, commit and experience—and sit and be curious. But somewhere along this pattern of words, Chris and Ji are aware that discomfort will inevitably rear its ugly head.
So as teenagers in figure drawing class, we all had that moment when the beautiful model dropped her robe to the floor and stood there in all her naked glory, surrounded by students in awe and dropped jaws. Then our teacher said to study the model and draw.
There are the usual suspects: Frank Gehry, Rem Koolhaas, Zaha Hadid, I.M. Pei, and so on. Call them celebrity architects or call them “Starchitects,” but one greater walks amongst these mere mortal rock stars. I speak of one who is called an “architect’s architect.” He is Pritzker-winning, Swiss architect, Peter Zumthor.
Many non-architects may not even know the name of the enigmatic Zumthor, for his Haldenstein-based practice is small and artisanal, perhaps even cultish. But in a short time to come, Los Angeles will know Mr. Zumthor’s work.
