KEY POINTS:
Californian Steven Ehrlich is an award-winning architect who has designed buildings all around the world, from Dubai to Taipei to the United States, and for all sorts of purposes, from multimillion-dollar private residences, to scientific facilities, to commercial projects for firms like Sony Music and Dreamworks.
He's in New Zealand this week as part of New Zealand Architecture Week which runs until Friday and incorporates a series of events, such as architectural tours, lectures and displays.
You've been described as an architectural anthropologist and your work takes inspiration from various countries' indigenous building customs. Is there any element - such as a courtyard or a curved roof - that Western architects would do well to consider more frequently?
Actually, there's nothing I would put in everything. Basically these influences all come from me living in Africa for a total of six years early in my career - two years in Morocco, three in Nigeria and then across the Sahara into West Africa for one year. And I think what I really learned was the wisdom of architecture without architecture.
People living in a delicate balance with the environment are the most sustainable builders in the world. They don't use any outside resources to heat or cool their buildings, they integrate materials, they're really building with local materials and responding to the climate. And that's developed over centuries of culture.
So those are the lessons I like to bring to each project, rather than a roof that is round or flat or curved, or a courtyard.
When your work is described it seems reviewers often use contradictory terms - as in, the house is open but private, expansive but cosy, futuristic but primitive. Can you explain this?
I probably need to refer to a couple of examples. One would be a 30,000sq/m research lab we built in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It included very high-tech materials such as stainless steel meshes and lots of glass. Counterpointed against that was a lot of wood, which gave a sort of natural warmth.
But that's not a juxtaposition, it's a counterpoint. And I'd rather see a counterpoint in a building. If there's only one ideology or theory, a counterpoint can be very interesting.
Another example: I like that you can be as human as possible, and really get back to nature, yet use technology to allow you to do that.
With my own house in Venice (California) it's private because I have a compound wall right around it. But we also have these huge, 5.5m-high doors that slide completely out of the way so it's really open as well. And the inside connects easily to the outside. So when [those doors] are gone, I'm connected to a huge tree in our private courtyard and the pool there.
Apart from counterpoints, what sorts of things are the best architects all thinking about at the moment? Which social trends are having an effect on building design?
I would say a sense of social responsibility - even though that's admittedly a pretty broad topic. But it means things like trying to dense-ify our cities so they grow upwards rather than gobble up more of our agricultural land.
Sustainability is also right up there when considering being responsible.
The other aspect that interests me is what I call the homogenisation of architecture. It's that negative aspect of globalisation where everything looks the same, where every house is generic.
But it's not like global is bad, local is good. I could refer to this large, private house we've just designed in Dubai. It utilises all kinds of modern technology but there are also lots of elements that reflect the culture and the context of the Arabian Desert. So it's local and global at the same time.
Finally, what do you think makes a building an architectural classic?
There are probably various qualities. Does it have some intrinsic, timeless quality? Well, we won't know that until a bit of time has passed. And every architectural project has issues it has to resolve - with the site or with the purpose of the building - so obviously a great building has to resolve those issues and enhance any purpose the building serves.
But that's fundamental - a good engineer could probably do that. There also needs to be something else, some magic that lifts you, opens your heart and enhances your life. So you're thinking, this is a place where I want to be.
I'd say there's no single answer to that question. I think I've come close, but it's an ongoing quest.
