ABSTRACT
This chapter presents two essays, "Groundwork" by Robin Dripps and "The Foundation of Architecture" by Rafael Moneo, that examine the importance of site in relationship to our development of the built environment. In “Groundwork,” Robin Dripps navigates the complexities of “the structure of the ground,” illuminating the potential for engagement between architecture and earth. While site reduces complexity in order to establish rules and order, ground supports “various patterns of physical, intellectual, poetic, and political structure that intersect, overlap, and weave together to become the context for human thought and action”. In “The Foundation of Architecture”, Rafael Moneo argues for a responsiveness to this complexity of place throughout the architectural design process. Moneo uses the phrase appropriate to describe the way in which an architect should respect and respond to place. He states, however, that appropriate architecture is not “purely derivative of its encompassing environment”.
