The function of architecture has three attributes: shelter, arrangement and expression [link]. In order to be built, a work has to fit a specific economy. As a work of art, it expresses the values of those who build it, the times in which they build, and it presents a perspective that influences future generations. As a social artifact, it must relate to our culture - even as this culture changes and evolves; and, it must express universal ideas as well as local idiom. As a building, it has to provide utility for an appropriate duration of time. These considerations, together, define the value of the work.

A building is deeply rooted time, place and circumstance. Too much, lately, architecture has become a transplant - an idea out of someone’s head imposed on a landscape. Yes, architecture - as art - should be a statement; it should bring a fresh point of view; it should provoke a response. However, not at sacrifice to basic human sensibilities and not in defiance to the locality in which it is built. It should help define the neighborhood of which it is a part both respecting the past and adding to the future.

The ability to integrate all of the conflicting elements that makes up a public building is a measure of a solution’s eloquence.

The first impression that this environment gives is that of a park with a building within it. It is not a building with some landscaping attached to it, begrudgingly. The second impression is one of repose and shelter. This building does shout out to be recognized - it settles into a landscape of its own making. The third impression is one of respect for the traditional urban landscape of which it is both a part and an agent of recreating. The forth is that this is a place that expresses rigor of process and the evolution of innovation - out of this “traditional” statement, a radical (in the sense “to the root”) interior space emerges. A space that actually does some very new things and forms an appropriate [link] environment for the work that is to take place within it. A place of soaring ceilings, of natural light, of prospect and refuge, of romantic gesture so lacking in our architecture today.

This building is organic [link]. It is natural in its response to its setting and in its use of materials and technology. It is playful. It expresses grandeur at human scale. It stands for values without being belligerent about it. It both invites involvement from the community and protects the people who work within it. It makes this work a ceremony. Its esthetic is a straight forward and honest expression of its function and how it is built. The structure is the finish. Nothing is covered up. The materials are familiar and each follows a well understood idiom - the surprise is in the total assembly of all these parts.

The term Urban Landscape is not meant as a metaphor. It is a literal description of how this environment both fits into and creates its setting. This is a “green” building in the same way; it its total strategy of ecology/economy.