39 Quotes by Tom Turner

Beauty may reside in the eye of the beholder, but what we see is determined by what we expect to see.

Longer metaphors, in the form of stories, allow more sophisticated relationships: […] In planning, the boundaries between myth, history and fiction are not so consequential as one might think.

Abstractionism exacerbated the problem but sustainability, if intelligently conceived, could heal the rift between garden, landscape and urban design. Absolute sustainability is not possible. But relative sustainability is a practical and desirable proposition.

Modernism', as a label, has currency in the arts, architecture, planning, landscape, politics, theology, cultural history and elsewhere.

A metaphor carries an idea from one area of thought to another. Furniture can have feminine legs; a flower is the day’s eye (daisy); an error glares at you; drinks are soft; cash is hard; our lives have a spring and an autumn.

Metaphors construct, or frame, views of ‘reality’, which can be used in policy-making or planning. They highlight structural characteristics of the world. It is dangerous if those who frame metaphors believe there is only one reality. But if metaphors are recognised as creative constructs, they can have immense value.

More attractive metaphors create more popular buildings.

The Modern Movement, demanding a new architecture for a new age, swept away these ‘styles’. That new architecture was supposed to be metaphor-free. Puzzled viewers soon began to invent their own metaphors. They spoke of cardboard boxes, matchboxes and filing cabinets. Despite designers’ outraged protestations, these boxy buildings were metaphors and had meaning. The messages they carried were ‘modernity’ and ‘functionalism’.

Water will, increasingly, be detained, stored and then recycled or infiltrated in gardens.