So, we kept it going. Our creativity continued with really, really small budgets. Which was, in many ways, very closely connected with the art world. Projects started emerging from the boundary between art and architecture with relatively small budgets. We have kept our foot on this platform; we have never made any event of getting away from it because these are the most interesting projects that are in the world of architecture. Clients are good, and the environments we are working with are very interesting. L2: Is there a point at which you feel like the project has a mind of its own? D: Yeah, yeah. Definitely. S: I remember hearing sometimes students say, “I want to do this, and I want to do that.” That’s a little bit worrisome, because at some point the project starts to tell you what it wants. And that’s when you’re on a good track. D: And if you don’t allow the project to take its own turns, you are maybe forcing it too much. So, I think that connects also to part of our work—that we have been overly interested in a contextual approach. Maybe it’s an obsession we have. But, in many ways, it pays off in the design process because you are getting so much information and feedback from the weirdest things you discover in the research process … um, yeah, so, where were we? L2: The question had a mind of its own. D: So, it takes its own turns because of the context, which is always suggesting things. Yeah, that’s what it was. S: I think architecture is like research, or a journey to unknown places. Every project you do is an exploration … — Waitress: Y’all still doing okay over here? [mumbling]
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L1: Should we talk about animals? L2: Yes. L1: Okay, this is changing it up a little bit. We were curious about what you think about animals in relation to architecture. You’ve described [the UVA pavilion] in terms of animals—it’s two fish crawling up the stairs, or a bug on a thing—and I know it’s sometimes just a silly metaphor, but I was wondering if there was something real there. I’m thinking in terms of how a building relates
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