Three very power tools exist for designers and architects.
 
Figure A shows four circles in blue. No it doesn't! It shows four circular shapes with a quarter-section removed in each, then the group is arranged in such a way as to imply a square. The square may even seem brighter than the surrounding white space and yet it too is not complete. Imagine the square as a plaza and the four almost circular forms, twenty story buildings. This is called Gestalt: implied line, implied continuance, implied closure. It is a great space maker.
 
Powerful Tool Number One: Gestalt. To imply is better than to lie with the obvious.
 
Figure B shows a blue triangle and a white square. The same thing happens in Figure C with the blue circle approaching the square. Two forms approaching each other; Can you hear their dialog? The triangle is barking, pointing at the square. The circle is carefully, timidly, approaching the square. This is called Multi-form Interaction.
 
Powerful Tool Number Two: Multi-form Interaction. How forms approach, either reproach or attract. The space between is the dialog.
 
Figure C shows two circular forms intersecting a square. Where the intersections occur, the resulting shapes are interpreted, translated, trans-mutated into something entirely different than its parent form. Imagine the square a twenty story building, the larger circle a plaza, the blue of the smaller circle a pond and the blue inside the square a void cut out of the tower three stories tall; Quite an entry! Even the leftover quarter-circle could house the elevator core.
 
Powerful Tool Number Three: Multi-form Interaction. How forms intersect and how those intersections are reinterpreted is how forms make love.
 
Now for the secret of How God Works.
 
Powerful Tool Number One: Gestalt. God's probably not going to hit us between the eyes with a 2x4. Usually, God hints where we ought to be and what we should be doing. God forms the space in which we reside every day.
 
Powerful Tool Number Two: Multi-form Interaction. How we approach God, in large part, determines how God reacts to us. The space between us and God is the dialog. Some people call it prayer.
 
Powerful Tool Number Three: Multi-form Intersection. If God's in us (and I feel this to be true), then the intersection of God and us may be interpreted many ways. This is where it's pretty much up to us to define what that space is used for. Do we fill it with love?
 
Now for the secret of How Humans Work.
 
Powerful Tool Number One: Gestalt. The boundaries we set, the stance we take, the position we hold, these define the space that makes us. Imply strength by our spiritual shape and others will see us as strong. Imply weakness by being out of spiritual shape and others will know us as weak.
 
Powerful Tool Number Two: Multi-form Interaction. How we approach each other is how we are approached. What we communicate is how we communicate. The space between human beings is the understanding glue of love.
 
Powerful Tool Number Three: Multi-form Intersection. Reinterpret the intersection of you and your partner. Reinterpret the intersection of you and any other being. Create something special in every relationship you are lucky enough to have. Cherish the friction. Celebrate the overlap. Make something beautiful with your Living Architecture.


Marley Porter