"Do you feel the shudder, the stutter of stitches in the fabric of the universe, the uncomfortable unraveling of the blanket of normalcy, the future insecure?"
 
"Things seem different, not quite normal. Are you worried about tomorrow?"
 
Essentially, both these sentences ask the same thing. One is terribly poetic, the other poetically terrible. One is embossed with rich associations, profound pronouns, anecdotal adverbs and unanticipated adjectives. The other is more to the point. Both sentences are legitimate and not badly written. One opens your mind and begs introspection. The other opens your mind and begs an answer.
 
So it is with design.
 
Some design is provocative, evocative, open-ended wonderment. Some design is more to the point, simple and functional.
 
Great writing and great design however, emerge, when simplicity and functionality still move the visitor emotionally.
 
"Are you worried about the future? Why?" Simple and short, this sentence digs into the core of the subject and invites response. It moves the visitor emotionally.
 
Sustainable Architecture is like this sentence. Sustainable Architecture, at its core, is simple. It is direct and functional, perfectly responsive, yet evocative in meaning.
 
Look at the Navajo Hogan. Look at it again. The Hogan is Shelter. It is Home. It is constructed from the dirt, from the dung, from the sacred Cedar trees dotting the endless landscape of windswept sandstone. The Hogan's form shades the summer sun and holds the center fire's heat while the Hogan's shape nests against the sand, almost frictionless in the freezing northern snow. Family sheep's died wool is weaved into the blankets of the door, the only opening, save the smoke hole. The door faces The East-of-the-Day the owner was born. His umbilical cord is buried at the threshold, blood in sand reminder, his portal back home and one day, back home into the void of spirit. The door faces east, into tomorrow, mother's womb, new birth.
 
I knew Carl Gorman personally. He was one of the last Navajo Code Talkers. He told me how alone and far away he felt during the war but that when he needed to, he would imagine his home, his Hogan and again be with the Diné, his People. The memory of his Hogan sustained him.
 
Sustainable Architecture. It is designed with inherent meaning and is built simply, built on purpose and with purpose. It is utilitarian, but it is art. A spiritual stroke of brush paints its creation, but the pallet is made from local pigment. It is perfectly functional, yet full of symbolism. It is affordable when it is built. It is affordable over time. It is also adorable, lovable and personal.
 
Sustainability is so much more than what you build your home with. It is more WHY you build sustainably. Sustainability starts inside you. You have to learn an entirely different language. To BE sustainable, requires adopting and being adopted by another tribe.
 
Things seem different, not quite normal.
 
Are you worried about the future or are you sustained by your excitement of birthing a Whole New World?