Alchemy – C.B. Crenshaw

Here is a comparison. Maybe it means something.

The first example is from Peter Zumthor’s Atmospheres.

Zumthor, the Swiss architect responsible for numerous projects spanning the residential, commercial, and commemorative realms, is interested in how architects use materials to convey a certain affect.

The next example comes from a 17th-century translation of the alchemical works of Geber.

Geber, the European name for a real Arabic polymath named Jabr ibn Hayyan, has become a sort of composite author attributed to a huge number of alchemical texts. This one, from a 1686 compendium, discusses how various Substances make up other Substances in different ways which must be understood if one wishes to transform those substances to perfection.

In both cases, what do we have? Materials in possession of qualities which, combined with other materials in ways that complement these qualities, contribute to a harmonious–maybe even perfect–composition.