Musings

Incidentally, my research for this article originally stemmed from no particular focus into sustainability. Moreover, my interest was first sparked through reading Edward Ford’s 1997 essay, “The Theory and Practice of Impermanence”, which focused on an examination of what constituted western notions of history and preservation of architecture, comparing it to Japanese practices of ‘ritual rebuilding’, celebrating the “intangible essence within its style [of construction]” (Ford, 1997). While discussing this area of a theory of impermanence within architecture however, I also became very conscious of the undoubtedly unsustainable manner of construction and design in recent architectural history.