Unlocking The Secret to Radiant Skin

You mean like a spirit or soul?

Right, literally translated from Catalán, duende means “soul.” A spiritual aura. Conceptually, he thought of it as most clearly embodied in the flamenco performance, yet a poem can obviously contain duende, as can a performance or even a building. Take the Pantheon for example, there’s something about it, it’s transcendental; it’s mystical like the Alhambra in a way. And you can say, “Well it’s a one-liner building,” because you walk in and it’s just a big dome. But it’s imbued with such power and I think it’s mysterious. You finally get to the point where you can’t explain why.

Is that something you think about when you’re designing a building?

Well, you can’t make it happen. You can’t say, “I’m going to put some duende in my project now.” Something from within you — through process, through hard work or maybe this is really easy sometimes — comes out and touches other people in the way that García Lorca’s poetry has touched people. I think that it’s something you can’t strive for. You keep the doorway open. And sometimes it’s the side door where something can sneak in. It might surprise you. It might be more authentic than your central focus.

How do you keep that doorway open for yourself?

I used to ride motorcycles across the desert — I still do. A motorcycle is a tool, but for me it’s a spiritual companion. And riding a motorcycle is very much about architecture.

In what ways?

Well, through the experiential contact with the landscape and the world. I was camping in Chaco Canyon and there is an incredible ruin there called Pueblo Bonito that is from the medieval times, built around the 12th century. And I was sleeping there under the stars — and a kangaroo rat got in bed with me! Kangaroo rats are really cute, you know. (Laughs) And I just said, “Okay, he’s just getting warm,” because the desert night here is very different from the Mojave Desert for example, where it’s like being in a furnace all the time. This was the desert with extreme diurnal temperature swings: it’s cold at night and really hot in the daytime. I could go on

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You mean like a spirit or soul?

Right, literally translated from Catalán, duende means “soul.” A spiritual aura. Conceptually, he thought of it as most clearly embodied in the flamenco performance, yet a poem can obviously contain duende, as can a performance or even a building. Take the Pantheon for example, there’s something about it, it’s transcendental; it’s mystical like the Alhambra in a way. And you can say, “Well it’s a one-liner building,” because you walk in and it’s just a big dome. But it’s imbued with such power and I think it’s mysterious. You finally get to the point where you can’t explain why.

Is that something you think about when you’re designing a building?

Well, you can’t make it happen. You can’t say, “I’m going to put some duende in my project now.” Something from within you — through process, through hard work or maybe this is really easy sometimes — comes out and touches other people in the way that García Lorca’s poetry has touched people. I think that it’s something you can’t strive for. You keep the doorway open. And sometimes it’s the side door where something can sneak in. It might surprise you. It might be more authentic than your central focus.

Well, through the experiential contact with the landscape and the world. I was camping in Chaco Canyon and there is an incredible ruin there called Pueblo Bonito that is from the medieval times, built around the 12th century. And I was sleeping there under the stars — and a kangaroo rat got in bed with me! Kangaroo rats are really cute, you know. (Laughs) And I just said, “Okay, he’s just getting warm,” because the desert night here is very different from the How does this fascination translate to your work as an architect?

Here’s an example… I found a beer can in the Arabian desert when I was working in Qatar and the desert climate had sandblasted it. It was pure, beautiful aluminum and on the other side where it was buried you could see the Pepsi Cola brand. That became an iconic thing for me, a symbol of what it was like to work in the desert — you don’t mess around! You don’t just bring things you’ve done in the rest of the world to some new