Jake Ireland Architect

n underlying agenda stems from long standing scientific interests. In the context of current overwhelming pressures on the planet's environment, there is an increasingly urgent need for architects to understand and embrace the doubt and uncertainty inherent to science in general (and quantum mechanics in particular), as well as the logical, rational enquiry and mathematical truth at the base of the scientific method. Combining artistic and scientific concerns, architecture has always been a discipline that bridges the ‘two cultures’. In our era of unprecedented and accelerating change driven by technology, the fundamental concerns of architecture remain unchanged. These involve the design of sculptured social space for improved quality of life, animated by light, of durable construction with appropriate use of technology, environmental responsibility and sensual materiality, with a connectedness to place, all combining to give an emotional charge. The best buildings are a backdrop to peoples lives, that still subtly engender a sense of wonder and delight (400 years of scientific investigation only adds to the same wonder at nature, when we look at, and understand, the stars or a flower). To remain relevant, contemporary architecture, like all art, must also continually evolve new forms that reflect the present and lead us into the future. In order to respond to the changes we will experience this century, this requires architecture to incorporate a working knowledge of current science and mathematics (which in underpinning new technology, as well as being the best method of understanding the world, form the dominant intellectual discourse).