John Wallis, an architect of more than fifty years, believes that spaces need to
be utilitarian, green and emotionally satisfying, and is fascinated by the
questions that have led him to continually reach new understandings of
‘the why and the how’ we live in houses. His forms embody a practicality
which some call Sacred Geometry, Feng Shui, as well as its ‘health’ and
sustainability. Yet for John, his design choices are a matter of an innate desire
to achieve utility and still include the indescribable sense of bonding we
can have for the spaces we inhabit.
In his solutions for building his home in Hawai‘i he used locally produced
concrete and sustainably harvested woods, resulting in site-specific solutions
for living with the land as opposed to on it, and caring for—rather than exploiting
—the ‘āina, the land, ‘that which feeds us’
be utilitarian, green and emotionally satisfying, and is fascinated by the
questions that have led him to continually reach new understandings of
‘the why and the how’ we live in houses. His forms embody a practicality
which some call Sacred Geometry, Feng Shui, as well as its ‘health’ and
sustainability. Yet for John, his design choices are a matter of an innate desire
to achieve utility and still include the indescribable sense of bonding we
can have for the spaces we inhabit.
In his solutions for building his home in Hawai‘i he used locally produced
concrete and sustainably harvested woods, resulting in site-specific solutions
for living with the land as opposed to on it, and caring for—rather than exploiting
—the ‘āina, the land, ‘that which feeds us’
John considers Feng Shui to be the wisdom which promotes the natural flow and character within the space and sacred geometry the geometry of
structure. Both express both practical and aesthetic choices, which can include pathos, spirituality, and the energies that encourage growth and change. Some call that ‘healing’. Intuitively, rather than formally oriented, John tends to side-step rather than try to define what he creates in terms of fractals or a golden ratio, commenting “it’s sentient and it works.” One may explain the beauty of a created setting as defined by a Chinese elemental system, or how it fits into the earth and how it flows and joins into it’s immediate surroundings, be it nature or another structure.
Having been mentored by a prestigious Swiss Architect whose influence can be seen in all of John’s work, still his own soulful or intuitive direction
has become a bonding of the spiritual with historic traditions. His mantra might be stated, ‘it just makes sense’.
structure. Both express both practical and aesthetic choices, which can include pathos, spirituality, and the energies that encourage growth and change. Some call that ‘healing’. Intuitively, rather than formally oriented, John tends to side-step rather than try to define what he creates in terms of fractals or a golden ratio, commenting “it’s sentient and it works.” One may explain the beauty of a created setting as defined by a Chinese elemental system, or how it fits into the earth and how it flows and joins into it’s immediate surroundings, be it nature or another structure.
Having been mentored by a prestigious Swiss Architect whose influence can be seen in all of John’s work, still his own soulful or intuitive direction
has become a bonding of the spiritual with historic traditions. His mantra might be stated, ‘it just makes sense’.