SYMBOLISM           PHILOSOPHY           RESIDENTIAL DESIGNS  -  MAJOR PUBLIC BUILDINGS           EXPERIMENTAL           THEORETICAL          OTHER WORKS          BOOKS & DVDS          SITE MAP          CONTACT

HOME          CHRONOLOGY          ABOUT THE ARCHITECT          CHILDHOOD          EDUCATION          EARLY WORKS          ARCHITECTURE          NANOARCHITECTURE          TEACHING POSITIONS          AWARDS

SYMBOLISM           PHILOSOPHY           RESIDENTIAL DESIGNS  -  MAJOR PUBLIC BUILDINGS           EXPERIMENTAL           THEORETICAL          OTHER WORKS          BOOKS & DVDS          SITE MAP          CONTACT

HOME          CHRONOLOGY          ABOUT THE ARCHITECT          CHILDHOOD          EDUCATION          EARLY WORKS          ARCHITECTURE          NANOARCHITECTURE          TEACHING POSITIONS          AWARDS

SYMBOLISM IN JOHANSEN DESIGNS

Throughout the ages human beings have re-enacted their rituals among the spatial symbols as if on a stage set. Certain of these spatial symbols, such as the cave, the forest, the bridge, tower and labyrinth, have always been an element in my work. These symbols have appeared in my classical period, biomorphic period, ad hoc-sheet metal period, and in my most recent designs projected into the 21st century. It wasn't until reading Carl Jung, Joseph Campbell, and Thomas Merton that I understood what a symbol really was.

Previous to that time, symbolism was for me a vague but deeply felt state of awareness, which was not a known or controlled ingredient of design, but an intangible and necessary need of my psyche; and, I believed, for that of those I have served. In my more recent work, I find myself no longer in the same subconscious state of mind I experienced when I designed the houses, but now I am even more fluent in my use of symbolism.         -  John M Johansen