Exuberance

There are words which we seem to exclude from our lexicon when we talk about architecture. They tend to be words we think of as less grown up: words which seem less sensible when compared with, for example, the thoughts of Vitruvius. For a start you don’t need to translate them from their classical origins.

Some words are unashamedly about how you feel – today. They escape from your thoughts like visceral responses to what is happening around you: rather like how we react to great spaces. 'Exuberance' is one of those words we rarely use about design.

William Blake said Exuberance is Beauty. He was a great poet and visionary. And we need to embrace exuberance, and words like it, if we are to inspire design that is poetic and visionary.