SPRING - THE VERNAL EQUINOX

from “Buildings of the Season” by John M Johansen

In the company of all that grows this spring

I grow my house!

With curiosity, man has always witnessed Nature

in this, her secret process.

Now man, in Nature’s process can take part.

I place a “seed,” a coded D.N.A.;

blueprints for what my house will be.

Planted, as in earth, the roots will reach

to nourishment for molecular growth,

as they replicate and vastly multiply.

A vascular system distributes up as well

through stalks and trunk - my columns;

to branch and rib - my structure and support,

into living membranes - my canopy and roof.

Will I live within my living house, in symbiotic peace?

I may live there with troubled soul

for I have intervened in Nature’s secret ways.

Again, I may find peace, if I design with spirit

yet not “outdo the modesty of Nature.”

And so I will partner in the glory of this spring.

A NEW SPECIES OF ARCHITECTURE:   Nanaoarchitecture

In the Seasons of New Spring, Johansen's passion for knowledge led him to investigate philosophy, cosmology, physics, morphology, astrophysics, electromagnetics, and emerging scientific discoveries in the development of designs based upon the application of nanotechnology in architecture.

By planting seeds in what many predict will be the future of architecture, Johansen firmly believed that his nanoarchitectural ideas and designs will some day provide the foundation for buildings that will be “grown” from the subatomic level.

“Nanoarchitecture will be used to create the buildings of the future - structures will function in symbiotic relationship to the environment, adapting to the changing needs of their inhabitants.”   - John M Johansen       

Johansen’s Nanoarchitecture Exhibition at the Stroom Museum, The Hague, Netherlands.  Regarding the combination of organic properties with the inorganic properties of technology in the creation of nanoarchitecture Johansen remarked,  “... as technology advances in architecture, the closer it comes to nature.”