From ARCHETYPE DESIGN:
House as a Vehicle for Spirit

By Vishu Magee

INTRODUCTION

Houses hold an enduring fascination for most of us: it is here that we lavish a degree of energy and affection seen in few other aspects of our lives. African villagers may devote hours to painting intricate colored-earth designs on their mud walls, while American suburbanites are busy sinking small fortunes into their interior decor. Both act from the same impulse: whether decorating, remodeling, or designing anew, people strive to make their homes as much as possible into their image of the "dream house."

What is this powerful impulse? How is it that some houses speak to us? How do some seem to embrace us with comfort, safety and intimacy...or inspire and uplift us...or heal us and bring us together as family and community? And why is it that some houses, however lavish or correctly designed, totally fail to move us?

Twenty-five years of combined design work and spiritual practice have convinced me that the heart and soul of a house are primarily created not through design techniques, but by infusing the design with an ineffable energy or essence attained by diving deeply into the innermost realms of spirit and creativity. I began to experience this early in my career when, seemingly by chance, I would get those spontaneous and fleeting flashes of insight which resulted in my best work. Over the years, some of my houses have radiated a certain spirit which, though evident to all, cannot be explained by the material details alone. Of course I can describe the array of design elements and their relationship to one another but I can't always describe how I got there, let alone what was the glue holding the design together and giving it power. This has indeed been a mystery, one which has stimulated in me a growing interest in not only penetrating the elusive realms from which spirit springs forth as architecture, but somehow mapping a way for all of us to gain more reliable access to them.

In my explorations I have been amazed to find timeless forms of architecture actually lying hidden in the psyche like undiscovered gems. No less powerful are energies and patterns of movement which, once experienced, can take unique and dynamic form through one's individual creativity. Indeed, the sources of creativity which we usually consider accessible only to geniuses are available to all of us, if only we know how to get there. Thus, Archetype Design began as a method to enable us to tap into the wellspring of the sacred, the archetypal, and the creative.

But there is another strong force shaping Archetype Design, which is the need to respond concretely and effectively to both the global environmental crisis and our own social dislocations. So while the overarching view of this work is a spiritual or holistic one, within it is an activist stance which takes architecture as its vehicle. This is far from an academic exercise put another way, Archetype Design turns on the perennial question of how to make our actions and lifestyle congruent with our values and vision.

By now we are all too familiar with the picture of a fast-degrading global environment and a decaying social structure. These are the signal challenges of our day, and to heal them is indeed the mythic and heroic quest of our time, to which architecture has much to contribute. But we will not be able to alleviate these conditions until we heal ourselves of the inner conditions of fear, greed and ignorance which created the outward problems in the first place. Ours is a journey a Sacred Journey in which healing ourselves and healing the planet are the same work.

The last three decades have brought us an astounding array of innovations in architecture: solar heating and electricity, environmental and community planning, energy- and water-efficient products, renewable and non-toxic building materials, recycling, drip irrigation, co-housing, organic and xeriscapic gardening, and more. These innovations have truly placed sustainable living within our reach.

Yet it is amazing that after all these years, and despite the flashiness of the New Age, so few people care to use these technologies and embrace the less consumerist lifestyle which they embody. Fortunately much of this technology is now mandated. But I have been repeatedly encouraged by clients' intentions to build with sustainability in mind, only to watch in frustration as deeply entrenched habits erode sustainability features one by one.

Though we are well aware of the mess we are in and have easy access to appropriate technologies, there seems to be a sort of paralysis when it comes to actually making a change. This is because, despite all our aspirations to environmental and social awareness, we remain addicted. Put more simply, the conventional consumerist habits remain more powerful than our desire to become whole.

More information is not the solution: thus far, public debate, environmental programs in the schools, economic incentives, and an avalanche of books and articles have raised our awareness to a limited extent but have failed to bring about radical change. What is required is nothing less than a fundamental shift in consciousness and this is precisely what Archetype Design seeks to create.

Archetype Design offers a method which can radically change how we design our homes and communities because it first changes how we view ourselves. This method goes far deeper than intellectual inquiry as the name archetype implies, it approaches design in the context of our deepest personal and collective natures. Moreover, the critical learning is experiential, enabling us to sense ourselves as profoundly connected to a global human family, to an exquisite but fragile ecosystem, and to a rich personal and collective legacy of archetypal symbols, wisdom, and energies reaching us from our distant past. A fundamental shift in consciousness can indeed occur, and the result is design which is sustainable, deeply creative, and supportive of ongoing growth and healing.

The key word here is experiential. For example, it is one thing to give lip-service to the idea that we are interconnected with the earth and its creatures. But if we actually experience the self in a visceral or mystical way as including all other people and species, then it's likely that our thoughts and actions will reflect this new and profound vision. We might never be the same again. Such experiences of global or cosmic unity, of belonging to the earth, of limitless openheartedness, of being part of a timeless and sacred continuum are transformative events which lie at the core of Archetype Design.

To be effective, however, any such transformation must relate back to everyday realities. The most important example is relationships: houses are usually designed for two people, yet too often homebuilding destroys the very relationship which it is meant to nurture. Not realizing how deeply our houses relate to our selves, we are generally ill-prepared to deal with the explosive personal issues and archetypal energies which homebuilding stirs up. Here is where preliminary work yields benefits we can immediately appreciate: we can identify and defuse the personality blocks which otherwise might blow up relationships already stressed by homebuilding; we can learn to create a healing and unifying vision for ourselves and our home; we can place ourselves in an archetypal context, bringing ourselves into alignment with primal energies and forces which will unite us rather than separate us.

Expanding this focus, we can explore what it means for a family to grow and evolve together so that our shared space will best support both our individual and collective selves. And if we take our home situation as a microcosm and succeed with our family relationships, then we just might be prepared to develop the openness and cultural sensitivity required to bridge the truly huge gaps presented by ethnic, cultural and economic differences in our society.

Personal transformation is thus a prerequisite in this work, and actual architectural design follows. Here too, Archetype Design has a different emphasis: the focus is not on problem-solving or technique, but rather on opening up creative channels so that images and forms may spring from sources far deeper than those which design practice usually touches. While architectural training traditionally emphasizes mastery, this work focuses on mystery.

The core work, then, is best accomplished in workshop and retreat formats where a number of techniques serve to create transformative experiences. Why then, this book? Quite simply, the book is intended to introduce the theoretical aspects of Archetype Design to the culture in general, and more particularly to those who might care to independently pursue the transformative work of which we have spoken. These concepts will help reframe our view of ourselves and our homes, and in some cases the thought process may even trigger spontaneous insight similar to what can be experienced in workshops. There is also the question of supporting the work between clients and architects: homeowners or design professionals who have found their way to Archetype Design may find the book useful to bring their counterparts into the same vision and method.

Many of the topics we will visit have already been presented skillfully and in great depth by other authors: sacred geometry, mythology, the sense of place, feng shui, solar design, permaculture, deep ecology, and more. Like slices of a pie, they converge at a centerpoint which holographically contains both the parts and the whole. The question is: how can we ourselves grasp that centerpoint? Archetype Design provides a core method to let us merge with the centerpoint, to weave the parts into an integrated whole and moreover, to do so through our own individual and unique creative process so that the resulting design expresses our vision and our dreams. In so doing we can generate the kind of energy and magic which we all want to feel in our dream house.

What are the concrete results of Archetype Design for homebuilders, designers and architects? Buildings are likely to be environmentally friendly, non-toxic, solar, thermally efficient. They will include a sanctuary or sacred space. There will be a delicate interplay between the energies of Mother Earth and Father Sky, and a dynamism between our needs for solitude, intimacy and community. There will be a strong sense of comfort, of soulfulness, and of healing. There will be a high level of beauty and creativity, yet houses will be fundamentally simpler. For some, architectural forms might spring directly from inner visions or dreams; for others the images might appear gradually as the inner experiences of archetype, self, and connectedness slowly open into form.

If you are drawn to these results, then Archetype Design is for you. Along the way we will explore archetypal forms, both in nature and in our psyches. We will tour the global legacy of nature-based and sacred architecture. We will have experiences in meditation, mythology, dreamwork, art and ritual. We will practice relationship work and community building. Only at the end will we concern ourselves with floor plans and elevations. The work will be demanding but the journey will be an adventure, and every effort will be well rewarded.

Long after our consciousness shapes a building, that building will return the favor by shaping our consciousness. So it's well worth doing the inner work which ultimately expresses itself in the design of house and home. This book offers several options for the creative journey, leaving the reader free to pursue whichever have the most appeal. Everyone will find some of these methods useful, a few of us will be drawn to them all but any one of them is capable of taking us to the archetypal Source. While Archetype Design is most obviously relevant for owner-builders and design professionals, it is actually for anyone who simply loves home and wants to make it part of a life of spirit and sustainability. With that in mind, may we create living structures which will be a source of happiness and of healing for years to come.

Design and Graphics by David R. Doyle, Digital Dog Design.
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