6 July

Sometimes in architecture, you'll hear people say that straight lines and square or rectangular rooms are sterile. So you get the Gaudis and the Lehrys, with their twisted 'organic' shapes. Christopher Alexander though, I think the best architect alive and even ever, put his finger right on why straight lines are actually the most human and embracing type of architecture. The reason? Because only a straight wall is 'fair' to the rooms either side of it. It's the maximum compromise between two rooms, the second you put any sort of curve in the wall, one room is encroaching on the other.