Tectonic Metaphors

Materials and surfaces have a language of their own. Stone speaks of its distant geological origins, its durability and inherent permanence. Brick makes one think of earth and fire, gravity and the ageless traditions of construction. […] Wood speaks of its two existences and time scales: its first life of a growing tree and the second as a human artefact made by the caring hand of the carpenter or cabinetmaker. These are all materials and surfaces pleasurably of layered time as opposed to the flat and voiceless industrially manufactured materials of today. 

Juhani Pallasmaa, Encounters 2