Twenty Five Thousand Days of Memories

A Czech architect contemplates a return to nature in his approach to building design

At the age of 70, the Czech architect and author Martin Rajnis (born 1944) embarked on a four-year journey around the world, during which he studied the buildings of various nations and cultures, and a range of natural landscapes. He returned from this sojourn as the exponent and theorist of a new "natural architecture"; in fact, his buildings had already begun to shift in materials and aesthetics from steel and concrete to "naturalistic" wood, stone and glass, resulting in a number of experimental and organically shaped structures. Complementing the monumental Martin Rajnis Architecture Guild volume, this autobiography recounts his thoughts and memories, looking back on his personal and professional life and contemplating his future in light of his new organicist vision of architecture.