JAMES CUTLER

James Cutler is one of those rare contemporary architects who has converted environmental technology, an ecologically responsible choice of materials, and a strong earth consciousness into art. In his work the site area, regional topography, local vegetation, and the "psychology of situtation" are intrinsic parts of his aesthetic decisions. With regard to this psychological element, it refers to his ability to connect to an ambient sensibility that gives any artform its relevance. This unifying sensibility has been defined by our acknowledgment that, if we are to survive as a species, the damage wrought by global industrialization must be reversed.

While Cutler's work incorporates a form of construction technology that clearly identifies him as an architect of the 1990s, he does not celebrate industrial imagery the way, for example, the buildings of Rem Koolhaas, Jean Nouvel, or Richard Rogers harken back to Machine Age sources. Cutlers's buildings, like Frank Lloyd Wright's, grow out of complex architectural investigations. They are based on an understanding of the unique qualities of each situation, rather than an adherence to some prescriptive set of forms endorsed by a fashionable "in" movement or the comfortable reassurances of an easily accessible design vocabulary.

Theresa Morrow is a Bainbridge Island, Washington-based writer. She has written about architecture and business for the Seattle Times, is the author of the Seattle Survival Guide, and has been a contributor to national and international publications, including the New York Times and GEO magazine.