ecopolis now

A recent enquiry from student Veronica Quintero from NJIT, researching architecture firm logos, prompted me to publish this short piece about the Ecopolis logo.

The Ecopolis graphic device is generated from a combination of age-old symbols:

A circle with a horizontal line across — ancient symbol for Water
An open circle — ancient symbol for Air
A circle with a cross — ancient symbol for Earth
A circle with a central spot — ancient symbol for Fire (or the sun or energy)
A continuous figure-of-eight — symbol for infinity (ongoingness and sustainability)

Then the large and small curve of the overall logo is derived from the relative diameters of the Earth and Moon, which are almost exactly in the ratio 11:3. Our planet’s ecology is massively conditioned by the moon, most obviously in the tides of the oceans. The area between low and high tide is a classic ‘zone of transition’, a fuzzy boundary between the ocean and the land with its own distinctive characteristics, but also a place that links the two different worlds of water and land. It’s a place that only exists because of the moon and, of course, the beach is a place of endless fascination to us humans for all sorts of reasons.

The relationship to architecture is there in two main ways.

One is to do with the geometries that can be derived from using the diameters of the Earth and Moon, the 11:3 proportion. Using only a compass and straightedge (the basis of all genuine sacred architecture geometrical construction) it is possible to ‘square the circle’. The geometrical construction involved is very simple, and it is probably that used to establish the dimensions of the great pyramids of Egypt — hence more ‘deep’ architectural links and connotations.

The second relationship is to do with the ‘zone of transition’. Bad architecture is full of holes, usually thought of as windows and doors. Good architecture treats these openings as zones of transition between inside, or one condition, and outside, or another condition. Ecological architecture, properly considered, is all about the careful and informed mediation of the difference between these conditions. Ecological architecture is, I believe, very much about managing the skins or edges of buildings to effect a transition between different conditions to achieve particular degrees of comfort or building performance.

The logo of Ecopolis was initially constructed in 1989, with the letters of the word set in a circle; the development into a logo with the two enclosing ‘Earth/Moon’ curves came about a couple of years later.