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of surprise, the work must contain mystery. It's nothing anyone can give a formula for. No matter how much you know it, as in knowing nature or people, the mystery is what keeps our interest. For example, I have about two dozen recorded interpretations of Debussy's "La Mer," and every time I listen to any one of them I hear something new. I can never say I know it, any more than I can see the ocean and know it. You have said that you consider one of your most important achievements to be the "resolution of duality." What does that mean? When I was young, the difference between things seemed very clear- cut. Later in life, I began to think there might be a fusion where one part stops and another begins. For instance, when does the color red stop being red before it becomes violet? Any color perception is actually light vibrations. To say red, yellow, and blue are the basis of color is really stupid; light is a sliding scale. How many things are red that are not at all alike in color? Something beautiful to one person may be ugly to another. This is often the case when we encounter the new, as in Robert Hughes' The Shock of the New. "The Rite of Spring" by Stravinsky was considered the biggest calamity in music when it fi rst presented to an audience. Of course, it is accepted today as a great work of art. Your buildings seem musical in their decorative inventions. How has music infl uenced your work? Architecture uses the same devices that music does; rhythm, proportion, scale, ornament, harmony, asymmetry. Materials take the place of different musical instruments. One of the main differences between music and architecture is the use of physical structure. In a building, structure is thought of as a necessity to hold up the building — and thought of, too often, as a separate thing from the form. In music, the idea of structure is the basis for constructing the form of music. It is much more an integral process than in most architecture. Robert Morris is a registered architect and registered interior designer with a master's degree in space architecture. He taught from 1999 to 2010 at the University of Houston's Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture. The author's Q&A with Bruce Goff continues online at papercitymag.com. 3637 WEST ALABAMA STREET Suite 160 Houston, Texas 77027 P. 281.468.6569 GALLERY HOURS Tuesday – Friday: 10 AM – 5 PM Saturday: 12PM – 4PM Sunday: Closed D I M M I T T C O N T E M P O R A R Y A R T . C O M Sara Genn's "Ponde Dreaming", 84 x 72 inches, acrylic on canvas, 2018