I’ve never been a big fan of answering “What’s your favorite this or that?” questions. It’s not that I don’t like anything or that I am antisocial. On the contrary, I enjoy a great many things – objects, activities, and humans alike. I just don’t often choose one thing as my favorite (although I secretly enjoy the process of narrowing it down). But, when probed about my favorite author, reasoning it out did not take long. Now, I have read and enjoyed several authors; some of my favorites being J.R.R. Tolkien, Hermann Hesse, Ray Bradbury, Edgar Allan Poe, Shakespeare, Kurt Vonnegut, and on and on. My one favorite however – my favorite wordsmith you might say — has to be Walt Whitman.

While Whitman was actually a poet and did not specialize in the novel, his work was extremely reflective of the world around him. From the flat he lived in to the park he lazed in, “Uncle Walt” was wonderfully descriptive of the world within and out. And it somehow comes as no surprise that Walt Whitman, often referred to as America’s greatest poet, was born in a small farmhouse on rural Long Island.

You can still visit Whitman’s birthplace today if you so wish. On the grounds have now been built an interpretive center, but the simple, two-story Federal-style house still remains. When Whitman was yet quite young, his family moved to Brooklyn. Whitman himself did not own a house until 1884 (Camden, NJ), just eight years before his death. That was a modest two-story frame house with wallpaper, hardwood floors, and an overall simple aesthetic.

Yet, what inspires me most about Walt Whitman is not his attention to 19th century architecture. What is inspiring about Whitman is his attention to everything. And, when you think about it, that summarizes what I feel to be the basic philosophy of architecture and design in the 21st century. Design for much of the 20th century ignored the natural environment and the earth’s valuable energy resources. In the new millennium, like it or not, there will be a focus on embracing the environment. I think this will be most notable in a return to passive solar design and, in a broader sense, bioclimatic building.

Just as Walt Whitman enjoyed “observing a spear of summer grass,” so many modern designers enjoy crafting green structures.

The beauty of poetry, especially that of Walt Whitman, is that it inspires both the carpenter and the writer in me. All great works of literature, for that matter, seem inspirational no matter who is reading. That is truly amazing: to be as equally inspired swinging a hammer as when strolling through the park.

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