I remember walking through cathedrals and basilicas in Europe and looking up - as a student of architecture I was meant to be analyzing the structure of the vault - the loads - the force - the gravity

the span of mass wants only to be grounded - to be transferred as a force to the mass of the wall - which in turn would buttress it and bring it down to the earth - absorbing it at the source

but what I was doing instead was looking at light - trying to imagine the volume contained in the vault as a space in my own body - bringing in light and redefining form through an expanding force - breath, let's call it

in the courtyards, small gardens and side chapels I would begin to breath again - perceiving openings through my lungs and fingertips - I left behind the weight of the vault to be grounded on it's own terms - taking with me a sightless volume - resisting gravity and waiting to be exhaled into a city with no ceiling