“A building is not something you finish. A building is something you start.” – Stewart Brand

The Buddha and 18th-century Scottish philosopher David Hume might not be the first people you’d turn to for advice on building design. But a closer look at one of their central theories offers some surprising lessons. You are not who you think you are, according to both thinkers. It may feel as though you have some intrinsic essence that remains independent and unchanging, but this is an illusion.

You are nothing more than a bundle of properties, perceptions and experiences without any underlying cohesion, forever changing from moment to moment.

So, how does this apply to buildings? The work of Frank Duffy, one of the most influential workplace designers of the late 20th century, offers some clues. To Duffy, the nature of organizational and technological change means that a building should not be regarded as a singular entity fixed in space and time — “There isn’t such a thing as a building,” he says. Rather, there is a system of layers, each operating at different speeds and scales.