Practical perfection

Just read this cool article by Guy Kawasaky about a smart, green building added to the Stanford campus, sponsored by Yahoo! cofounder Jerry Yang.

I couldn't quite pin-point the reason why I loved the whole thing so much. It was, of course, the modern and the environment friendly approach .. it was also the awesome fact that all the not-so-cheap investments made in various technology tweaks ($470/square foot) would pay for themselves in savings in only 6 years.

But there is more. It's spartan. It's modern not necessarily in looks but more importantly in concept. It's practical and simple. It's trully smart, not just preatty. It somehow reminded me of the fameous Antoine de St. Exupery quote:

Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.