Welcome to our very first Weekend Edition.
What a week. Actually… what a year.
Maybe YU felt it too.
Beautiful and painful at the same time. Very Yügen, actually. A complete psychological rollercoaster.
I think this is what happens when YU finally stop trying to perfectly fit into the version the world expected of YU… and start becoming your truest authentic self.
The difficult thing about transformation is that it rarely arrives fully formed. It’s messy. Unfinished. Still becoming. So naturally, YU try to explain yourself. To make people understand. To avoid being misunderstood… or worse, laughed at. Which is pointless, really.
Because the moment YU start changing visibly, people start talking. And when people don’t fully understand something, they start filling in the blanks themselves. That’s when YU discover how wildly imaginative humanity still is. Honestly, some of the stories people invent about YU are absolutely spectacular.
But somewhere along the way, Courage steps in. And Courage teaches YU something important: Other people’s interpretations are not your responsibility. They never were.
So YU stop trying to control the narrative. YU let go. And YU begin trusting your intuition, even when it guides YU somewhere YU cannot fully see yet.
And in hindsight, this entire process turns out to be one giant training program for the ego.
But in the beginning? Pfooohaaa.
It hurts. Because choosing intuition over conformity, comes with sacrifices. Sometimes YU lose people YU deeply cared about. And yet…
I would still recommend authenticity to everyone. Because the price of never becoming your truest self is infinitely higher than judgement, ridicule, or misunderstanding from others.
And strangely enough, once YU begin expressing the creativity, vision, weirdness, sensitivity, curiosity or intensity YU suppressed for years… new people start finding their way toward YU. Or people YU already knew suddenly reconnect on a completely different level. Because YU became real.
That would never have happened if YU had stayed hidden. If YU had stayed inside Conformity.
Now don’t get me wrong. Conformity has its place. If YU are designing a residential community, or an office complex, a certain level of structure and conformity helps create harmony.
But for human beings? Please. Be as weird as possible.
Because AI is about to make everything look the same. Which means authenticity suddenly becomes priceless. AI can imitate your style, intelligence, even your looks. But it cannot imitate your soul; the strange magic that happens when somebody fully dares to become themselves.
Do YU think the world would have known The Muppet Show if Jim Henson had decided to act “normal”? Would we all still be screaming I want to ride my biiiiicycle if Freddie Mercury had hidden his eccentricity to fit into society?
Of course not. And now AI is about to accelerate everything. MASSIVELY.
Would YU truly feel the same goosebumps if AI created its own version of Bohemian Rhapsody? Maybe technically perfect. But would it carry the same soul, the same scars, the same human madness? I doubt it.
Look, everybody chooses their own path. But what a tragedy it would be to go through this entire life without ever fully stepping into your gift. Because YU might just carry an idea, a talent or a perspective this world desperately needs.
And yes… seeing more and more people finding their way toward this YUNIVERSE makes me incredibly grateful. Artists. Visionaries. Dreamers. Entrepreneurs. Quiet rebels. Creative souls. People craving meaning again. .
Some of YU are already fully embracing who YU are. Others are only just beginning.
Maybe this is your sign. Because one day, You will look back at your life and ask yourself only one real question:
“Did I dare to become who I truly was? Or did I kept holding on to the old formula?”
Where YU courageous enough to go on that messy journey?
In my case, it was messy indeed. And slightly more complicated because of the 9 different Architypes. But strangely enough, they helped me understand myself better. They helped me recognize which forces move me forward… and which ones hold me back.
And maybe that’s what growth actually is: learning to recognize your own inner landscape. Because once YU can name your fears, YU slowly stop being controlled by them.
And yes, sometimes that journey feels lonely. Until suddenly, it doesn’t anymore.
YU also were curious enough to follow this newsletter. And that was actually the very first condition to becoming a YU:
Curiosity
The willingness to look beyond the obvious. To recognize when something is different. And to be curious enough to discover what this strange lady in a red couture dress actually means when she says “YU”.
And yes…I am still very much an architect. And I probably always will be. Koen and I will always remain an architect couple.
His focus has always been deeply connected to aesthetics, proportion and emotional feeling. Mine slowly evolved more towards how architecture can emotionally and physically uplift human beings.
But in the end, we are both obsessed with the exact same thing:
The soul of architecture
How spaces can heal. How beauty can reconnect people with themselves. How environments can slowly awaken something modern life pushed asleep.
The deeper system behind all of this, the Tribbles, Tribblemakers, Yunatics, Yugi’s, Yugenista’s, our Yugiwiki, the YUHU Salute and the entire YUNIVERSE,… that story is for later 😄.
For now, let’s just say this whole YUNIVERSE revolves around one thing:
HOPE.
Like in the 1984s movie The NeverEnding Story, where the survival of Fantasia ultimately depends on one tiny grain of hope remaining.
One small spark. One childlike belief. One human being still daring to imagine something better.
YU.
— Véronique Orens, architect and Editor-in-Chief of this beautiful Crazy Circus
4- Okay Véronique, wonderful intro! But can I take over again? I mean, it’s my newsletter, right?
0- Go ahead, Veronica.
DARUMA OR NO DARUMA?
THAT’S THE QUESTION.
2*- Yes, what would YU do?
4- YU mean the picture for your newsletter?
2*- Yes. Should I use my picture with the Daruma doll or the one without?
4- Goh, it tells a story. But first YU need to explain what a Daruma doll is.
2*- Here YU go :
4- But I thought YU were gonna do a newsletter together with your twin sister, Nikki?
2*- No, I’m going solo.
4- No? She was actually hoping YU would stay together. 2 and 2*. Compassion and Courage together. Nikki & Nikki ‘O. Sounds iconic, honestly.
2*- Whyyyy do I always have to do things together with her just because we’re twins? I mean, she’s Architype 2: Compassion. Kindness. Hope. She has a completely different energy. And sometimes… she’s a little naive.
4- She’s not naive, darling. She’s deliberately hopeful.
2*- Same difference. I love her, but she’s a bit of a people pleaser. She tends to give people endless chances.
4- Which is exactly why she needs YU to help keep the boundaries.
2*- Anyway, I want to go full in now, okay?
4- I understand. Although maybe try not to scare anyone, okay?
2*- But Captain said I’m allowed to go unapologetic now. Otherwise what’s even the point of being Architype 2*: Courage?
4- Darling… YU don’t need permission from anyone. YU’ve been in isolation long enough. YU’ve seen enough. But remember: We never use vinegar…
2*- …only honey. I know.
4- Let me see what YU have so far. Can YU enlarge that GIF? My eyesight appears to be deteriorating with age.
4- Oh, I see. This is the tone of voice. Yep, that’s so YU.
2*- Yes, see, nothing to worry about.
(2*- But do I look like the pope?)
*****
My name is Veronica.
I am one of Véronique Orens’ alter egos. Or as she prefers to call them: Architypes. These Architypes (with an “i”, because the ArchEtypes already belong to Carl Jung. But don’t ask me how the pronounciation is any different), were created from Architecture. Hence the ‘i’ in Architype.
There are 9 Architypes in total. YU will get to know them one by one. And yes, we know. It’s a lot to take in. An architect with 26 years of experience, once considered a highly respected professional, suddenly showing up with 9 alter egos after two years of isolation…
It does sound slightly insane.
That’s why we call it ; The Crazy Circus. Yes, we have gone bonkers and we love it. Maybe the world could use a little more beautiful madness right now.
I myself represent the Architype of Curiosity. I have always loved curious people. The nerds. The passionate misfits. Hence the red dress and the ‘sexy’ name ‘Veronica’, referring to Veronica Lake. Because she had a high IQ but didn’t look like the stereotypical “nerd.” And that’s exactly the point. There are countless brilliant women out there constantly being underestimated because of the way they look. Too beautiful to possibly be intelligent.
But the same thing happens to men who managed to keep a soft heart in a world that often rewards emotional distance. Somewhere along the way, vulnerability and empathy became mistaken for weakness. And seriousness for intelligence.
That story is getting old. It’s time for a new story.