A while back, I was on a trip to a small island in the West Indies to investigate a site for a new project along with an interior designer and another architect, both good friends. On the final day when all other work was done, we set out to see the whole of the dramatic mountainous island. This wasn’t an afterthought, or simply a sightseeing trip. We all saw it as a critical part of understanding the idea of the place in which we were to build.     A local told us that it should take about 45 minutes to circumvent the body of the island, formed by a large cloud-shrouded volcano. But we knew better. This would take time. In…