People throughout history have needed, just like any other animal, shelter. But people’s ability for abstract thought turned this need into something more significant, a space (a city, a house, a room) of aesthetic pursuit. From the times of early man, we have transformed our space not just out of necessity but out of an artistic sensibility. Architecture, then, has become the most tangible art.
Anthropologists will tell you numerous theories on why people create art; it could have started with naturalistic and religious pursuits, or as a tool to keep a tribe united in tradition. But it would be reasonable to speculate that humanity would have still developed an architectural sense without religion, even without community. Animals need shelter, and stripped of all else, humans are animals. This need is so embedded in our programming that we often go about our daily lives without giving it any thought, even though we are surrounded by architecture, architecture that reflects the evolution of all humanity.
The Most Tangible Art.
“Architecture is the thoughtful making of spaces. It is the creating of spaces that evoke a feeling of appropriate use.”
Architecture is one of the most significant creations of human culture. People do not simply want to live in a house or a city that satisfies their need for shelter, they seek places and spaces that will satisfy the incessant stirrings of their soul. They want a home, but an otherworldly dwelling as well. The idea of a home goes beyond the physical capabilities of architecture; it has meaning.
People who leave their childhood homes, or those who lose their archetypal home will most likely carry a lot of feelings attached to the memory of those buildings left behind. The home, the neighborhood, the city, the homeland. The architecture of the past can solidify itself in memory even more than it did when we could touch it in reality. In a certain sense, it defines us as individuals. Ask a man about a childhood toy, or tv show, or song played on the radio that evokes memories, and he might be able to recall a feeling, a hue of light. Ask him about his childhood home, and he will remember himself.
Architecture then becomes the most tangible art, as it is a peoples’ statement to the world, a statement of culture, tradition, country, and self. It reflects all of these, even when it is not successful. When the Eiffel Tower was constructed, the general public deeply disliked the building, and it was finished on the condition that it would be dismantled later. Yet it is still standing, and it is one of the most iconic buildings in the world, representing the French and beloved by them.
Whether vernacular architecture or modern, we seek identity in it. Architects and contractors see this when clients find it difficult to settle on an idea, becoming deeply involved in the design and realization of their future homes or company buildings. Sometimes this feeling of identification will take some time to come, as with the Eiffel Tower. Sometimes it emerges while the building itself is nothing more than a blueprint. It is likely that this is why ‘ugly’ buildings are those that do not speak to the people they serve, and why so often these are considered “bad architecture” or not even architecture at all – despite being perfectly functional.
The Architecture of the Collective
Architecture’s purpose is then far more than just to guard people from the elements. Its function within culture is so significant that even in fiction we see it, when we are shown two different cultures from a distant magical land or far-away planet. The architecture in such works often varies from one culture to the next, hinting at what these imaginary cultures are all about. Fiction writers call this worldbuilding, and it often goes far beyond our physical reality, but it does not stray from our psychic one. For we know that China’s architecture is very different from Mexico’s architecture, as are its people and culture. However, it is not all differences, and a deeper truth about our collective consciousness is reaffirmed in the universal similarities.
This goes as much for the individual as the collective, as we are all seeking both shelter in this world and something more, something lost and not yet found – in architecture.
References:
- Oxford Art Online. (n.d.). Artist’s Work/Artist’s Voice: Louis I. Kahn. [online] Available at: https://www.oxfordartonline.com/page/artists-work-artists-voice-louis-i.-kahn/artists-workartists-voice-louis-i-kahn#:~:text=%E2%80%9CArchitecture%20is%20the%20thoughtful%20making [Accessed 15 Oct. 2022].
Images/visual mediums:
- Cave Paintings (Plamen S. 2022) Flickr. 2022. Plamen Stoev. [online] Available at: <https://www.flickr.com/photos/87103132@N00>
- House Love [online] Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/28/style/house-love-moving-a-home-in-india-1500-miles-to-save-it.html
- Eiffel Tower by Hotel des Grand Hommes [online] Available at: https://www.hoteldesgrandshommes.com/monuments/eiffel/
- Tour Montparnasse, Paris. [online] Available at: https://www.architecturaldigest.com/gallery/ugliest-skyscrapers-in-world
- Jabba the Hutt’s palace on Tatooine, as painted by Ralph McQuarrie.
[online] Available at:
https://www.cnn.com/style/article/star-wars-architecture-one-square-meter/index.html
- City planet Coruscant (Pictured in “Episode III: Revenge of the Sith”) Lucasfilm Ltd. [online] Available at:
https://www.cnn.com/style/article/star-wars-architecture-one-square-meter/index.html
