Architecture deals with the built environment, usually guided by societal development categorised by economic and social transformation. As a society, we always tend to look for progress and the future, and yet the past often drives clues for the future. Therefore, it’s the past and the following narratives that guide us to understand the requirements of each era and suggest building in coordination with it. Learning from the past by being in the present is one of humankind’s most comfortable yet challenging tasks. The current new era that echoes environmental issues, social pressure of living standards, and the urge for technological advancements alongside preserving nature and traditions highly demands the future to be radical and spontaneous. It has to be readily adaptive to the needs while sustainably dealing with the environment. This can only be achieved by combing traditional methods with the latest science.
The Future of Architecture: Deriving from Nature
As talked traditional methods are often dealt with in correspondence with nature. Architects must understand and respect the human relationship with the city, buildings, and nature. In Frank Lloyd Wright’s “The Future of Architecture” chaptered as “Organic Architecture”, he states that nature is the prime example that can be used to express architectural idealism by reinterpreting the principles of nature to creating form and then combining it with function to achieve the desired outcome. It can be derived by respecting material properties, understanding the role, and building a harmonious relationship between form and function. Architects’ fundamental roles lie in integrating our built spaces with nature by creating a union between context and structure. Along with this, it is to be firmly believed that sustainability is one of the main concerns of the future of buildings and cities. It can be achieved by conserving plant and animal life and effectively protecting humankind by designing spaces incoherent with the upcoming human tendencies. With the ever-evolving technology and advancements, humankind also needs to experience calmness which can be achieved by creating self-sufficient spaces, just like the primitive times. The spaces include outdoors, greens, courtyards, and other relevant requirements to ensure comfort, with limited resources informing people about vernacular and sustainable practices.
The Future of Architecture: Incorporating Technology
On the other hand, as much as the role of nature is vital, today, we are in an exciting era of innovation and creation. The revolutionary times are here, and technology is one of the key aspects that can contribute to it. It can be used to construct better buildings that offer humankind a certain standard of living and experience. The right technology can cater to many possibilities, from site study to virtual experiences. Most architectural processes can also be automated with higher accuracy and efficiency levels. It will provide numerous design solutions considering material availability, environmental standards, sustainability, and various other factors that will ease up the role of architects. They can then utilise those as a starting point and generate more human-centric design. Layers can then be added depending on the context, typology, and the requirement to build upon and create smart and culturally thoughtful solutions for the present and future generations.
The Future of Architecture: Integrating the two
However, it should be highly supervised that under the guidance of digital programming, the design and structure should maintain respect for context and old architectural principles but should reimagine ways to combine traditional theories with modern science for the progress of the cities. As designers and planners, we are supposed to understand the city, lifestyle, belief system, and whole way of living along with a strong sense to adapt to the revolutionary changes to cater to present and future needs. This results in dealing with the space for efficiency, human experience, human needs, and human comfort. Therefore, from all the learnings of the past juxtaposed with technology have resulted in human-centric designs, which has always been the prime motive of vernacular architecture. We can then call it a successful development and an evolution of the built environment over the years.
The term future holds a lot of opportunities for us to evolve, create and contribute back to the environment by being inspired by nature and vernacular practices, which have always been a part of us irrespective of being an architect or not. The future of architecture will begin at an intersection of nature and technology, enabling architects to design for contemporary and upcoming times. It will not only guide the architects but the users of buildings to understand and make informed choices about living sustainably. It will be when this collaboration leads to spaces with only walls but stories and lessons to be conveyed to coming generations.
References:
Architecture: The fourth R future architecture – penoyre & prasad. (n.d.). Retrieved April 28, 2023,
The Future of Architecture Book Review – WordPress.com. (n.d.). Retrieved April 28, 2023,
Schumacher, P. (2020, June 17). The Future of Architecture – spontaneous and Virtual. Economic Times. Retrieved April 28, 2023
Unit, S. D. (2017, June 4). Human nature and architecture: Frank Lloyd Wright’s architectural approaches and disposition. Academia.edu. Retrieved April 28, 2023,
Vieira, R. (2023, March 30). The future of architecture is human-centered. RTF | Rethinking the Future. Retrieved April 28, 2023
