Buildings are such beautiful and interesting things to look at especially if the process through which they come to be does not really concern the person looking at them. Before joining architecture school, all a student that is soon to join the course of study can think about is how many building designs and plans they are going to come up with. They dream about changing the skyline of their city, transforming their village and country at hand just by the mere thought of how possible change is and that can be brought about by architecture or so they think.
Then it happens, they enroll and there they are studying to become an architect and at this point, the duration of the study doesn’t concern them because they are doing what they love. At this point, things have already become interesting because everything they thought they knew about architecture, buildings, design is actually not it, at least in the beginning. It is at this point where they discover that the famous quote by the philosopher Vitruvius that says “Let him who would be an architect] be educated, skilful with the pencil, instructed in geometry, know much history, have followed the philosophers with attention, understand music, have some knowledge of medicine, know the opinions of the jurists, and be acquainted with astronomy and the theory of the heavens.” That, true to this, they see themselves getting there because now, they know a bit more about everything and the way they look at the world and everything else is through totally different eyes.
It is at this point where they realize that their curiosity levels are through the roof because now, at every given opportunity, they want to apply something if not everything they have been taught in class or have learnt about architecture and construction. Even when everyone else might overlook some things, detail is not hidden from them and when they are on their way to another floor in a building, they find themselves subconsciously counting the number of stairs in a given flight while also actually paying attention to the height of the riser just to make sure it fits the recommended height according to the 2R+T=600 formula or that at the very least it’s comfortable for the user. Details about how materials come together are one of the new obsessions they have because they can’t stop trying to relate textures to materials and are always trying to figure out how things come together.
Spaces and places stop being things that they go to for an event or just an occasion. These become experiences and more. When these people are in those places, they are either trying to see how appropriately the materials were used in terms of the function of that particular space or just how much purpose the space itself serves in terms of more than functionality. Elements common to other people have become more than that for them as architects because they are always speaking or saying more about the architecture and character of a place. Because of how their mind has been trained to see more and not look at everything from face value, they start to look out for the “more” in spaces, structures, buildings and sometimes even in people’s conversations.
Light stops being something that enables them to just see but it becomes something that defines spaces, boundaries and even sets mood which in turn determines or even dictates what and how a certain space ought to be used. And so, the next time they have to choose a restaurant where to eat from, they will be thinking about the ‘ambience’ of the place that they would choose depending on the kind of experience they are looking for.
Looking at the buildings in their city that once fascinated them, now all they can think about is how poorly or appropriately they were placed in regard to their context and then all these conversations about sustainability, the materiality of buildings especially in regard to the climate of their areas, the role of the planning authorities in regards to the places where they stay, all these start coming to mind because at this point, their concern is beyond the new building designs that are coming up.
Even when building forms and structures might be of both concern and fascination to them, they learn that architecture encompasses more than that. They start looking out for ways of bringing about change or even pioneering it by the choices and decisions they make in their building designs and how they let people perceive their work. Being that architecture is design based on so many levels, this is always an opportunity to explore other design fields and this in turn opens up their world and eyes to so much especially the similarities between architecture and other design entities like fashion, graphics designing, film and all those other creative fields.
Very early in the profession, the changes in their perception about almost everything becomes noticeable and this is something that becomes a part of them. It becomes a lifestyle and they get to live with it for the rest of their lives because beyond building designs, plans, structures, architecture just becomes a lifestyle, something that almost influences their lives and decisions beyond the work they might have to do in office. Architecture becomes a lifestyle.
