Everyday life might seem like a vague system with a set of recurring and non-recurring activities. It is a defined realm, as any change wouldn’t affect the monotony of daily life. Architecture is a non-negotiable part of everyday life. We come across different kinds of structures that are linked to our routine without our knowledge. Similarly, architecture creates a certain change in different individuals’ perceptions and mindsets on viewing public spaces, skyscrapers, community areas etc. The eyes of an architect and a common man will be different when it comes to this perception. For one, the structure might be progress of concept evolution and design process but for the other, it might be a shelter for himself or any other object that he is close to.
Architecture in History
Being a mixture of art and science, architecture is a reflection of how a living being lives. It has impacted societies since the beginning of time and shall continue the same forever. Structures like Ziggurat in Mesopotamia that was built for religious purposes is considered as the predecessor of the pyramids that are found across Egypt today. Egyptians built Ziggurat as a link between air and earth and being a terraced structure, without their knowledge, the structure became a protective factor for them. This was a daily life part of Egyptians in terms of protection and religious beliefs. This also led to the design of the Egyptian tombs that shaped the Egypt that we see today.
Impacts of Architecture among People
For obvious reasons, for a common person, the architecture around him is a structure that serves his needs. Nevertheless, for so many years the idea of housing has changed for the common man. It is no longer a concrete jungle, but a space that makes the person comfortable in his daily life. Considering a house, that becomes a home for him, is a place for his religious beliefs, storage, safety and productivity, especially during the COVID-19 situation. An architect or a designer knows the difference between external aesthetics and the inner core of the building, whereas, for a common man, it’s all about comfort and external beauty. Based on different concepts like the golden ratio and other architectural ideas, an architect/designer can understand the story of any building but for a common man, it’s just another building or a reference from social media platforms or magazines for his living space makeover.
Impact of Online Education
Being hit by COVID-19 without any prior preparations, everyone has understood the importance of a shelter for his/her basic needs and how impactful is his/her home is in their daily life. Since what is happening in the world is irreversible and might take a long time to be a new world with different systems, the safety factor makes us sit in our homes. For architecture students, this might not be easy. With all the lack of practical knowledge, study tours, case studies, site visits and studio hours what an architecture student is tackling is his/her future. Although that might not matter at the moment, the face of architecture in the future years will change. Practical working experience will create a void in one’s studies and will face problems while implementing designs into the real world.
Before and After Architecture Education
Before beginning architecture education, for any student, architecture might be a subject that creates a beautiful building considering every need of the user in daily life. As progressing throughout education, we understand the depth of the subject and the underlying facts of how we can originate our style of designing and the different streams of the subjects that link with the persona of every other philosophy and subject.
Something that both architects/designers and a common man find fascinating about architecture is the details. Although the perspectives might differ, the keen eye for details will increase the comfort of a common man and emerge a new idea in an architect. The pictures that we see on internet platforms like a tree house, different roof designs, walls embedded with landscape etc. is among many different types of architectural details that break the monotony. This helps to create interesting views for our eyes in daily life.
Being the beautiful subject as it is, architecture lies in everything. Even during the worldwide pandemic situation, our homes became our protector, hospitals became help for the agony. We might not discuss or pay attention to it, but architecture built the society that we are in today, and will better the society for tomorrow.
References
Lee, P. (2016). The History of Architecture in a Nutshell | Widewalls. [online] www.widewalls.ch. Available at: https://www.widewalls.ch/magazine/the-history-of-architecture.
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Krmangalam.edu.in. (2021). . [online] Available at: https://www.krmangalam.edu.in/blog/the-role-of-architecture-in-today.
The Importance of Architecture (2019). The Importance of Architecture – The Book of Life. [online] The Book of Life. Available at: https://www.theschooloflife.com/thebookoflife/the-importance-of-architecture/.
Upton, D. (2002). Architecture in Everyday Life. New Literary History, [online] 33(4), pp.707–723. Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/20057752 [Accessed 8 Aug. 2021].
