Befoe joining architecture, architecture was all about exteriors of existing buildings around us. We admire or criticize the façade/structure on various merits, irrespective of the why’s and how’s of its design’s existence or its effects on us & the environment.
Let’s take the example of Hawa Mahal. We all admire its beautiful façade blending with the old city of Jaipur. No one cared enough to draw their attention towards ‘Why does it have a rear entry instead of a front one?’ or ‘How is a 5-storey structure standing straight without a foundation?’ or ‘It has a façade which is tilted 87 degrees.’
The variation in one’s perspective hangs down on our comprehension of architecture. In the initial days of architecture school, the very first task my professor gave us was to turn a single A-4 sheet into our future name cards and then place them on our desks. He taught us how a sheet that has the only 2-dimensional useful part, can be converted into a 3D, self-standing object.
Every object in any form needs a sense of usefulness to determine its best value. It’s just not about what has been done but about how it has been done. And the understanding of mass, space, and plan is what architecture is composed of when summed up.
Sense of space
Space is one of the elements of design of architecture, as space is continuously studied for its usage. Architectural designs are created by carving space out of space, creating space out of space, and designing spaces by dividing this space using various tools, such as geometry, colours, and shapes.
How much space is enough space? All first-years can point out norms and standards without blinking an eye.
A bedroom spacious enough to walk on three or four sides of the bed, with furniture right at the place, ambiance cozy enough to make you feel relaxed and at peace is how we may define a bedroom. Whereas a bedroom with the bed at the corner most place, having no extra space, empty walls, where no life exists except you is also what defines a bedroom at most.
There’s only one important basis to decide for the best and that is the experience of the sense of space. The study of architecture leads us that way. Visual images of the spatial arrangement of an area strike our heads once the journey is started.
Sense of User
A building can hold all my imagination, my ideas, my perception of it being the best. But it can’t be an efficient one unless it satisfies the needs of the users.
Anthropometry is one of its bases to be taken into consideration. We as users have been to hundreds of places that we may/may not have liked. Accounting for them today after having a different perception in the sense of space we know the exact reasons for our likes and dislikes towards them.
We now have answers to – Why does that building attract me at most? Because its façade connects me to Nature. Why that bathroom wasn’t comfortable? Because of its inappropriate dimensioning of legroom to the water closet. You see, it’s easier to look at the pros and cons now.
Development of a Vision
Architecture can be an effective tool to develop a vision to look at the world with lenses. It is also a creative field that requires a great deal of vision and expression. And practicing it always motivates your creative skills to explore themselves furthermore. Putting your creative footprint on a building, town or maybe city is extremely fulfilling. Every construction once occurred has a story of its own, our vision tolook at it, narrates it the best.
Alteration after Architecture
We were all taught elements and principles of design, ideas of generating concepts from nothing and everything, techniques, and strategies, materials and construction systems, structure, services and history, site analysis, detailing and requirements, along with the functional aspect from pre and post designing to the existence of that project. Once you understand these, your observation skills are renovated from time to time.
When I notice a building or space now, my mind jumps to find the answers now, about how space could possibly be developed from scratch to final design and then to this output.
It’s not just a building anymore. It’s about its style, its state of existence, its behavior towards nature, its strength, interior, and details.
It’s all about what an empty site holds as a whole.
“The truth is that man has an uncanny faculty of adapting himself to new conditions. He learns to admit and even, in a sneaking sort of way, to like new and strange forms. The new form is at first repugnant, but if it has any real vitality and justification, it becomes a friend. The merely fantastic soon dies.” – Frederick Etchells
References
- Wikipedia (2021). Space (Architecture). [online]. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_(architecture)
- MocomiKids (2012). 11 Interesting Facts about Hawa Mahal Jaipur – Facts for Kids | Educational Videos by Mocomi. [YouTube video]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9arHO4RmjCo [Accessed Dec 18, 2013].
- Leewardists. (2021). Museum Visit. [Photograph]. (Instagram). Available at: https://www.instagram.com/p/CLliYbWDHuD/
- Leewardists. (2020). Architecture failures explained. [Photograph]. (Instagram). Available at: https://www.instagram.com/p/CHIhHmIDfLr/
