“Humans see what they want to see.” ― Rick Riordan
Have you ever wondered why the philosopher only talks in terms of philosophy, why a social worker reflects strong opinions and behaviors about justice, why physicists do day-to-day things with their scientific twist? Ingrained. The word here is ingrained. Theories, axioms, principles, rules, laws, schools of thought, are all ingrained in our brains.
Humans go through a certain time in their life dedicated to a particular discipline of study. And that in return disciplines them in their vision. The rest of our lives is just a big exam to see that we don’t fail our brain and sense of perception.
In Case of Architecture
You can’t miss things if you’re into architecture, you are habitual of seeing around. And when you see around you, every inch and a bit of this planet will keep inspiring and surprising you. That’s the beauty, you learn from inanimate things, as well as humans and other living beings. Imagine standing at the Dhobi Ghat viewpoint and observing only the structures of these unusual houses in the foreground and skyscrapers in the background.
Other people would possibly see the fatality in their living habits and the poverty or dirt. Maybe the technique and color involved in this scene. Some might not even find anything interesting and leave without wasting another minute there. And as pilgrims of architecture, you see nothing but the vertical connections, type of structures, services, and square footage. Not to miss the contrasting skyscrapers behind them and how they accentuate things. It’s like a camera is fitted in the eyes, default auto-focus only on structures and technicalities.
And Starbucks Too
And how would a normal person describe a café? With the help of local landmarks and directions. How would architects describe a café? With the help of interior design references, façade design, placement of it in the streetscape, and its level. Exactly what happened when I tried to explain the Elphinstone building Starbucks outlet to my non-architect friends.
I wanted to describe it to them and therefore started with my general observations about it: mezzanine floor, Indian traditional style of interiors, floor-to-ceiling glass façade, on the ground floor of an Indo-Saracenic building and open floor plan and a color palette of warm colors. As I finished explaining, I was told that they could neither fathom the terms nor the thought I had behind it.
And the fact that the description was purely architectural made me come to a realization. I choose to see what I see, various factors are present in the same image, but I naturally and selectively ignore the rest.
Arundhati Roy Vs Architecture
The famous author of a Man Booker 1997 winner book: God of Small Things, has an undertone, that of an architect. An architect who has changed her profession after admiring and idolizing the great architect Laurie Baker. An architect with a love for detailed writing. Words, only an architect would use. And the perception of space only she can describe.
Although she has turned towards writing leaving her degree subject, whatever she has learned there will never leave her. Consciously or subconsciously, she will continue to write with eloquent details in design’s language. Design flavored language. Although Arundhati has left architecture, architecture will leave her.
Distracted and Distorted
Architecture speaks the language of materials, time, strength, placement, strategy, and scale. If one is to notice all these things around him, I’m not sure if they’d walk straight without bumping into a feeder box. How to guess if someone is an architect? Simple. If they’re interested in structures and details more than they are interested in the people around them.
A person lost in capturing a panoramic photo of the cityscape and starts sketching the details wherever it is visible, then you are looking at an architect. X-ray visions come complimentary with the profession, so does the sense of arrangement. Architects not only look at these structures plainly, but they also create distorted images of them in their memory. Images that only they will understand, distorted with water paints, with micron lines of different thicknesses. Architects who are lost in their world as they reach their goal.
Staring into Your Movements
The moment an architect pays attention to people and not things is when there is an algorithm inside him/her, that detects the ease and difficulty, style and speed, posture, and movement of someone doing something in the front. The love for easing things and making them better is what we live for. Just like one needs to know how things work, it is equally important to know how humans work, at last, whom are we making architecture happen for?
