“The velocity at which this rain is finding its way into the house, even when there are windows all around and a roof above, is something to study!” “Anita, stop speaking big English and just hold on to that window before the wind blows the last life it is hanging on to!” “Arrrgh! Okay, mama. But just know that this is becoming unbearable. However, for the sake of a plate of hot pepper soup to compensate for the stupor beating by the rain, this too shall pass without the fall of any man, no, sorry, girl. Naaah, without the fall of Anita!” She shouts back to her mother in her already drenched wrapper, which now looks like an armless bodycon. Their loud conversation, amidst the thundering sounds and heavy rainfall on the steel roof of the house, continued for about ten minutes, after which the rain stopped. That night again, while they slept on the soaked mattress, Anita dreamt about the same window. Not the one she battles with every rainy season in real life. But the one that doesn’t need her support to hang on to dear life. This window withstands the different velocities and speeds of rainfall. It doesn’t give way to the rain to turn the wrapper tied from her chest to her knees to a bodycon dress. Lastly, it shields her mattress from being soaked. She dreamt of building a house with this window one day. Anita just wanted a better standard of living for herself and her mother. Fortunately, she conceived an architect and became one. From this one drive, she built her dream house and made many more impacts on people’s lives by building their dream houses too.
How Architects Are Made
Woven by words, shaped by stories, and driven by dreams – this is the primary process of making architects. Behind every architect, there’s a drive that fuels their dream of becoming. To each, this drive might be different. Some are driven because they want a better life than they used to live. Another is driven because they want to leave a legacy for their successors. Others are driven by the need to create a path for their clan. Regardless, architects are made to impact lives. It makes so much ‘social impact’ sense that, no matter what drives an architect to be an architect, the career path is largely a selfless one. This is probably why part of their standards of conduct and practice are integrity, competence, honesty, respect for people, responsibility, etc. If one of the basic needs of a man is shelter, then architecture is indeed a noble profession, and architects should be held to high moral standards, just like the nursing, medical, law, and teaching professions. Knowing the level of influence architects have in human sheltering; it is then important that at every educational stage they attain, moral and civic lessons shouldn’t be watered down but be heightened as a matter of importance.
What is the Role of Architects in the Society?
If the answer to this question is that they create beautiful designs for buildings, it’s not wrong. However, in architecture, a design’s first purpose is not its beauty. Rather, the functionality, the usefulness. A beautiful window in a house is useless if it doesn’t provide enough ventilation for the people in the building. The previous paragraph states that architects are burdened with the responsibility of creating shelters for humans, and shelters are part of the primary needs of humans. So, the role of architects in society is to ensure the sheltering of humans in a functioning building. Any architectural work must prove its usefulness to any human, and the genesis of this is an architect’s design. This is how architects make impacts. Looking at it keenly, architects can’t make impacts with their designs if they don’t go through the proper process of being ‘made’ as stated earlier. So, the drive of an architect shouldn’t firstly be the reward of being an architect, but the servitude of the profession – which is to make an impact on human lives. It wouldn’t be a shocker to find out that at the early stages of their career, some architects didn’t know this was the case even though they had started seeing a pattern of it. It would be later before they came to terms with that reality about the profession. At this point, it would be safe to say that this paragraph has established an architect is role in society.
Importance of Architecture in A Society
We can’t talk about architects so much and not talk about architecture. Architecture is a profession; without it, architects are not recognised. Also, without it, human existence is incomplete. This is what brings us to the importance of architecture in society.
- Architecture is a shaper of a community: By providing functioning buildings for people’s basic and secondary needs, architecture shapes them. From houses to hospitals, schools, and markets to every other building that enhances the lives of people living in a community, architecture impacts people through the designs of these buildings.
- A culture representative: Because architecture serves people and people have stories, especially the ones embedded in their culture, there has to be a representation that’ll give a sense of ownership and belonging.
- Architecture enhances the development of society: Tourist attraction is a lucrative revenue bringer for every country’s economy. Sightseeing good architectural buildings and infrastructure has become a tourist activity for foreigners in a country. This means good business for a country’s economy.
- Societal progress: Because architecture is first about impacting how humans live, it encourages innovation every time. This can be called ‘social impact’ out of the box thinking. One of the most recent innovations in architecture is sustainable design. This ensures societal progress in that it tackles climate change and teaches everyone how to live prudent lives.
Give Architects and Architectures All the Flower They Deserve
If politicians are celebrated because of governance, architects should be celebrated too because they’re of the people, by the people, and for the people. Architects impact the lives of people living in a community, and the only way this can be known is if their works are measured accordingly. To measure the works of architects, the architectural building and infrastructures of a community are to be studied. Then, inquiries should be made about the architects in charge – this way, they directly get the flowers they deserve. In conclusion, this is a call to observe architectural designs. For every ten steps taken on a street, there’s an architectural building for which an architect or some architects are responsible. What makes it better is the testimonial of the people using the building – a testimonial of its functionality. This makes the labour of the profession worth it.
References:
- Architects Registration Board. (2017). The Architects Code: Standards of Professional Conduct and Practice. London
- Impoff admin. (2021). Importance of Architecture for Society and in Modern World. Available at: https://impoff.com/importance-of-architecture/
- Designblendz team. (2022). 8 Reasons Why Good Architecture Is Important. Available at: https://www.designblendz.com/blog/8-reasons-why-good-architecture-is-important
