The future is what you make of it.
Future, the uncertain, hopeful, unborn, and limitless. These are nothing but emotions and adjectives (that) we have attached to the word ‘future’. And as we start to read ahead in our topic ‘The future of architecture, let’s look at it in an emotional approach. Architecture as a subject is inseparable from humans and their intentions.
As an art form, it suffices the requirement of being expressive of the owner/ creator. Whatever you are thinking as you create a project is exactly what is portrayed. Structures aimed at solving problems, solve problems. If designed smartly they do what they are designed to do; it’s like a mathematical axiom. There’s no need to prove it.
Intentional Architecture.
A synchronization of expressions and emotions is often noticed in the buildings and campuses we tend to live in. The inhabitants make, decide and feel the vibe there. A barren building is given life by the users, molded to ways that will serve the purpose. But what if we design buildings intending to provoke emotion at the start itself so that it can reach the user, instead of the user deciding and making it later on.
Believe it or not, this thought is ancient, it has been like this before too. Architectural marvels are made to create a certain emotion. Bigger tombs and memorials, built to show the grandeur and a sense of wealth, structures to invoke awe in the spectator. Cemeteries were built to give a home to respect, grief and seriousness. Forts and city gates were built to give a feeling of security. Temples and religious places provide calmness and satisfaction.
In all these examples, the motive, the intention was clear from the start, and therefore without much work and brief, these examples serve their purpose and continue to do so till we all exist. With no need for extra efforts and no after-thought. A building for emotion.
Building emotions.
As a whole lot of architects focusing on futuristic, technologically advanced ways of building, we also want to pay attention to ourselves during the process. And by ourselves, I mean to humans in general, and by that, I mean emotions, because we are nothing but a manifestation of emotions. By looking more into the inside, we can eliminate so many problems that we face by only looking on the outside. Anything that you build considering this will directly and most definitely lead to the structure touching lives. And this cannot go wrong. Matters of the heart don’t go wrong.
With the purest of intentions, even simple structures can become masterpieces provided they master the emotions behind them. Humans get comfortable with the vibe more than the priceyness of the structure. You build structures, they are used by humans, they connect to the emotion that gets induced in them and within seconds you have also built emotions in that space. Architects of emotions.
Emotional Architecture.
The future can be emotional architecture, it can be if we make it that. We can make the future better if we design emotion-smart spaces. Buildings give shelter to all sorts of emotions, in their decided areas, within their boundaries, so that the other space doesn’t get invaded by the presence of the first, the neighboring emotions don’t disturb your sanctity.
Allowing every human to feel every emotion, every breath, in these structures. If I may say that emotional architecture will become this category in architecture that would resemble one of those old oil paintings done on canvas. The paintings are very clear in their design language about what is to be conveyed to the spectator when painting a serene countryside, inducing you with a sense of calm. The cloud formations in the sky, the color of the sky, other elements, grass or sand, castle or farmhouse, all these tell you what to feel about it. It’s as if they know their job, they sit on the canvas and do it religiously.
And because they know their job, this painting doesn’t require any justification, brief, or background. Let emotional architecture be this and not like abstract art, given without a brief to the user/ spectator, to use it as one likes to. Let the intentions be clear and no extra effort shall be done post-design, no after-though. No materialistic ornaments to adorn the spaces with, to gain popularity. The spaces speaking their clear language discreetly to each user and allowing them to wind and unwind in it.
Sample: Office.
How about creating a building only used for offices. Where there are gardens, gardens for fresh air, for releasing tensions, and for taking in positivity, transitional space for emotions. A conference room area, neatly designed to stay away from the workstations to shield the frustration happening in the conference from reaching the employees.
Workstations with motivation and energy, filling up space like a bubble wrap fills up a box, protecting what’s important, from the shocks. A paintball floor, or a gym, for the release of emotions, to lower the chances of employees having burnout, for them to gain more confidence and energy. Now imagine stacking these up in a smart way that they do not mingle or coincide with each other. So that everyone gets their way out.
In the end, you get nothing but an emotion smart building, where there are areas designated for emotions, to be felt, released, and experienced and that too in the presence of other people, without displaying too much of yourself. Emotional design, designed for the emotionally grasped.
