Life as an architect or an architecture student is an all-encompassing journey, filled with working drawings, building codes, and endless revisions. A path where passion meets profession which takes over one’s entire existence. They constantly find themselves reverse-engineering and appreciating every single new and nice thing they like, whether it is a fancy cafe layout, a piece of furniture, or simply a gate. Even during moments of respite, such as traveling, the architectural mind never rests.
Traveling with like-minded peers amplifies this experience, and also provides space for architects to be themselves. The non-judgemental, accepting circle creates a sort of play where human existence becomes greater than architecture even if it is for a moment.
One such unforgettable incident took place in the second year of architecture school when the study tour was organized in Auroville. The tour aimed to expose us to natural building materials and their construction techniques, which included adobe, lime plastering, and sun-dried bricks from a special composition of mud.
Picture this, on a hot summer evening in Auroville. After volunteering for an intense hands-on workshop for an entire day, as we were planning to retire to our rooms, a thud noise echoed through the air.
One of our seniors fell into a pile of cobs. When suddenly another student rushed to pull him out of the mushy heap, and he too slipped and tumbled into it. This is when everyone burst into laughter. And within minutes the whole scenario had turned into a spontaneous mud fight. As we pushed away the tiredness, covered in mud and consumed by laughter, it is one of the core memories that we still cherish to this day. At this very moment, I realized that perfection is an illusion and that true beauty lies in the imperfections that make us human.
During the internship, where dreams meet the stark realities of professional practice, another such incident took place. I found myself in the heart of a bustling design studio, where meetings, deadlines, and sleepless nights were endless. I was assigned to assist in an apartment complex project. I soon discovered the true essence of architectural practice does not lie in straight lines or detailed working drawings but in adaptation. I navigated to learn how to embrace the inevitable curveballs that life threw my way. Yet in between the hustle and bustle of the studio, there was a sanctuary – the workshop. Here I found solace and purpose. We, interns, were tasked to finish the site model of the apartment complex within a deadline. We pulled an all-nighter and finished the model. Afterwards, instead of catching some sleep with the reminder time we ended up playing around with the scarps and carving out each other’s faces with them. We couldn’t help but laugh at the absurdity of it all, this incident not only created personal souvenirs to take back home after leaving but also another core memory.
It is incidents and stories like these that we repeat endlessly when we meet, still with the same amount of laughter and joy. It is moments and stories like these that let architects just be humans and take the heat off of the profession.
Architecture serves both as a reflection of society and a catalyst for change. Behind every constructed building there lie many such stories. Stories that do not define us but it is our shared experience that truly makes us human.
As the journey continues, Architects are reminded that the true essence of architecture lies not in the buildings constructed but in the stories told- tales of triumph and tribulation, laughter and loss, that bind everyone together in a shared narrative of human existence.
