Architecture is not just a word, it’s a world. A world that binds society and its people. It’s a glyph of how we see the world and how the world sees us. Whether it’s the honeycomb beehive, or the arrangement of petals in a flower, or the formation of dunes, or the creation of waves, or even the symmetrical arrangement of our body. Architecture is ubiquitous!
Architecture is one of the best forms of art which can inspire us. It is the fusion of both art and science, intertwined with various other fields like psychology, sociology, history, geography, economics, politics, research, mathematics, tech, and many more. It is a time-consuming process that involves planning, designing, and constantly hovering over between micro and macro levels of understanding.
And while talking about architecture, we must not obliviate the role of the architects, right! An architect is the one who designs the surroundings we live in. They not only design mere buildings, but their imagination impacts our present as well as our future. They create a complete experience for the users and impact their mindset and mental health.
As rightly said by Winston Churchill in 1943, “We shape our buildings and afterwards our buildings shape us”, architecture has profound impacts on our lives.
Impact Of Architecture in Our Lives
Our basic requirements include food, clothes, and shelter, and from providing the basic requirement of shelter to providing luxurious lives, whether it may be interiors, or landscape, or urban design, or restoration works, or sustainable design, or anything else, architecture is there for all.
The social, economical, and cultural aspects of architecture have always been vast. Dynasties came and fell, but the only thing left was their architecture, which helps us understand the social and cultural life of that period, the construction techniques used then, the materials, the lifestyles, the culture, the tradition, the history, everything!
Architecture not only defines aesthetics, but also the needs of the region, the climate, the cultural interests and beliefs of people, the local materials, and many other things. Architecture not only affects society on a high level, but it also has a huge impact on its users. Mind-numbing architecture has been found to cause stress, while awe-inspiring architecture on the contrary leases out the stress. Isn’t it interesting!
From generating low-cost housing projects to luxurious tourist resorts, architecture teaches us the diversity and the need of the hour. It binds regions and religions. It teaches to be perfect in detail. It makes us understand the need for sustainable, eco-friendly, user-friendly, climate-friendly, disaster-managed, and creative design. It shifts our perspective from just enjoying the aesthetics to ponder over the design. It makes the common people live a comfortable and user-friendly life.
Architecture has the power to reframe our lifestyle and social circles. It can provide designs for people of different ages, different physio. It can also impact our health. A staircase can help get a warm-up after a day of sedentary office work, can’t it! Architecture can even help grow teamwork by fostering open-concept space with pods and grouping areas in the office. A well-lit room having proper ventilation and circulation can get us back on our nerves, improve our mood, and enhance productivity.
The list is so long that we just can’t bind them to a few words.
The Present State of Architecture
With the pandemic, the field of architecture has greatly impinged. The online system has called off the site visits, the offline juries, the exhibitions, the educational tours, has postponed or even canceled the thesis programs, and so many other events that ever the soul of architecture education have been impacted. Google Meets, Zoom, Skype, Webex have become indispensable. The pressure of the offline exam has just vanished. The environment of studio work has broken. Teamwork has gone. Students are solely dependent on themselves and their abilities. But at the same time, digital renderings and algorithms have flourished. Virtual reality augmented reality, artificial intelligence has taken the place of hand draftings and renderings. Life has changed a lot, but architecture has not. The work approach has changed but the work instinct
Before and After of Architecture Education
With getting into the field of architecture our lives change a lot, rather incredibly. Starting from the change in perspective to view the surroundings to the way of leading our lives, everything changes. The time of relaxation changes to the time of completing models, weekends turn into deadlines, scissors changes to cutters, movie theatre changes to AutoCAD window, design for free becomes the favor, drafting table becomes the bed, fast foods become the part of daily life, time for viewing a place turns the time for measuring it, and a whole lot of things which are just too much to describe here. Only architecture students can get the vibe of it!
Future of Architecture
Alongside the changing world, and advancement in technology, architecture too will get affected. It will be more user-friendly and sustainable. Smart cities and eco-friendly designs would trend. Inclusive architecture would flourish. Verticality would solve the problem of limited space. Although no one knows the future, whatever the future may be architecture would never let its user get disappointed.
Architecture has always been a field that has served society, helped it thrive ahead, and for sure it will continue to do so. Its influence will always be there and with time it will only get better. Such is the power of architecture!
