“As an Architect, you will end up as a person of art and investigation.”
As Architects, we are artistic people who are creative and genuine and who work well in an environment that enables self-expression. We like to investigate various things since we are curious and often spend our time alone with our thoughts.
Apart from architecture, there is no career where you have envisioned something out of nowhere that is planned on paper, is built, and can continue to exist hundreds or even thousands of years later.
“As architects, we place spaces into people’s lives and life into spaces.”
We create the landscape for our cities and neighbourhoods. We have built the framework for people to live in. The spaces, connections, and functionality of any building we design dictate how a person will work and move within this space.
We are the kind of people who think outside the box, who questions and challenges the rules and do things differently. During college time, you must have listened hundred times to your professors saying that “let your imagination run free, just push your boundaries and create shapes and structures which no one has ever seen before.”
Before joining architecture, Jawahar Kala Kendra (designed by Charles Correa), was just a place where we used to attend any event, eat Vada sambhar at the Indian Coffee house, and take pictures with amazing backgrounds or chill with our friends and family. No one has ever thought about the significance of the building and what the symbol present on the wall of every block means.
Look at this photo above. Before studying architecture and its principles, would you ever ask yourself why red sandstone was used as a construction material? Or why does each block look like a square of equal size? Or why there’s this open-air theatre in the centre? Or how did design get developed? Or who is the architect? Or why is the dome located in a square structure? No, right? This is the difference between architects and non-architects.
A whole new set of eyes
After studying architecture, whenever you are inside a building, whether it’s your own home, your college, shopping mall, office, or café where you go to have fun and spend time with your friends and family. But you will see what is inside the place, how the construction of four walls around you is done, and what was the important aspect of that place at the time of designing. Architecture can affect our emotions and perceptions through factors such as light, space, geometry, and the materials which are used while designing and constructing.
Architecture is the art of conception and construction of buildings. Architectural and technical design are two different things from the point of view of aesthetics, functionality, and art. Before studying architecture, we often wondered what architecture was all about. Is it just within the building? Is this the work and skills of the contractor building the building? But no, architecture is more than the building itself. “Architecture is the construction of a specific concept and ideas”. These ideas can be anything, whether it’s related to construction, how people use the building, or how the building fits in with the physical or social landscape.
Public- space Appeal
“A city without shared public spaces is a city without culture, without history – Charles Correa”.
Public spaces are part and parcel of each city. Each city has its architecture and identity. As architects, we see cities not just as buildings and streets, but also as the beauty of the spaces, the people who live there, and the culture of the city.
For a common observer, the dynamism of public places lies in the number of people, colours, and traditions. As an architect, we have some aspects of visualizing a public space that is accessibility, comfort, activity, and security. Our principal goal is to explore the nuances of these public spaces and their environment. Public areas are designed for “everyone” but possessed by “none”.
In the public domain, we talk about public streets, parks, in other words, buildings. The architecture corresponds to this definition. As a public, we all engage with architecture. We are touched both practically and emotionally by how a building appears in its context and its inner environment.
Travelling as an Architect
Travelling and architecture are like trains without a railway track. For architects, travelling is not simply an experience; it’s more like understanding the transition spaces. We live in a nation where we can see different architectural styles in different parts of the country, and as technology evolves, new techniques appear. Architecture has nothing to do with comfort or aesthetics. It goes far beyond that. And to explore more about that, travelling plays an important role.
For ordinary people, travelling is about meeting new people, exploring new places, discovering different cultures, and so on. But for an architect, travelling is to extract a large quantity of knowledge about the architecture of the place. Exploration of new sites to learn new building and design techniques. Discover different cultures to see the behavioural pattern in people, which also helps to design a specific space in that area.
At times, travelling opens the door to timeless architecture. These monuments were built in those days when technology was limited but still standing. As an architect, the more you know, the more you can experience, and getting well-travelled will certainly give you this experience.
Architecture alters human behaviour
Architecture not only changes the way of looking at the world but also changes our behaviour too. It makes us social person who loves to work with other people and help others too. This gives us the power to generate positive energy in dealing with problems. It makes us conventional person who is a quiet observer and pays attention to every detail. It makes us follow a set of rules and carry out tasks on time. Architecture helps us in generating leadership skills and makes us excellent problem solvers. It generates an ability in us to take risks to get successful.
“You always thought that people should see the world through an architect’s eyes, right?”
Each architect has a different point of view. You just need to find your own and you will see the change in your mentality and spatial design. Each architect represents a different perspective on society and its way of thinking. All you have to do is to value the creativity and the power you have been given to change the world as an architect.
