Every story builds upon another story that keeps polishing and growing. A building is simply an object in time constructed for someone for some reason. It is of no concern to anybody why it stands there doing what it is still doing and how long it will remain there except for the one who built it.
Architects are poets at heart who keep reading the verses of the buildings surrounding them, trying to discern what it tells them. Once done understanding the sonnet, they turn to create their own. They start fabricating volumes out of the volumes of thoughts that gather and still lie in the space of their mind, hidden in the deepest of chambers. Slowly and steadily they reach a point where they find meaning in imperfections. It is always said that architecture changes perspectives, but it’s the perspective about architecture that changes the architecture that will surround them after that point of enlightenment. It is like a day without the awareness or a day with the awareness that yields two different paths, giving an option to head in which they desire.
The definition of architecture is easy for everyone to answer, except for an architect themselves. The question when asked to an architecture student on the first day of college will be the most uncomplicated interrogation it’s ever faced. But the same question when asked to the same person on the last day of their life will leave them speechless. That’s how architecture changes a perspective. The reason is simple: between the same two questions asked on two dates, there are innumerable memories and experiences in between that shapes an architect and their thoughts. What they have seen, been through, and how the influence of their surroundings mold them are all that it comes down to. There is so much to say that there no longer remains a definition but a parable.
With the knowledge of spatial organization, a person can perceive volumes in a better-processed way. It can comprehend and orchestrate objects in a way that improves well-being. The same person can start interacting with materials and colors of the walls inside and outside and many more elements simultaneously, looking at ways to reorganize what does not seem to fit or is generating an error. This ability, though, comes with patience and a deep understanding of others and their behaviors, which is challenging but very interesting. The elements of nature are indispensable to creating freedom for the structure before hitting the right note.
Buildings certainly cast a spell on every person occupying them. Using an example of a church or a temple, that’s massive will make one feel very small in their mind, like an ant in that case. On the other hand, being in a tiny room without sufficient light and ventilation will lead to claustrophobia, making one feel like an elephant in a cage. Thus, the idea of scales and proportions helps determine the volumes a person wishes to be in.
In a neighborhood, one lives in a quarter surrounded by structures of various classifications, and every structure holds people of different mindsets and patterns insisting on the kind of environment they are exposed to. With time, low and mid-rises started transforming into skyscrapers that effortlessly span over hundreds and hundreds of meters. There are palaces, castles, gigantic bridges connecting two cities, stadiums, hospitals, malls and various other structures that constitute our planet from different eras and timelines.
For an architect, the moment of change is when they start viewing a building as a human and choose to know more about it. When was the building born, how has it grown, and what makes it what it is, and just madly wants to fall in love with it. That’s where the change begins and is, where words are not communicated verbally but visually. When the interest grows further, the person wishes to go back in time and see its inception, work with the creator who built it and alter it in a way it wishes it to be, and come back to the present and be with it spending endless hours. All in all, one aspect of architecture is that no element of a structure can be ignored. Each rudiment needs due respect and all come together to produce the final piece.
The right kind of architecture has led people to come out of their dwellings and start interacting with other people or structures, and simply spend time in solitude. The kind of building and its form gets people talking and leads to conversations. But it is the right planning and incorporation of appropriate design concepts that create inclusivity and cohesiveness. The power of being an architect gives the holder the competency to envision and see things beyond the imaginary. An architect can, purely in their mind, cut through the building and see the structure the way they want. It has the abundance of capability to reverse engineer processes and methods to see how something was built back in time till they find an answer.
It is so strange that the structure that an architect designs becomes a piece of an ever-growing puzzle of the earth where the piece is almost negligible but, if lost or never occurred, makes the entire puzzle look incomplete.
References for Images:
1_Participatory process_©urbz
2_The Earth and The Walls_©Spasm Design Architects
3_Yoyogi National Gymnasium_©Tange Associates
