Don’t think that I am crazy if I say that every Sunday I go for a walk just to experience life. Now you may wonder, how someone can experience life in just a weekend walk in an urban street. Here it takes a lifetime to experience the real meaning of life and how can someone experience life in just one go. Have you ever tried to perceive the things around you play a vital role as architectural elements? Let me tell you a story about perspective in life from my vision as an architect. The parameter on which I will portray the storyline about perception on life is,
PEOPLE
NATURE
STRUCTURE
FACADE
People Of Chaos:
They have a story to tell.
By every footstep I take on my way to the street passing by, I see different faces telling me their stories. The vegetable vendor sits under the temporary structure to find a temporary shade for their business. . Living temporarily and finding a permanent earning out of it. Pulling every paddle of his cycle living the momentum of life to find meaning. The newspaper seller carrying all on his vehicle. The young children playing tic tac toe on the paved pedestrian. The teens waiting for their bus under the oak tree.
People around us teach us the art of living. People are full of chaos and full of emotions, the struggle to find shelter, the struggle to find a living, the struggle to find shade under nature, the struggle for existence.
Interaction With Nature
The sun, the sky, the wind, and the trees, all play with us. If you look closely at the details in nature you will find every answer to your question. How a bird built a beautiful nest from organic materials such as twigs, grass, and leaves. A single ant architect capable of carrying up to 50 times its weight working all together to build a nest underground which is made of multiple chambers and tunnels.
Nature around us is the live example of how we should lead our life, being grateful for readily available natural materials. Finding strength in yourself to build a life of what you have already by your side. When you see the sun beaming the ray of light hitting different objects getting reflected in many directions, the walls, the trees, the facades, the people, and whatnot. It teaches us to be a beam of light in life as well.
“Nature teaches that you are already surrounded by the answers for your unasked questions.”
Structure
Old is gold.
My grandpa used to go with me on a walk, but now all I have is his memory and the things he used to say. I still remember the old home in which we used to play hide and seek. Old, rusty, mud-constructed home. Made by rows of woven bags with wattle and daub method. I can still feel the beautiful earthy fragrance of sand, gravel, silt, clay, and organic soil. In summer, it gives me a calm and cool bliss, a place of the warmth of nature.
Isn’t it the magic of materials they play with us? Old materials, old structures have their own charm. They tell you a story of a thousand words without speaking a word. The story about being strong, the story of methodical construction. They numb and affirm, how brilliantly they hold their values as architectural aesthetics.
They are the evidence of reality in this virtual world.
Facade
Just on my way home, I was staring at this structure. It was plain and beautiful. It was the texture and pattern which drew my attention. Sometimes I wonder how beautiful it would be if I could hide all my flaws, all my perceptions about my scary persona. The thing which I learned from the structures with a facade is that if doing something extra on yourself in life brings you the confidence to stand out in people. Do it! Even if it is fabricated why not?
In architecture, facade might not be used to attract as a material but it does bring strength to structure. To protect from the outer climate and to protect the outside world the word “ facade” have both meaning parallelly in architecture as well as in life.
“ Facade doesn’t hide what is inside, but it gives you the strength to fight what is outside “
All In One Architecture Is A Life Itself.
I see architecture through people and their lives and their story screaming for their existence. I see architecture through nature, teaching me how to find strength and being grateful for readily available natural elements. I see architecture through old structures that there is a beauty in being old, being bold, being you. I see architecture through newly fabricated facades that it’s ok to lift yourself in life to carry an outer strength to protect your inner sense.
Architecture teaches you the magic of life without being a magician.
References Images:
Tree by Yegor Meteor on Dribbble
산그림 작가의 개인 갤러리 입니다. (picturebook-illust.com)
50+ Awe-Inspiring Advertising Paper Art Illustrations By Eiko Ojala | Designbolts
Untitled | caro gaedechens | Flickr
Drew Tyndell
Rugare – Ankara & Lattes (wordpress.com)
