How did everything around us start?
Architecture is claimed to be a manifestation of art and science.
Why are we building in the first place?
It was an Instinct, a need for Shelter.
The journey began when humans hid in caves from the savage environment around them in the stone Age. A harsh inhabitable space generated a humankind profile of violent activities. The primitive human carved those muddy humid walls with blood to prove to the next habitant that someone was there.
Later, the need to relocate and seek resources; sunlight, food, and water; made him create the first outdoor shelter; the hut from wooden frames.
The rocky neolithic era of megalithic and underground houses ended the protective perspective of primitive architecture, and it took the purpose of showing grandiosity, power, and wealth.
The spontaneous instinct becomes intentional and calculated.
The architecture of the present is a translation of beliefs, abilities, and technology leading to the architecture of the future. It’s a flow of creativity, passion, and craft since ever.
It stands as a representation of who we were.
History is either written or built. Human nature believes what she sees more than what she reads. Papers can be lost, or burned but buildings; on the other hand; always leave a trace, and this debris is the unquestionable fact that someone existed in a specific time frame. It’s the physical environment in which we live and connect.
Now architecture preserves the written past, that shaped the evolution of mankind, in libraries and museums. And those who don’t have a past, won’t have a present or a future.
It stands as a representation of how we see ourselves and how we see the world.
The architectural movement it’s what consists of the cities nowadays—built by humans for humans. It’s an agglomeration of buildings habited by people of different qualities forming a whole image of our existence.
Architecture forms the world image.
Now, Let’s dare to imagine the unimaginable: human existence without Architecture
“Sci-Arc” is a youtube channel that made once a video entitled “Imagine A World Without Architecture” and let’s elaborate.
“A world without beauty”
Beauty is one of Vitruvis’ three laws of architecture: fermitas, utilitas, and venustas ( solidity, utility, beauty). Aesthetic, in architecture, is often linked with order and balance. Rhythm, for instance, is frequently desired within striking architectural compositions.
Beauty lies in the performance and behavior of architectural structures and façade elements as a component. It manifests in the floral details of Islamic architecture, hiding under the Pyramids of Giza. If it were not for architecture we would never admire the symmetry of The Renaissance.
A world without humanity”
Humanity went through phases of evolution and it aligned with the progress of architecture.
It worked as a social container to allow the expression of human behavior.
It’s a peculiar public art with buildings having a social function, and many buildings have a public interface. Take the “Agora”, the public plaza where citizens gather to express their rights and ideas out loud.
Architecture mainly impacts society in a significant way, but it tends to have a substantial impact on occupants on a personal level. Progress in techniques of the built, stratification of the society itself. Only the bourgeoisie enjoyed architectural luxury during a historical phase but later architects started working as socialists they are: “Hassan Fethi” known as the architect of the poor proved that architecture can be used for a good cause and provide a home to those who are in need, a hideaway from a hot climate. A local vernacular space for its population.
Architecture is humanitarian, it gives us all the opportunity to enjoy it on our budget. It improved individual experience through space environment to impact mental health and well-being.
“A world without Passion”
“Nothing great in this world has ever been accomplished without passion” (Freidrich Hegel)
Through the diversity of the building around us around the world, the non-stop creation proved to the world that architecture turned the intangible line of imagination into physical material, into heights, organic curves, and parametric features.
“A world without Divine”
Mankind believed in a superior power that rules the universe, so we saw him seeking places to worship.
The history of architecture is concerned more with religious buildings than with any other type because, in most past cultures, the universal and exalted appeal of religion made the church or temple the most expressive, the most permanent, and the most influential building in any community.
Temples, cathedrals, and mosques alternated the purpose as either a symbol of political power in the name of God or a refugee for those who seek inner clear self-consciousness.
Since time immemorial, sacred architecture has been a way to establish a relationship with the divine. Enter a church and, no matter who you are, you immediately begin to open yourself to something larger than yourself.
“A world without awe”
The first expression you make once you come across something attractive is that “awe”.
An appreciation of you see. Nature is mesmerizing no question about that, but it’s not constant. It changes and shines but also dulls. Architecture resists and never fails to disappoint, simply because the older it gets, the more unique it becomes. It ages like fine wine and its worth gets higher.
In conclusion “Architecture is Faith and Identity”
Architecture is our existence.
