The profession of Architecture is highly perceived as a creative and interesting field where the perspective of every person varies independently of any specific factors. Each one has its dealing on how architecture impacts their perceptions and mindset on viewing public places, skyscrapers, community areas, etc.
Architecture tends to impact people’s minds and moods in different perspectives depending on how they capture and what they connect to in any given structure or design. It is difficult to prove the psychological connection of architecture on any user but we can feel the design creating an impression on the user in their different ways.
The Varying Perspective of Architecture
Architecture has evolved over years as per the needs of the user public and the environment has changed as new materials and processes have been discovered. There is always an interconnection between the user, activity, and space of a particular design. Multiple designs have
have their varying perspective in terms of its use, say a public space is perceived as being open and easily accessible with a feeling of security and no restriction in terms of kind of user, in case of a skyscraper or mix-use hub people perceive it as a sign of stature that the structure tries to leave upon its surroundings based on what function the structure tries to cater giving an iconic image to its location and surroundings whereas in case of a community space it provides various platforms for a different perspective of users to come together and enjoy the space.
Structures that provide us with a sense of pleasure are those that include the details or the elements that our brain recognizes as having been seen before or have liked them.
Thus, it is a varying perspective of people as to which specific characteristics or patterns their brain associates with the most.
The kinds of patterns used in design also play a significant role in our perception.” As architects and artists, we are in a profession of making patterns.”(Don Ruggles, 2017).
While the psychological benefits of beautiful architecture are more commonly recognized, but there are negative impacts as well of poorly designed architecture. When there is a need for faster, more efficient building with limited technology used, it often leads to the proliferation of
improper scaled and ugly designs, in the way that they lacked the characteristics that activate the pleasure response. For instance, the age of suburbia, consisting of neighborhoods with endless rows of mostly indistinguishable houses situated as close together as possible to make room for more houses was born.
Architectural Details
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s famous dictum, “God is in the details” depicts the absolute importance of detailing which requires extreme thinking and analytical application of creative knowledge. The design not only displays the thinking and concept of the design and form but also stands out for its detailing which tends to capture the eye of the general public.
The aesthetics of a building is one of the principal aspects considered in architecture. The appeal of a building covers the combined effects of a building’s shape, size, texture, color, balance, unity, movement, emphasis, contrast, symmetry, proportion, space, alignment, pattern, decoration, culture, and context.
As we walk through a street we tend to notice and feel ourselves the space and environment through our senses, we tend to notice the buildings around, how they open onto the street, how tall they are in comparison to other structures around, what kind of openings or fenestrations they have been given with, these sum up the visual sense that we observe, while the nose pricks up how the landscape or places are kept sanitized, the ears tend to understand the kind of space we walk by, a busy market or community space or a quiet workspace or an institution.
Then there comes the details that you can notice on a particular structure which makes it stand apart not just in terms of form but also the detailing it is constructed with, it may be the entrance porch or canopy, the way it is designed, or maybe the columns designed such as Doric or Corinthian that make it stand out, it could be the window openings which are shaped specifically or the framing done around the openings for either aesthetic or structural purpose, can also be the floor systems used to have staggered floors or cantilevers at various levels, can be façade elements used to tackle with the climatic conditions, even small elements like the door type may also stand out as details that we tend to observe while visiting any structure or the type of structural system of any design which may have different structural joints, trusses, etc.
Apart from these details the ones which are not that visible to the naked eye but are crucial to the functioning of the structure such as those that support the services of water supply, drainage, ventilation, lighting, waste management, etc. as an architect we tend to notice such details as well.
