A podcast is an informative audio file that brushes through the minute details which are seemingly neglected in our day-to-day lives. Any Podcast revolves around a topic of concern which is explained by speakers who excel in that particular field.
Multiple podcasts in the design field include interviews with miscellaneous architects and experts who are major influences of today’s urban, industrial and graphic design. The podcast is often a portable source of information that allows productive multitasking. These can be heard while eating, travelling, or doing any household chores.
Highlighting some of the major advantages of a podcast in today’s times which are: being a time-efficient source of communication, podcasts hold a personal touch; they are convenient and easy to consume and highly cost-effective. In today’s time, podcasts are an on-demand technology and often the first step towards delivering yourself on an online platform or social media.
The given podcast architecture of purpose with James Law is an interview-based podcast. James Law is an architect based in Hong Kong as well as an entrepreneur who works on the philosophy of cybertecture. He is recognised by the world economic forum.
This particular podcast talks about his transition from the educational level to the professional practice level, it also talks about ins and outs of a small firm, how an office functions, how to balance practice dreams and create a practice around yourself.
James Law strongly believes that you need to know when to quit, you cannot impose your passion or force anyone to work the way you think is right. The kinds of projects designed by you also determine your thought process and influence your personality majorly. It is extremely important to know that you cannot fit in anyone else’s construct. His philosophy of cybertecture revolves around the fact how we are constantly living in technology and it envelops us.
This podcast defines architecture with a completely different lens and a perspective. James Law mentions that architecture is a technology that binds us with the environment and focuses on alleviating the suffering of mankind. As an architect, we should know a purpose and always remember that we hold the power to shape this world. The design today should be solution-based and not just make masses.
What are the growing times when technology has highly taken over today, and architectural spaces are also getting fused with technology and creating a virtual space? For instance, a bathroom has become a health monitoring space, a living room is often considered a portal to connect to the rest of the world. Sustainable resilience is playing an important role in how technology works in restaurants, schools, and hospitals.
This podcast is majorly an eye-opener with the changing times. It also talks about how the process of construction needs to shift from being an extremely wasteful and permanent one to modular, smart and intelligent media of construction. History of architecture tells us about the civilisations, lifestyles of people living at that time and similarly architecture today will reflect how humanity is coexisting in today’s time. Thus, we need to shift our role from an architecture designer to an architectural strategist.
Apart from giving abstract philosophies about architecture as a profession, this podcast also enlightens us about how we need to be practical in our profession. Not everything we design is going to get built and this is a great lesson. The Sooner we learn, the better it will be. James Law also mentioned his take on today’s education system. He strongly supports the fact that architectural education should not be shorter but should start earlier.
Along with being a balance between creativity and practicality we should also promote an online mode of education as it helps to accelerate diversity. One important learning on a personal opinion is how we need to think where we will find ourselves 10 years down the line. At this point when we are still in the education process, we are often immature and fail in understanding what the future has helped for us.
Future is unpredictable however holding a long-term plan can often prove beneficial. The last set of learnings and advice which were given to young architects like us is to have patience level lives, be grateful, be safe, and keep our architectural egos down with an aim towards leaving it a balanced life.
