As we progress over time, we also carry with us the ever-changing identity instilled into the age groups we fall into. And more often than not, the age factor does so much more psychologically, than we tend to realize. It is a bundle. with prerequisites like a sense of pride, self – identity, and most importantly, a sense of belonging while you are around people of your age.
And maybe this mass self-containment has a lot to do with the “superiority complex” we have over every other generation. The older ones are too ‘primitive’, while the younger lot is too ‘entitled’.
These rather playful to’s and fro’s structure a lot of social interactions and in turn reflect in our built spaces. But to truly individualize the solitary approach of one’s ideation towards what architecture is to them, and how much of that reflects in the way they design; we need to know the walks of life they are typically exposed to as a generation. And for how long have they been around in the field. These two factors make it into the important pointers list. Let’s analyse.
Say you’re the kid born and brought up in the post-world war II era (the baby boomer era, where soldiers had just returned home from war and were eager to start a family of their own. Making it an era with a lot of childbirths and prosperity). you have witnessed the uprise of rock n roll, had conversations about the cold war, probably lived through the Indian independence era… You growing up was a culture of strong personalities making a change in the undesirable socio-political aspects by dissent and establishing a framework of basic human rights entitled to one and all. The ‘issues’ faced by your generation were more “real world”.
On the other hand, considering you belong to the tribe of the infamous Generation – z, generally used to address the group of people born in the mid to late 90s, till the early 2010s. The exposure you’ve had to the realms and genres of societal aspects are drastically different. The 90s was considered an era of how public consuming entertainment matured (the glorification of movie culture) and there was a different sort of emotion attached to mass media in general. Then came the 2000s. where the influence of technology, electronic excellence, and innovations changed the shape of everything. With all this, the quality of living and lifestyles of people changed for good. Everyone was provided with all their needs and wants. And with the great supply and demand, all this was available for a very accessible and attractive price eventually. While this did change the face of humanity forever and for good, the ‘issues’ (as we spoke of regarding the baby boomer era) became rather negligible here. (first world problems) All our wars are now mental and the great depressions we see are mere of the minds.
“convenience and comfort zone are the enemies of productivity”
Along with this, taking experience and time-based knowledge into consideration, it is evident that the baby boomers have been around for a much longer time and the Gen z have lived a negligibly long life when compared with someone that has taken birth between 1946 and 1964
The influence of this in the design aspect could be a matter of rigidity and ignorance. A person that knows too much about the world (or at least the side of the world they are exposed to) because of how long they have been living in it, inevitably creates a set of rules for oneself that seem to get the work done. This applies to everything including the field of architecture. But in the hindsight, the newbies into the field have a completely different set of criteria (or no criterion) set for themselves to get through the design process and life in general. their ‘experimental’ approach to things and the lack of fear while trying out and creating new experiences while seeking a ‘language’ unique to them gives out something so innocent and fresh, that it is the mere antonym to the school of thoughts governing rigidity. Then again, they become experienced individuals in their respective fields and eventually end up forming a set of homogenized rules for themselves that seem to work just fine. This cycle of “the experimental to the experienced” provides the field with so much universality in designers and gives the consumers of architecture the luxury of choice.
Now the indefinite question is, “what works the best?” and here’s where the subjectivity in design comes into the picture. Because there’s no rational or definite way of categorizing your design preferences into “likes and dislikes” as you cannot counter instincts with emotions.
*The above article may have portrayed a sense of conclusiveness and narrow-ness. But then again, let’s just assume the respective writer is in his ‘experimental’ stage.
