There are unexpressed perceptions that we individuals, hold. They are translated into experiences that stimulate our senses, to which we react and behave accordingly. Our five senses support that bridge of truth to the space around ourselves. Architecture creates experiences. The design of our surroundings and how we interact with them either assist or challenge us. Take into account that you are reading this article with a roof over your head, we often overlook that we live in a constructed environment since we see it every day. You may be sitting in your chair for hours boring your eyes into the screen, it is uncomfortable and you would like to get up and get some fresh air. The human mind is habit-forming, if one plucked away from their usual situation, they can become consciously alert. Opposingly when one is in a comfortable situation, it is often ignored. I like to express ourselves as fluid matter, shaped by our environment, in any mold we are put in, we follow. The impact architecture makes is open-ended, positively, negatively or just viewed as a necessity. Intrinsically, we know for sure that good architecture, gives meaning.
You Know the Price
Architects and the dictators.
Architecture has indefinite meanings. Each serving the different tastes, lifestyles, culture and/or experience. It is unanimous however, that in the end, it is to improve human life. All buildings have rippling effects, from its production, construction, operation and demolition. Like a seismic wave, constructed projects can tremor the society, economy and the environment. It is either a make or break. Hence, why big decisions should not be made overnight. Our lives are seriously on the line.
With the growing gross domestic product (GDP) and circle of affluence, fastidious capitalists rush to take up profiteering opportunities. In which case, most invest in properties or build new ones. This sudden decision without a longer minute of thought may lead to abandonment just as quickly as it emerged. Like a trend, a burst of excitement, gradually faltering into the grey zone and then forgotten. Spaces that hold no meaning, will fall eventually. Though architects can be blamed for bad design, it is also the clients that dictate their investments to making the projects a reality.
You may know the price, but do you value it?
Socio-Economic Impact of Architecture
Built on a foundation of the community’s dignity
“Dignity is about knowing your intrinsic worth and seeing that worth reflected in the places you inhabit. It’s not an aesthetic goal or a measure of the designer’s saintly ambitions. It’s a quality of the users’ experience,” quoted from John Cary, the former executive director of Public Architecture.
One example would be a small project in Lower Marsh, Waterloo, London. The IF_DO design team was approached by a community interest company called Meanwhile space to temporarily repurpose an abandoned library that was eventually going to be redeveloped. His team’s brief was to maximize the benefit of the building rather than to leave it empty. By adding a pop of color on a lightweight timber screen, they made the façade “smile”. With a tight budget, they managed to gentrify a relatively unattractive building with a simple solution. Inside is a platform for freelancers and micro-enterprises to establish and flourish their business, acting as a communal workspace furnished with essentials. The team’s intervention had transitioned from a place once catching dust for the past 20 years, to a lively space for the community.
Environmental Impact
The ignorance of cutting short
Who will the architects put in line first, their client or the world? From the start of the 20th century, modernism took stride after the industrial revolution, the overlooked prerogative of convenience with transportation, and cheaper energy – being fossil fuels and coal. Buildings can now be cooled quickly with several more air-conditioning systems and installing expansive glass windows would be more feasible. Though a more attractive façade does not necessarily mean the energy it embodies does not eat away on the environment. Mass excavations, deforestation, transport pollution, and massive energy consumption all put a strain on nature, without having enough time to recover, it is again further exploited.
People were only prominently aware when climate change was surfaced in the media. There are seeds that architects could plant to encourage the growth of sustainable design. There is no doubt money is injected into a project, but instead of cutting short and investing in cheap materials that would cast a larger impact on the environment. It would be wiser to invest in something sustainable, the cost on the environment would be marginalized.
Monument of the Future
Conclusion
I don’t believe that the practice of architecture is bad in itself, it is only when it strays into a far cry from its original meaning that it turns sour. Architects are the advocates of truth, though subjective, a foot must be placed and one’s statement must be made. Testament of their abilities as an artist with each their ego should be weighed with the rippled effect they make onto the world. Once a decision is made, and the truth is defined, what was once floating from the realm of imagination, is cemented into the ground with walls reaching the sky.
References:
Mortice, Z. (2017). Design For Dignity. Landscape Architecture Magazine, p. 1. Retrieved from: https://landscapearchitecturemagazine.org/2017/11/14/design-for-dignity/
Stamp, E. (2020). How the Architectural Industry is Reacting to Climate Change. Architectural Digest, p. 1. Retrieved from: https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/climate-change-design-architecture
Granby Space de IF_DO. Edificio de Oficinas (2021). Available at: https://www.architonic.com/es/project/if-do-granby-space/20010356 (Accessed: 5 September 2021).
