So when I woke up this morning, I feared that my life has been so non-architectural since summer started. And to appease myself, I revisited my old papers. Read them all, yeah, and I wanted to share the first paper I wrote for the my Arch 16 class under the lesson Defining Architecture.
Unlike most papers, I remember putting my heart into this one. Haha. So yeah, I hope it kind of makes you realize how amazing architecture really is.
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Architecture is Power
Architecture is all around us. That is something
many people believe in and something that I personally agree with. Although I
was totally unaware of it at that time, it began in my life as a childish fascination
for building blocks, Lego, residential brochures and creating towns and cities inside
my head. As I got older, what started out as a mere pastime slowly transitioned
into a much bigger dream – one that lead me here, at the UP College of
Architecture.
However, fascination cannot be equated to understanding.
Just because I was interested in architecture at a young age, it does not mean
that I really understood what it was nor does it mean that I can fully grasp its
essence today. Instead, what that fascination does is keep me in a constant
quest for architectural relevance. My knowledge of architecture in the past
definitely lacked many parts of the whole but, such still holds true today.
There will always be more to learn and therefore, the process by which one’s
definition of architecture expands should never end.
As a child, I believed that architecture was
synonymous to building. Architects were builders. They just built things. It
was that simple to me and consequently, my ability to place one block over
another was already as architectural as ever. Of course, now, I believe
otherwise.
There was also a time when my world was limited to
that of residential architecture. This
mind set was highly influenced by my uncle, who was the only architect I knew
personally. He designed the homes of several relatives of mine. All of which, I
found beautiful and they all contributed to my idea of a well - designed house:
simple, clean – looking, with lots of white
and lots of wood.
Despite my so – called love for architecture,
schools, shopping malls, churches and other types of structures had barely any
significance to me. I just liked houses. It seemed as though the very reason
why I wanted to become an architect was to be able to design my own home in the
future. I collected brochures with rendered plans and perspectives, copied
them, altered them to my liking, and documented the different architectural
elements that I would eventually apply to my future home.
To me, architecture was all about building beautiful
houses. It barely even had anything to do with function or space configuration.
It was all about aesthetics – what looked good to me. It was only when I entered college that my rather self –
centered definition of architecture really evolved.
After a year in UST Arki and a semester in UP Arki,
I learned that architecture is so much more than just the art and science of
building, that there is certainly more to it than just “white houses with lots
of wood” and that it is definitely not
self – centric. It shouldn’t be. In fact, it is the exact opposite.
Architecture revolves almost entirely around people – their behavioral
patterns, their physical anthropometrics and their general problems and needs
which have to be addressed innovatively.
Simply put, architecture
is the most creative response to human needs. It is a means for people to
live in the most convenient, most comfortable, most aesthetically - pleasing and
hopefully also the most meaningful way that they can. Architecture is the end
product of an impeccably complicated process involving the observation of
people, surrounding environments, natural elements and even intangible things
that play crucial roles in coming up with a design; such as the atmosphere of a
certain area, perhaps symbolisms and deeper meanings of simple forms and even
relationships between what was, what is and what will be.
The amazing thing about architecture is that it can
be as big and complex and overwhelming as all that but, it also pays as much attention
to, for example, the dimensions of stairs - which seems to be a very minute
detail that can go unnoticed but, in reality, will cause a great deal of discomfort
for people if it were off – standard. Everything matters, basically.
Professional architects already seemed like gods to
me when I was a child but, it was mainly because of their aesthetic eye. At
present, however, my respect and admiration for architects do not only root from
my love for their designs but also from my sincere amazement in their ability
to notice everything. I believe that architecture requires paying attention to
things that most people would ignore. There’s always more to something – you
never know when something ordinary can become an inspiration for a design
concept.
As aforementioned, architecture is the most creative response to human needs. For now,
that’s that but, I am still in pursuit of a definition of architecture that
encapsulates everything I think it is and how much I believe that architects
have the power to change lives with their profession.
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