What Will People Remember About Your Architecture?
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image: Manky Maxblack | Flickr
As you design your building, do you ever think about what will remain “standing” both physically and in the minds of those that experience it in the future?
Yes, buildings weather and must pass certain “tests of time”, but do you ever consider whether your building will be worth “saving”, or will even be in use as time passes? It has been said that “[i]t takes a lot of money to build a building, but it doesn’t cost that much more to get it right”.
Thus, you should think about how to gain the most “design leverage” to ensure that your architecture will not only “stand” in the future, but will also be of value to those that experience it.
What Makes a Building Stand the Test of Time?
Eventually as time passes, you will reach a point in your career where you will need to expand, preserve or even tear down a building as occupant’s needs change or even as zoning or codes change. Needless to say, it can be quite tricky if you are the architect who must resurrect or modernize the “old” to give way to the “new”.
So, what is your design philosophy when tackling this set of challenges? How do you integrate the collective memory of the people who have experienced the old? And then turn around to rise above the collective expectations of those that want their “site” to receive that proverbial “facelift”?
Of course, there is no one-size-fits-all answer to architecturally exploring, integrating, deconstructing, demolishing or preserving what once was into what will become. However, one ideal goal might be to reach true architectural innovation that brings a site’s potential forward so architecture can leap toward elevating the lifestyles of the people it serves.
It is your job as an architect to pay attention to what came before, with much attention to what is needed now — and how you will rise to the needs of occupants in the future, with your foresight today.
Designing a building that stands the test of time takes much ingenuity and insight. But in the end, it seems that great architecture usually resonates with its occupants not only in their everyday individual memories, but within their collective memories — which are shared and passed on — as they contribute to overarching cultures.
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4 Responses to “What Will People Remember About Your Architecture?”Trackbacks
Check out what others are saying about this post...[...] The notion of having dispositions, or records, that your brain keeps as it experiences architecture is quite an interesting thought. If every time your occupant has an architecture experience that can later be rewritten, then your role as an architect is to design for more than a real-time experience. You must also design for your occupants by incorporating what your architecture will say to them — what they will store in their memory, and how that memory will influence their future experiences. [...]
[...] The following is a trailer for this 30 minute documentary, which I think poses some interesting questions for us to consider when taking part in the demolition of building spaces. As you watch it, ask yourself how you would make a decision about whether to salvage, renovate, demolish or create a “memorial icon” of a building: [...]
[...] advise you to also take a look at how people use buildings — not only other architect’s buildings, but specifically your own buildings that have [...]
[...] a certain building radiates this “sense of place”, it often can lift occupants to higher levels where greater learning, spirituality and a sense of [...]