Architecture: Dynamic Art
“Architecture.” What images does that word conjure up in your mind? For me, the word architecture used to conjure images of ancient columns and turrets, linked together by a network of arches and bridges. It conjured up skyscrapers, cathedrals, and concert halls. It made me think of the MIT Stata Center. But there was so much more I was missing…
My travels backpacking through Europe supported my mental image of what I conceived to be architecture. I was surrounded by cathedrals and churches, castles and palaces, even Munich’s famous Hofbräuhaus. But to me - at the time - they were just buildings. Some beautiful, some ugly, and all examples of architecture, but that’s where my brain drew the line: it was something to be admired or appreciated, not something to be experienced…boy was I wrong!
Architecture - from what I’m currently experiencing - is not designing buildings on blueprints nor is it matching Doric columns with Ionic columns (or not matching…?). Sure, those are tools in architecture but they do not represent it’s essence.
I’m experiencing architecture as a symphony, a painting, a rousing speech, and a beautiful performance. It’s an art and I’ll be damned if I don’t experience it! And it is art…
The art of buildings, the art of symphonies, the art of rhetoric or speech; but it is functional art. Well perhaps not. All art could be considered functional. My mother keeps a coloring of a beach scene I drew for her when I was 5 years old and I believe it’s functional (I may be biased). So how about we call it dynamic art. I like that. Architecture is a dynamic art: the art of designing continuous experiences.
My mother and sister recently saw the Titanic exhibit at the Franklin Institute (yup: Philly). Unfortunately, I was stuck in the frigid cold of Cambridge. It sounded amazing. It wasn’t just an exhibit of things but rather an experience of things.
When you walked in they handed you a ticket, recreated from the original ticket with a real passenger’s name. After exploring re-creations of decks, dining rooms, and cabins, you got to The Wall. This is where you learned whether you - rather the name on the ticket - lived or died. You even got to touch an iceberg!
Experiencing Architecture
I recently purchased a book called Experiencing Architecture by Steen Eiler Rasmussen. I suppose it’s the inspiration for this post. It’s a great read so far, describing the rhythms and harmonies in architecture. From the preface:
My object is in all modesty to endeavor to explain the instrument the architect plays on, to show what a great range it has and thereby awaken the senses to its music.
I like this sentence because my senses are slowly waking up. I’m reflecting on my past experiences and realizing that, although I didn’t know it at the time, I was experiencing architecture. Let me take you back to Europe with me, back to Versailles. It was cold, it was January, but walking through the gardens I experienced the beauty and the design of it all. When I got far enough into the gardens, away from the palace, and looked up, it inspired thoughts of a stairway to heaven, with my man Louis’ crib as the House of God.
Currently I’m building a harmonic radar system for a lab project and to go from knowing nothing about radar to building one, I believe I can call myself a Rad-Architect (lolz); I’m designing a radar system to experience something.
It’s interesting to think that we are all mini-architects of our own worlds, having the power to design experiences, both good and bad. For whatever it’s worth, it’s something to think about…