How should you perceive architecture?

When you hear the word ‘architecture', what comes to your mind first? The picture that would pop up to most people would be fancy buildings with complex curves and staggering dynamics, which is how most people would go about judging a building too. But is it the right way to judge, or is there more to a building to take account of?

What makes a building ‘ugly'? It’s the way it looks right? Everybody wants to live in an environment that is a replica of their view of paradise. And by just looking at the image above, a million negative thoughts would’ve run across my mind and I’m sure you would have too. However, that’s before I watched a lecture given by Shaun Carter, a brilliant architect based in Sydney. In his TED talk about brutalist architecture, he gives a splendid example by comparing his daughter to buildings. By telling your daughter it doesn’t matter about what you have on the inside, or what your personality may be like and that everybody only cares about how you look on the outside, it doesn’t make sense, does it? What most of us do is look past the inner beauty and forget the function to only care about one’s looks. Architecture does not work like that. So what you could be doing instead, is to ask yourself three questions.

1) What does it represent?

2) How can we make it better?

3) How does it impact people now?

Musée d’Orsay in Paris, France

The first question is all about asking yourself what the architect wanted to tell us when they designed that building; every building has some sort of purpose, some sort of function, and if that function is outdated we shouldn’t plan on destroying or getting rid of that building, rather we should turn it into something we would find ‘useful’. Useful in the sense that it not only benefits us, but also society. A great example of this is the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, France. This was originally a train station which was built between 1898 and 1900, which got transformed into a museum due to the platforms becoming too short; this was because of the lengthening of trains, which meant that people eventually stopped coming to the train station. So instead of being demolished by society, some people were able to make it better, which leads to my third question: how did it impact the people? Today, Musée d’Orsay welcomes 3.6 million visitors annually! This is a perfect example of how functionality changes according to society. It just goes on to show that architecture is a flexible field, in that we as architects shouldn’t just focus on bringing the new, but also on enhancing the old. Our true skill as an architect heavily relies on that; making use of what we have. So next time a building that you know may be demolished, ask yourself these three questions and come up with a decision of your own.

Another aspect I want you to consider is how the building and its surrounding environment may make you feel. One of the beauties of architecture is the varying moods it makes you feel. For example, in my previous blog, I mentioned how gothic architecture may give you a divine feeling, whereas the Heydar Aliyev Center may make you feel as if you’re living in the future. Therefore the feeling a building radiates is correlated to its purpose. So if a building may not give you the desired feeling you were hoping for; ask others what they may think of the structure. People behave differently in different areas partly due to the environment and its structures. So you as a member of society must also take into account how it impacts everyone. But should a building always be designed in a way to reflect its purpose? The three purposes of a building can be categorised as follows: housing, commerce and art. These are the main purposes for which a building may be constructed. But in our previous example of Musée d’Orsay, we can see that its original function (that being commerce/ service) has been transformed into one of art. This indicates that a building does not have to depend on its looks to serve its purpose. Yes, you may want to feel its purpose by just looking at it, but that is where transforming comes into the picture and that is where our skills as architects come into play. We need to design to adapt; if a building is termed ‘ugly', look out for its purpose, transform it such that it may enhance its purpose or that it may display a different purpose altogether.

Even sometimes, a building may fulfil its purpose by designing it such that it displays it, but people still don’t appreciate it due to the way they perceive it. We should understand that factors such as environment, family, friends, and the internet will all shape the way how a person may feel about something. When a person has an opinion, they have that set ideology due to being influenced by these factors and thus why we call it an opinion. One of the most common examples is religious sites such as churches, temples and mosques. These buildings all serve the same function/ purpose, but still vary from place to place due to the influence of the environment and its people. For example, a temple in India may vary from a temple in the UK. This may be due to the cultural differences between the two places and therefore one may prefer one over the other.

Let’s think for a minute. We use our phones every day, right? The iPhone 13 may not look appealing to those from the 1900s, as they may prefer the style of the telephone of their time. But if for a second, they discovered what our present-day phones could do, I have no doubt they’ll be all over it. This is exactly the case with buildings. We, as the present-day generation, must learn to go back to the old ( or even the new ) and dig out for its purpose, because then we’ll see the beauty; we’ll start admiring the real architecture. These buildings aren’t worth destroying. In his TED talk, Shaun Carter describes these buildings as being a part of our history and we as the present generation must learn to preserve these landmarks because purpose lies deep within; it isn’t instantly recognizable in certain cases. As Shaun perfectly put it these buildings are a 'snapshot in time of what we felt and what our ethics and morals were.’ Of course, the way a structure is built is important and the way it makes you feel is a fundamental property, but you can’t term a building as ‘ugly’ due to just its outward appearance. So I encourage you today, to go up to a landmark you may not agree with, spend time with it and find its purpose. So if there’s one thing you shouldn’t do, is to judge a book by its cover, rather, judge the cover by the book.