Architectural opinions

The fear of being forgotten. In the text Being and Time by   Martin Heidegger. It is mentioned that one of the many ways that we experience the existence of other people are through the things they involve themselves with. Even if it is indirect or a subconscious thought, we are constantly reminded of the existence of other people. For example when you see an empty car on the street. Even though it may not occur as a direct thought, we cannot deny that there's a cognitive understanding that the car belongs to someone thus someone owns the car, henceforth we can also assume that the owner is nearby. But if we take the car out of context and we somehow were to come across the car in the middle of nowhere like a mountain top or the desert, it begins to raise questions, and we as viewers start to question the assumptions we have made. This is more commonly known as the uncanny effect. The uncanny effect which stems from the fear of the unknown, generates unease and ambiguity.  Bui...

  Is sustainability truly sustainable?   Before taking an interest in architecture and design I used to think that sustainability just meant adding plants and greenery to things.   Personal experiences and why I wanted to do this topic: GCSE product design Researching into Ken Yeang.   Embodied carbon through manufacturing processes and construction.   What have I learnt so far in terms of sustainability in design?   My opinion on what defines a sustainable building/product?   Maximising the use of the climate, whilst minimising the energy required to run the product/ building.   Both perspectives, consumer and designer. Having been both of them I can relate to both sides.   My ambitions for the future are to promote the construction/ progression of ecological cities where human systems and natural systems can co-exist.   Another ambition of mine is to convert or start converting an existing street into an ecological street that will hop...

Ar chi t ecture Fashion. Clothing. It's what I wear. It's also what you wear. Both are outfits just simple compositions  of cloth. Yet, why  are they so different? ... Is this  not the  same  as it is in architecture? A composition of colour, shapes, textures and patterns. Carefully constructed to attract and intrigue all of the by-passers who  might stumble upon  the artistic display that's been put out for viewing  today. Some outfits may flaunt whilst others  can taunt. Some may take inspiration from the times that are gone,  whilst others may attempt to predict what's to come. Both can be  plagued with adverts big  and  small, Coca-cola, Mcdonalds, Greggs and all. There is art.  And there is architecture. Similarly, there is fashion designed  to make a statement just as there is also fashion designed  for comfort. There is architecture designed for display and monument just as there is architecture that'...

Is sustainable architecture really sustainable? What makes it sustainable?  https://www.archdaily.com/tag/sustainable-design To the average joe, sustainable architecture may just seem like placing plants onto a building but in reality it's much more complex. This is an misunderstanding that I myself believed in before taking an interest in architecture.  Sustainability in my eyes should be about a building and it's architect trying to break even or surpass the amount of carbon that was used or taken up by the construction of/and the building.  Embodied carbon This is quite difficult to achieve in architecture due to the "embodied" carbon in building materials, in simpler terms it refers to the carbon footprint of a material. Let's take steel beams as an example, the steel would have been extracted from an ore, the ore is then melted down, then melted down again and then transported. All of these processes are extremely carbon rich activities, this is w...

In 1955 Rosa parks was arrested for refusing to give her seat to a white man. In 2020 George Floyd was killed by a policeman. These two events happened 65 years apart from one another and embarrassingly show that not much has changed in our society. The office of national statistics states that in 2014, out of 64.6 million people in the UK 56.2 million which is 87.2% of the population are white and British. In the UK, this is also the case for those in education and the profession of architecture, where the majority of the populace are white.  A potential solution in the works that would help counteract this statistic in the architecture industry is the PARADIGM organisation. PARADIGM is a group focused on increasing the number of Black and Asian architects within the built environment. PARADIGM  (Click for their website) Other organisations looking to make a change in todays society are: United in design, diversity in action Design for diversity Black lives matter...

Genius Loci. A roman term, "the protective spirit of a place". https://weburbanist.com/2009/09/22/10-peculiarly-precarious-buildings/ Why do architects like designing buildings that don't fit in? This is a question that my friend who studies business had asked me, and after some thinking and some research this is my response. What exactcly defines whether a building fits in or doesn't fit in? I would argue that there are a bunch of factors that can determine whether a building fits in or doesn't fit in. Firstly, how does it's function relate to the functions of the surrounding buildings? Is it just a funky looking house amongst many plain boring houses, and if so is it really out if place then? Secondly, is it beneficial? Does it benefit the surrounding occupants or provide something that would otherwise be a hassle to obtain, this refers to the odd local shops that you can find in some areas that you sometimes walk past and think "Oh? A littl...