Architecture

 

Nowadays there is a lot of talk or verbosity regarding architectural phenomenon and what it means and how it does and what seems to be its purpose. Whatever…!

Architecture is motion – either towards individualism or towards experience of liberation. The physical form of architecture projects the intent of the designer and perhaps guides the experience of the user. The highest experience of architecture (or of space-time) is of transcendence or of universal connect, where all mental boundaries about self, you, me, family, people, climate, culture, environment melt into one another. They melt, means they weren’t separate in the first place! This means that ‘we’ aren’t separate in the first place. The tree I see, or the elephant I ride on, or the smell of the breeze or the Sun, or the fields or the water I drink – are all one (a part of me!). To say that I am “doing for something” is absurd. I am only doing – an act of engagement. What is the motive? No “personal” motive! I just do. In doing, I imply that I exist. In doing, I say that I am in motion, but I am stillness too. Who creates and for whom? What is created? I think who, whom and what needs to dissolve.

Architecture is motion – As an experience, architecture is felt in motion. The climate changes, sun changes, breeze keep changing, humidity changes, views change, the user changes, building ages, lightness and darkness change and we too change. This stage of architecture frames this change. There cannot be architecture if there is staticness in life. The idea of openings and enclosures will not exist if I do not move around (inside and outside and take a pause and again start to go) or if there is no breeze or if Sun does not move or nothing ever really changes. Life is change and we strive to strike a balance between too much change and too little. Architecture therefore, is created “in between” the extremes and the perfect balance of extremes results in music or transcendence or chemically speaking – equilibrium! The change in environment means also a state of “memory”. Too fast a change or too slow a change does not create memory and therefore will not create any motive or desire for architecture.

In philosophy, one is required to go beyond space-time. Space and time makes all our experiences in the manifested world – they give it a boundary against which, change gets perceived. We exist in space-time fabric and hence architecture exists within this framework. The moment we transcend this boundary, there will not be any need to do architecture.

Architecture can have any starting point for a concept. The result can be as encompassing as ever and as transcendental as ever. When looking at history, we tend to see architecture based on our perception and discover the concept or a start point based on our tendencies. So history is relative, but it can also convey a universal message. It is important that this universal message is realized regardless of a particular context.