Retrospective

After constant research on architecture in the past 11 weeks, I did learn about the gap between theoretical architecture that they teach you at school and real life architecture that you can’t possibly teach at school. In architecture school, professors teach you all about design theories and ideals. But in real life, people who are not in the profession usually do not understand these theoretical ideals and design strategies; and architects do not get the chance to explain their design intentions to everyone. People then only care about the result: looks and costs. An architect thus have to be a “god” – trying to fulfill usage, looks, costs and practicality, and at the same time knowing that people most likely will not understand his or her work, or even dislike the work.

The research skills I have learnt have been very useful. Being able to take advantage of the multiple databases that the university has to offer is helpful to each assignment (as compared to my only resource before – proquest). The workshops are great because you never know what information your peers have to offer, especially when later in the semester we are grouped according to our topics. Writing blogs is a great way to keep track of research and always serves as a start if I’m stuck with my essay.

I would eventually want to keep up with a blog that summarizes the interesting architectural findings I have. Because the only way of advancing in architecture is to be updated constantly since there are so many new things being designed everyday.
Something like dezeen.com would be nice.

Is it a building, or a piece of architecture?

In response to Richard Meier's statement on "architecture is art," I found a video of the particular interview in which he explains the statement.

Question: Is architecture art?

Richard Meier: Architecture is art. Every work is a work of art. Architecture is the greatest of the arts, and it encompasses thinking that other arts don’t even deal with. Like relationship of the work to the individual human being – the person who uses it; the person who experiences it; the person who sees it; and how that person perceives that space. You know there’s an old adage that a sculptor can make a square wheel, and an architect has to make a round one. You have a certain responsibility not just to your client, not just to the people using the building, but to the public at large with what you do.

Question: When does a building become art?

Richard Meier: Well I don’t say all buildings are architecture, first of all. So there’s lots of buildings that have nothing to do with architecture. They have to do with economics. They have to do with an enclosure, but I wouldn’t consider them works of architecture. To be a work of architecture is creating a work of art.


This also the question of is a prison work of architecture. Obviously a prison only functions to enclose, and it is important for cost effectiveness and practicality. A prison would most likely not be considered as architecture because designed to consider how comfortable or uncomfortable the prisoners would be housed.
Another example, nobody would consider the grocery store at the gas station as a piece of architecture. It is just a building that serves to enclose.

To Richard Meier, architecture is art because
1. it deals with aesthetics
2. design is incorporating art with practicality
3. when a building is designed to be responsible to the people who are housed, and certain space is designed to have particular function due to the usage