Afraid to design…get out of your comfort zone!
Designers, architects and engineers all have skills that they rely on. The skills vary and so do the results. If you fall in to one of these categories, then chances are that you have done work on limited types of structures, buildings and products. Belonging to these groups comes with some expectations and a lot of responsibility. You are often asked to be brilliant, daring, efficient, effective, inventive and creative. You are also asked to spend your time wisely, follow the code, think of the little details, don’t waste money, have a budget that the owner will approve, and use as many standard parts as possible so a cost budget can be put together. We are conditioned to forever counter our desire for discovery by having to redefine, refine, and rethink all the same elements that we use all the time. There is no opportunity for a paradigm shift. The rigid structures that define our spaces, interiors, work environments, our internal climates, our paths, and rectilinear transportation systems are all in place. It’s amazing that the first hut was built. What was wrong with the cave? Well some caves were nicer than others. Maybe there were no caves. How about those pesky wild animals that also like caves?
We have an opportunity now, if we do not follow the path of further restriction, to change the citiscape and housing industry for the next hundred or so years. The push to use materials that are of the earth in a more constructive and sustainable strategy is an opportunity to step outside of our comfort zone. Let us forget carbon for a moment. Let us forget green house gases also. Let us decide that any changes we make are from a strategy of abundance and intelligence, rather than a position of fear and public legislation/administration. Do we really have no other choice than to listen to propoganda used for political and economic gain? Are the strategies that we are being asked to use any different that those employed by our ancestors? Our solution varies only in a matter of scale. It is not a different problem. It will never be a different problem, whether we return to huts or build space stations or colonize other planets.
We have let economy, commercial interest, and banking decide how we should live. Their question is always about up front costs, profits from occupancy, and maximum short term yields from investments. They always say that the most important thing is ‘location, location, location’. Is it really? What is it important to and to whom is it important? The local residents, city, and future use of a structure seem to really be what’s important. Aesthetics, citiscape, cultural impact and beauty all contribute to the function of a building. They provide identity, continuity, inspiration, and worth to the residents, occupants and visitors of any significant architecture.
Architecture should challenge the designer, architect and engineer to extract all these values from their structure. Sweeping curves, engaging volumes, inspirational spaces, and culture defining symbols should be our design goals. We have the technology and knowledge to push the limits of architecture through effective planning, design, engineering, manufacturing, construction and occupancy metrics. We are able to tune buildings to their occupants, use passive methods that are age old techniques used before electricity, have sensors and controls that monitor the health of buildings and their occupants. We can provide comfortable spaces that allow people to live healthy, experience the beauty of nature, and work effectively. The way architecture has bent to maximize work from the building occupants, and yield the highest dollar per square foot for a few ammenities lends me to believe that we have not experienced the best from our designers, architects and engineers. Every structure should add something to the community and be a symbiotic component that contributes to the infrastructure rather than burden it with its waste, energy use, and ineffective transportation demands.
There are many strategies, structures, and systems for us to discover. We must not fear our desire for discovery. We must also not suffer and cower below the threats of individuals and administrations that demand we pay in perpertuity for a system created by its regulation. We have already given much to be licensed, funded, taxed, regulated, protected, and misinformed by people seeking a steady stream of income rather than an improvement in the standard of living. Our citiscapes and towns reflect the demand for efficiency and regulation. Roads, signs, arrows, and real estate plots have defined us until this point. We have failed to bring individual choice and public transportation into alignment. We have taken the life-blood of humanity and removed it from our cities. Our food and water comes from hundreds of miles away because we have poisoned our local resources, covered every inch with concrete, and failed in our responsibility to clean up after ourselves.
We have been led to believe that we are ‘consumers’ with no opportunity for balance with our environment. Is this how you see yourself? For I surely do not. We have a great potential to live, and we just need to choose the path we will take to realize it. We will err many times. We already have. Let us not be afraid or intimidated in to giving away our power of choice by people seeking a regular return on their money or tax base. Administration and regulation never lead to a paradigm shift. Dare to design and get out of your comfort zone!
