Artchitecture

What do we ask design to do? Actually, what do we ask designers to do?

Inspire us. Make us comfortable. Shelter our bodies. Hold our precious items. Secure our loved ones. Some of these things we take for granted.

One of those taken for granted, for example, is architecture. When discussing the architecture of ancient civilizations in history classes, we appreciate the strength and intelligence that it took to build the great pyramids of Egypt and the vast Buddha monuments in Asia. We see that as a style of buildings, rather than a place of worship or marketplace or living areas. We now value the effort it took for those people to build those structures, but how many decades did it take to see those places as design? Why don’t we view the structures we now live in, the cities we drive through, the schools we attend, as being pleasant and artful architecture?

Someone, a designer, had to have come up with an idea to put a big structure with walls, doors, windows, and a roof in a certain place. That sounds easy enough, but as people progressed into the society we have now, everything became more complicated. Designer architects answer many more questions for their projects like wheelchair ramps, wall and floor samples, lighting fixtures, environmentally friendly materials, fixtures, floor plans, etc. As we keep advancing, the options for building pieces become more and more endless. Does this still mean that what architects do is still considered design?

Yes, in fact, I believe that one of the basic answers that stems from the question “What is design?” is that it is an idea that someone has, who then creates its and produces something that is able to be seen visually.