Architecture and Urban Design for the Laymen

What I would like to start my blog’s first post is with the perception of architecture and urban design as a subject that seen as too elite for everyday life. I would like to dispel this rumor and propose that architects are trained to help solve all manners of design problems. Our formal training is primarily to think; this may already seem confusing because many may think our training involves math, geometry and “CAD”. However, architects are fundamentally taught to analyze problems in the three-dimensional language of space. Now that this has been said, I would like to lay the groundwork for the future of this blog.

My first goal is to explain architecture and urban design in layman’s terms. I believe that the primary misconceptions of the field are in the overuse of technical and theoretical terms. Have you ever taken a walk on a nice day and stopped to look at the blue sky and scattered clouds? Whenever I am outside, mostly when walking my two dogs, I do this and realize that my role as an architect is far less significant than the greater creation of the earth I inhabit. Therefore, without getting all wrapped up in architecture jargon, that sounds elitist and over-complicated, I hope to take the essence of the architect and bring it to you in the context of everyday life.

Example of a clear blue sky (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

What will follow in every post is some form of relationship of architecture and/or urban design (architecture at the scale of the city) to our everyday lives. The meaning of which will be to re-present the role of architects to the general public as true renaissance thinkers. By using renaissance, I am referencing the definition of a person who is trained in a diverse array of talents. Architects have been trained in many respects in a renaissance style. Modern society is so silo-ed and proud of compartmentalized professions, but the architect is capable of harnessing and orchestrating multiple disciplines in search of the solution that can serve the greatest good.

ren·ais·sance man

Noun:

A person with many talents or interests, esp. in the humanities.

The altruism and optimism of architects can be saved for a later blog post. So to bring this introduction to a close, I will end with a quotation from the author Italo Calvino that has always inspired me to never stop pursuing this field of architecture.  “The shortest distance between two points is a circuitous path”. This statement always reminds me that, like the blue sky, the paths we take as humans are never direct, but the journey is well worth it. 

Related articles

• Origin of the Term Layman (todayifoundout.com)