Bridges to understanding

Bridges to understanding

In my opinion architecture lives, breaths, and dies based on people’s needs.  If someone needs a space for something (like their business) then they call up an architect and get that space built.  If a developer wants to build a new project he looks for where there is want/need in a community and fills that void to make the most profit (I know sometimes this doesn’t work, like in Charleston where they only want to build hotels and bars but just go with me here) and if the earth goes to shit and we all have to live on a space ship were all needs are taken care of then we won’t need architects until we populate a new planet.  

Let’s hope that last scenario doesn’t happen because then we’ll be out of the job (and also the planet) but in the first two scenarios there is recognition of the needs of the user.  

So I agree whole heartedly with Mr. De Carlo and believe that we need input from the users in order to create good architecture but I also believe we need to use our understanding of architecture and space to create exceptional architecture.  

I’ve seen projects built within the last few years that take a program given to them from the users and put into rows and call it done.  This I see as a flaw in current architecture practices.  The users need to be a bridge of understanding for us the architect to cross to get to the user’s world and fully understand their needs and wants.  This is a time consuming process and it takes a lot of time spent with the users to cross that bridge but once the architect knows exactly how it feels to be in their world then we as architects need to create a bridge for the users to cross into a better world.  We are professionals for a reason and we are educated in the ways of the “space” so therefore we need to use the new understanding given to us from the users while crossing their bridge and invent and create a new and better place for them to inhabit.  This cannot be done by a program alone.  A program is a cheat sheet for what needs to go in the building but it tells you nothing about how it is going to function, what the atmosphere is going to be like and what the users truly need to use the space to its fullest potential.  

Therefor as architects we should use a program but we should use the user’s experiences and intimate knowledge of their own world more and derive the most important information from them.