How architecture feels.

Architecture is more than how a building looks, it is about how it feels.

The truth about the building envelope is that it is becoming the only sacred place left where architects feel they can be heard (and seen), a place where fewer constraints have a say in influencing the story they are trying to tell – their thoughts, values, aspirations, desires, joys. At the same time, it is a playground for challenging design applications, exploring technology, testing material compatibility, and so on. (All taking place within a given context, obviously) What the architect is responsible for is to negotiate these terms in a way that can harmoniously unite the functions of a building with the emotions of the users and the energy of the surrounding environment. A process that culminates all the architect’s “right decisions” and is complimented in the totality of the architecture’s use, not just its façade. Zumthor categorizes this critical point as Coherence and so elegantly describes as “…when the proof of the pudding is found in the eating.” Here, the envelope forms a narrative that subtly encourages people on how to occupy and interact with the architecture, shaping the experiences they have with space (exterior and interior), with each other, and with nature.

Constraints, however, should not come as some unforeseen evil because their presence has always been a part of the architectural process. The rules may change as we go along, but constraints breed ingenuity, allowing architects to utilize their creativity as a dialectical interpretation of making the impossible – possible – where the envelope leads the way in reconciling the architect’s endless imagination with what can be manifested in the tangible and sensuous. One way to approach this discourse is with a holistic perspective that I think is ideally captured in Zumthor’s – Atmospheres – although relatively nonchalant on the surface, the depth in which he characterizes his approach to architecture and the feelings that motivate his spirit, I found to be wonderful. The same can be said about the envelope, and is what I think Zumthor opens up to when discussing his nine categories (and three appendices). Neatly tucked away, sometimes seen, sometimes not, is another world that should be treated with just as much care as what appears on the outside. A facade can be responsive to aesthetics, technology, political or economic stances, but it should also account for the desires felt by those who find themselves on either side of its threshold.

Body of Architecture – the anatomy of “putting things together in a logical fashion” – is what Zumthor first introduces as the foundation for quality architecture. I don’t want to go into much detail about all that he talks about, but there are key words, ideas, and quotes that struck me. The reading really made me think about architecture, not just in the physical sense, specifically the facade, but about the feeling and emotions our designs stir inside of us, as architects, and within the people we serve.

Sound of space. “There are buildings that have wonderful sounds, telling me that I can feel at home, I’m not alone.”

Temperature of space. Psychological.

Surrounding objects. Nostalgic. “…insight into a future that happens without me.”

Between composure and seduction. Movement. Saunter. Calming. Composed.

Tension between interior and exterior. What a building is saying. Sense of place. Envelope. “I am, I can, I want, but I am not going to show you everything.”

Level of intimacy. Proximity. Distance. Size. Dimension. Scale. Mass. Gravity. Thickness. Interior as a hidden mass, different feeling than building form.

The light on things. Daylight has a spiritual quality. Gold. Think of light at the beginning of project. Pure mass of shadow, hollow out the darkness.

Architecture as Surroundings. “What I am really thinking of are my human surroundings, although they won’t only be mine and of the building, becoming part of people’s lives…” “…conceive of architecture as a human environment.”

Coherence. Place, use, form. “Right decisions” are complimented in use. “The idea of things coming into their own, of finding themselves. Because they have become the thing that they actually set out to be. Architecture, after all, is made for our use.”

The beautiful form. Slow architecture. “Help me to see how something has found its form.” Beauty.