Architecture Doesn’t Need All the Bling Bling

        Samuel Mockbee and Francis Kéré reminded me of one of the reasons that inspired me to become an architect. Architecture is for the people regardless of their social status. Without people, there are no meanings of making architecture. It is easy to build with a sky-high budget. But this kind of structure is only accessible by the selected few in the world. How about the rest of us? 

“Physical poverty is not an abstraction, but we almost never think of impoverishment as evidence of a world that exists. Much less do we imagine that it’s a condition from which we may draw enlightenment in a very practical way. … It is about stepping into the open and expressing the simple and the actual rather than the grand and the ostentatious.” -Samual Mockbee

I admired Mockbee’s compassion and devotion to bringing architecture to improve the community that he is in. He is making the world a better place by making big impacts on his immediate communities. In a similar way, I also admired Kéré in the way that he brings back his knowledge to improve his hometown.

Mud can also last and be beautiful at the same time.

        Both of the really understand the limits as well as opportunities within their given context. As proven by Mockbee and Kéré, architecture can be beautiful when knowing how to maximize opportunities while understanding the limits.