What it Means to be an Architect
Serhii Makhno blog
23.04.07
What does an architect feel? This question confuses thoughts and inflates a head like a balloon. You start thinking, select words… But every time they don’t sound as you want. Today we try to explain.
An architect is in charge of people who will love sleep-eat-relax in his building. Men and women walking their dogs nearby. A postman who will be met by a house every morning. People who will stop on the green and share only one moment with it.
What emotion will a building leave? How will it speak to a guest? These depend on the architects’ dedication and the contexts invested in space.
Being an architect is like running a marathon (but cooler). A starting point is your idea. The finish is a realized project. In the beginning, you feel energetic and inspired. In the middle, you’re a bit tired, but keep pace despite the sun, rain or stomach saying, “Let’s have something to eat?”. As usual, the last steps are the most difficult.
Trails are complex. Someone stumbles and loses the way, or chuckles his hand in because of a heavy backpack. It’s normal. Natural selection.
Finding «not» to withdraw from a marathon is the easiest. You don’t think alike with a client. Layouts don’t meet the ergonomics. Suppliers don’t fit in time. But it is much more pleasant to cross the finish line and say: “Yes, I did it!”.
Being an architect is to see your building in space. Make it to be friends with the environment, its organic part. The architecture doesn’t have to argue with “neighbours” in size and style.
Being an architect is having a heavy head because of information. Every day (!) you search for new borders of interactions between humans and space.
Practice is more valuable than theory. But creating high-quality “after” depends on comprehending “before”.
Being an architect is to fall asleep reading Le Corbusier, Benema, and Koren. Or at least know who they are.
Being an architect is to asking strange questions. How do you feel? Who or what? Of strange responses, you build a logical chain. A client does not understand. You understand that a client does not understand. Explain. Again. So an architect turns to a psychologist, and the conversation is delayed for many cups of tea.
Being an architect is catching puzzled looks because “Mom, why a guy has been standing near a building?”. If a keen eye caught a worthy object, it is necessary to analyze and solve the puzzle. Sometimes a perfectionist wakes up inside and thinks about what to change. But it’s another story.
The architecture is based on interactions. We perceive the result, not the people “behind the picture”. Architect + client. Architect + superintendent. Architect + contractor … Architect is a frame keeping the project from the first line to the door installation.
WE PLANNED TO SHARE SOME INSIDE THOUGHTS BUT SAW OUR PROFESSION IN A NEW LIGHT.
Thank you, our reader