Ethics or aesthetics ?? In the face of the energy crisis, the need of the hour is to be ethical, responsible, inculcate sustainable design blah blah. Even if buildings are ugly, as long as they save on energy, who cares right ?
But is it really a Sophie's choice ? Can we only be sustainable by sacrificing the beauty of our creation as architects ? Not if we get the grey cells going.
Let me tell you about the recent trends in architecture in India, specially in commercial and institutional buildings. Huge towers of glass and steel, they are designed to copy the " modern" look similar to lets say.... Manhattan .And what is really wrong with that ? I mean we can't live in mud houses or havelis anymore right ? We need to adapt to the recent trends. But what does fashion have to do with modern ?
Modern means to be up-to-date, new or contemporary. Ummm, how is it different from fashion.Say shoes, sneakers are cool and trendy, but you wouldn't wear them to a job interview right. Juvenile example I must say but fitting nevertheless. What is the main factor ? Context. So in a nutshell, modern means fashion with context. When we design a building, it is very important to consider the context before blindly following the trends in the name of 'modern '
As I see, there are two very important recent Architecture myths- old or new, in terms of traditional techniques against new ones. And the second one as i mentioned earlier - ethics or aesthetics, as in do we sacrifice our beauty and creativity for the sake of sustainability.
Let me illustrate through couple of example from my own home town, both of recently constructed 'modern' buildings, one a fashion design school and another a commercial complex, but poles apart in terms of sustainability or green building.
But is it really a Sophie's choice ? Can we only be sustainable by sacrificing the beauty of our creation as architects ? Not if we get the grey cells going.
Let me tell you about the recent trends in architecture in India, specially in commercial and institutional buildings. Huge towers of glass and steel, they are designed to copy the " modern" look similar to lets say.... Manhattan .And what is really wrong with that ? I mean we can't live in mud houses or havelis anymore right ? We need to adapt to the recent trends. But what does fashion have to do with modern ?
Modern means to be up-to-date, new or contemporary. Ummm, how is it different from fashion.Say shoes, sneakers are cool and trendy, but you wouldn't wear them to a job interview right. Juvenile example I must say but fitting nevertheless. What is the main factor ? Context. So in a nutshell, modern means fashion with context. When we design a building, it is very important to consider the context before blindly following the trends in the name of 'modern '
As I see, there are two very important recent Architecture myths- old or new, in terms of traditional techniques against new ones. And the second one as i mentioned earlier - ethics or aesthetics, as in do we sacrifice our beauty and creativity for the sake of sustainability.
Let me illustrate through couple of example from my own home town, both of recently constructed 'modern' buildings, one a fashion design school and another a commercial complex, but poles apart in terms of sustainability or green building.
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