The Death of Architecture

Assalamualaikum
(waalaikumusalam)

This is the first of maybe many more to come. This is a notation of a student point of view, of which experience may not be much but a story yet to be noted as a point of view, not more and nothing less. An architecture student has yet to be tested for the ability to discuss philosophy as he might not be good enough.

We might as well know that the world we live in judges things a lot. In many ways possible, never to accept, always rejecting the new ideas, way too comfortable living in the past, recognizing the present by yesterday and the future will always be the history. But of all this there are some countries, that offer free education, the higher ups who pay taxes, people who eats the things they grow, a newspaper that discuss instead of telling how people what to think.

Of all that and you wonder what does that have anything to do with architecture? A friend of mine defines architecture as the significant to everything that we do. What else can it be in the form of art? An art will always be valued by the very significant of it. But as we all know that architecture is the art and science of buildings or, so to say the art of playing with form, space, and order. What is architecture exactly? If art is nothing but significant, and science on the other hand, is the truth of everything that is happening around us, what does both combined mean? The significance of everything that is true?

The only way to be in the world of architecture is to think about everything, to relate every pieces of information, political, economic, social value, environment, animals, rain, sun, wind, and many more to create a perfectly comfortable, if not, artistic piece of building. Or it can be something more but never less.

For now do we even think of why architecture matters?

As a student in a local university, I often think of how the international architecture school works. Do they have the kind of system as we do? This is not to debate about the laws of university but we do not even have the freedom to be self-express of whom we really are. Always being limited to what we can or cannot wear. Does that even matter to the eyes of the young students? What does wearing what we want have to do with architecture anyways? I would say none but it does have effect to how we think. As I said earlier architecture is about the absolute way of thinking. How can we even think without first having the chance to express our-self?

I might not be the brightest student in my age of living but I have a lot of question. Ridiculous in many ways but still what is a question but to have a better understanding of a certain subject. Why is architecture dead?

A misconception of why does it even matter? To what sort of value must it reach to make it alive again? Towards what way can the values rises? This is not about the materials, the construction, the drawings, or the architect themselves. This is about the way we think. How do we even value something? From a student point of view towards another.





Part2

As I write this part of the story, I just got back from Bandung, Indonesia. I spent 4 days of nothing but such experience. What does architecture mean there, why does architecture there the way it is today? On what cause does it deliver, just cause by chance every parts of architecture is eventually destroying, and we as the architects destroy it by some means that it will eventually bring some meaningful story behind it. Though you might strongly rejects the destroying parts of architecture by saying the architects will always create, I strongly reject the point where we actually create something but instead destroying some parts and replacing it with something else.

Somewhere lays the words sustainable in the world of architecture nowadays. But let’s take a look in what way architecture are sustainable. On the way the site was picked, the way the studies was made, the tools used for making the design, the paper to draw, the lights and hours spent on the projects, the materials used way afar from the site, the construction of the building or just maybe the way it is used. On which part of it the sustainability tally with all the process, and as such is for the architect or maybe the politician to decide.

Somehow we forget what is important and what is not. The people, the money, or maybe the true form of art and science. We always, in our prime studies day talk about the people instead of the money but does that really happen? On which level do we really got to talk about our opinion instead we listen to someone else’s opinion. Some lacks the extra feel of enthusiasm towards the world of architecture.

The history being told said that the old architects of the world creates a building which resembles the god’s house, the palace of where lies eternal love, the undeniable perfection of art, the ultimate social place for the riches, the ever comfortable place to live under extreme weather condition, and many more but does that still exist in the modern architecture?

What does modern architecture lacks? The old architects were thinkers, are we not thinkers too? What kind of role model should we follow if we think the past thinkers are useless? Will there be any kind of thinkers acceptable if we really give a deep thought on what was said, given by the old humanity. I always doubt every speech given in any kind of form but never do I reject. As to reject is to not think, blindly denying everything and I myself will try ever so hard not to fall that low. As to not think makes you stupid in every way possible. But still it’s hard not to reject as we were thought to be that way.

Are we as students really are learning a dying subject of life matter? I am still a student but I shall say the only ultimate reason of which I love architecture is only because it makes me think more than before. The ultimate fun of it is when two minds collided, but never to reject, accepting every views of point, and at the end of the fun, the mind become not old or the same but a new. And as the process continues it will grow. No two minds will ever think alike in any way possible but as the thinkers think, eventually it will turn out to be the same in different ways.