Pantheon of Wonder

Essay

Abstraction of Colorful Light

How Long Is Your Building’s Lifespan?

by Maria Lorena Lehman

Architectural Design

Architecture Drawing

Once your building design is fully functional, you may begin to wonder if it has a “lifespan”. That is, will your building one day become outdated? Will it cease to help its occupants the way it once did when it was first built? Or will it no longer be perceived as beautiful in the eyes of those that experience it?

You may ask — What will determine your building’s lifespan? Well, there are a multitude of things that can age a building — these include: the way building materials weather, the way a building’s surrounding context may change, the changing needs of its occupant population over the years, or architectural technology that becomes obsolete or is no longer state-of-the-art. All of these, or just one of these, may contribute to making your building no longer relevant one day.

Additionally, your design solution may become outdated, as someone else comes up with a better way to solve for a problem or need later on down the line. Yes, this becomes part of architectural evolution — the development and innovation of new architectural ideas, tools, and methods that help architecture to progress.

But you may say to yourself —

How can I prevent my building from having a lifespan that is too short? How can I ensure that my building will stand for its full lifespan (a lifespan that brings value to people)?

The answer here is to design your building for change and growth.

You see, when materials, context, occupants, and technology need to change, your building can be designed in a way that flexes with them. Your building should also be able to grow. Can your building design learn from its interactions? Can it increase in functionality with use? Can its beauty grow over time?

To ensure that your building’s lifespan is long (and valuable to people), make sure that it stands not only because of the strength of its materials, but also because of the adaptability of its composition. In other words, to create an architecture that stands the test of time, be sure to consider how it will weather, change, and grow. Your building’s ability to stand tall should also be balanced by its ability to flex as the winds of change blow in its direction — while still being true to the essence of its original design.

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Your invitation:


Dear reader,


I believe life is a continual process of awakening. As the journey of my own life continues, I always find myself connecting my experiences, studies, and ideas to new creative projects that bring beauty, inspiration, and hope for our world. For over 30 years, since starting at age 17, I have immersed myself in architectural design; and early on, I earned a Master of Design with Distinction from Harvard University, setting the foundation for decades of deep immersion in the field. Yet even before this, I held music close to my heart. At the age of 5, I began my first piano lessons; and since then, I began to see the world through a musical lens — even while designing architecture.


Over the decades, I grew closer and closer to music with a deep love for the design of instruments, their unique timbres, and for all the immersive ways their sounds could be interwoven into beautiful orchestrated compositions. I even began to develop a musical composition methodology, Spatial Symphonics, as I found my architectural design work becoming more and more emotive, soul-stirring, and yes: musical.


In recent years, I finally turned my focus to music composition. I hold a Graduate Diploma from the Film Scoring Academy of Europe where my works have been recorded by the acclaimed European Recording Orchestra (ERO), and I am founder of MLL ATELIER® — an award-winning studio now dedicated to my work as an orchestral composer, recording artist, and spatial symphonist — where I advance architectural design through music, and innovate music through an architectural design lens.


It is my hope that I can share my ongoing musical-design journey with you, directly from my studio through my video-newsletter entitled 'Orchestral Notes'. Expect video updates filled with first-access studio news announcing: album/book releases, concert premiers, sheet music publications, creative process sneak-peeks, and my own compositional philosophies as they develop to fuel my ongoing body of musical and architectural authorial works.


I would love for you to join me for this exciting adventure.


Simply click the button below to join my Orchestral Notes video-newsletter delivered every two weeks directly to your email inbox. Plus, get access to the full publication archives.

JOIN THE ORCHESTRAL NOTES NEWSLETTER

Let’s enjoy the beauty, inspiration, and hope that music brings.


Thank you for joining me on this wondrous journey.


Warmly,

Maria Lorena Lehman


Founder of MLL ATELIER® | Orchestral Notes

Your invitation:


Dear reader,


I believe life is a continual process of awakening. As the journey of my own life continues, I always find myself connecting my experiences, studies, and ideas to new creative projects that bring beauty, inspiration, and hope for our world. For over 30 years, since starting at age 17, I have immersed myself in architectural design; and early on, I earned a Master of Design with Distinction from Harvard University, setting the foundation for decades of deep immersion in the field. Yet even before this, I held music close to my heart. At the age of 5, I began my first piano lessons; and since then, I began to see the world through a musical lens — even while designing architecture.


Over the decades, I grew closer and closer to music with a deep love for the design of instruments, their unique timbres, and for all the immersive ways their sounds could be interwoven into beautiful orchestrated compositions. I even began to develop a musical composition methodology, Spatial Symphonics, as I found my architectural design work becoming more and more emotive, soul-stirring, and yes: musical.


In recent years, I finally turned my focus to music composition. I hold a Graduate Diploma from the Film Scoring Academy of Europe where my works have been recorded by the acclaimed European Recording Orchestra (ERO), and I am founder of MLL ATELIER® — an award-winning studio now dedicated to my work as an orchestral composer, recording artist, and spatial symphonist — where I advance architectural design through music, and innovate music through an architectural design lens.


It is my hope that I can share my ongoing musical-design journey with you, directly from my studio through my video-newsletter entitled 'Orchestral Notes'. Expect video updates filled with first-access studio news announcing: album/book releases, concert premiers, sheet music publications, creative process sneak-peeks, and my own compositional philosophies as they develop to fuel my ongoing body of musical and architectural authorial works.


I would love for you to join me for this exciting adventure.


Simply click the button below to join my Orchestral Notes video-newsletter delivered every two weeks directly to your email inbox. Plus, get access to the full publication archives.

JOIN ORCHESTRAL NOTES

Limited availability each month.


Warmly,

Maria Lorena Lehman


Founder of MLL ATELIER

Author of PANTHEON OF WONDER

Maria Lorena Lehman has received the following awards and has been seen in the following publications: