Essay

Your architectural design reverberates.

Yes, architecture maintains walls made up of materials and even wayfinding systems that convey important information; but, the beauty and function that radiates from an incredible architectural work into the soul of those that experience it is often the culmination of seemingly invisible effects exuded by that designed “place”.

Pay much attention to the “invisible” and “intangible” effects which your designs radiate, as these things can make or break your building. You might be completely up to code, meet all programmatic requirements and even have reached a certain level of aesthetic beauty with your building design — but do you know what cumulative effects your building design will have upon its occupants over time?

Try to capture those qualities about architecture that radiate into the lives of its occupants — whether they spend every day going into your building for years or they only spend minutes there once in there lives. On the drawing board the “invisible” may be a bit hard to “see”, but hone this skill because occupants will notice if you don’t.

I challenge you to go beyond designing for a building that will only be “used”. Design for one that will be “experienced” to its fullest — no matter how large or small the project.

For now, I will leave you with this passage from the book aptly entitled Experiencing Architecture (my affiliate link):

“… [M]ost people would say that as architecture does not produce sound, it cannot be heard. But neither does it radiate light and yet can be seen. We see the light it reflects and thereby gain an impression of the form and material. In the same way we hear the sounds it reflects and they, too, give us an impression of form and material. Differently shaped rooms and different materials reverberate differently.”

— page 224, Experiencing Architecture by Steen Eiler Rasmussen

Image Credit: © batintherain | Flickr