Architecture is a way to deliver a habitat space with

Samuel Lara-Palacios

December 12th, 2016

ARCH 3230

Manifesto

Architecture is a way to deliver a habitat space with aesthetic and functional style, but we cannot put aside the impressive kind of today’s architecture whose functionality is highly criticized for its enormous costs or risky techniques that do not support the ideals a sustainable design or comfort.  

Overall, I classify good or bad architecture by examining the level of achievement of two concepts: aesthetics, and functionality. The good architect’s priorities include acknowledging and sensing the contour and environment selected, thus a good architectural design serves the overall design of a structure determining the size, location, and shape of the volumes of its interior spaces. So, the architect requires both, art and science; art because the architect seeks beauty in the expression of his work through form, color, light, etc. and science because this form must have the necessary conditions and stability to be able to materialize it.

A balance must be attained in the good architect’s design. Though we have a highly attractive design but does not provide the most suitable solution to a given problem, such design becomes a mere sculptural art, not a habitat. The how-to-transform-art-into-functional-space is the task of the architect. Also, a responsible architect must be aware of all sustainable resources that favor ecological practices as a way to show that architecture is not only an inside space design but a complement to our way of living that proclaims architecture as a respectful practice that turns the public environment into more private and comfortable spaces.

Therefore, architecture construct spaces that satisfy the functions of the human being and at the same time are the expression of the feeling of the people who inhabit them and sense their expression from the exterior, the expression of our way of being, of our way of seeing life, of our fantasy; dignifying and improving quality of life. In this way, architecture is able to provide a positive response answering to the principles of equity. A house must be a right for every family, a secure place they can own, a place where a family can have peace of mind and have no worries about where they will live if they cannot pay a rent, especially, when dealing with economic issues, at least at those moments shelter will not be a problem and strongly believe that in this field we can work to improve the housing conditions every human being deserves and make it affordable, and worthy, despite social status.

Something I consider wrong about contemporary architecture is its contribution to gentrification, Does not everybody deserve to have a life in a competitive city full of opportunities? Or is it a right only for the rich?  I cannot accept that when a city improves living low-income families have to move out, because of neighborhoods transforming from low-value to high-value because of better work or business opportunities increasing and promising a long-term of prosperity.

People live in different habitat according to cultural behaviors, their time, their place, and before that, the architect must adapt to each time and place, contributing with their creativity to the use of spaces and suggesting ways to work and aesthetic expression, meaning that the architect acts as a psychologist who interprets the needs of a group or an individual person perceiving their operating requirements and how they express themselves and then carry out the work.

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