Welcome to Rchitecture
Design Collaborative would like to announce the commencement of our new blog! Our intent is to provide the firm a platform to communicate with the architectural community. It will be hosted by the firm’s owner/architect Rick Hampton. With twenty years experience in the industry, Rick will share his insights, projects and honesty about the world of architecture and the people who inhabit it.
ar·chi·tec·ture (är-ki-tek-chur)
noun
1. The art and science of designing and erecting buildings.
Well there it is, a simple definition that has defined most of my adult life. Nine words that try to capture what I try to do on a daily basis. If only it were that easy.
By its very nature architecture has its foundations firmly planted in two different worlds. The world of art and of science. The world of art is certainly the more complex of the two. To loosely paraphrase Justice Potter Stewart from 1964, “I cannot attempt to define art, but I know it when I see it!” Indeed. There is certainly no universal view as to what art is or is not. However I think few would disagree that Gaudis’ Sagrada Familia in Barcelona or Frank Gehrys’ Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao meet that standard.
Science on the other hand, deals with the art (pun fully intended) of building or erecting. Some structures today are built using techniques developed 2,000 years ago. The concept of the post and beam can be found in Egyptian architecture or in the house next door. In the spirit of the 21st century, new materials, forms and techniques are starting to inform the science of building. Invisible paving systems or SIP (structurally integrated panel) panels are excellent examples of new materials or construction techniques.
Combing the two words art and science is what makes architecture so unique. It brings together the ethical, moral and functional in one entity. Unfortunately, the reverse is also true. Building without thought is empty and soulless. I wonder what the percentage of simply “bad” buildings is? I fear it is much too high.
I’ll end this first post with this challenge. Seek out two examples: the best and the worst. Send them in and the next post will be a discussion of your findings. I intend this blog to be roundtable, a combination of architects, designers, contractors and owners, basically everyone. We all inhabit this fragile island home we call earth, let’s make it glorious.
Rick Hampton
Architect