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13 Things About Architecture You May Not Have Known

Architecture has always been a mysterious profession, but due to lack of

awareness in the profession many things about Architecture has been unknown to
the public. To start with a few facts which are surprising to know are as follows:

1. 9/11 World Trade Centre Attack leader was an Architect

New York City thought it was the end on 9/11, after the attack but after 20 long
years of World Trade Centre, New York thrives for every individual lost.
Mohammed Atta, pilot, who crashed the first plane into the North Tower, had a
degree in architecture and urban planning. He blamed the construction of high-
rises in Cairo and other ancient Middle Eastern cities a shameless embrace of the
West that would destroy their character, thus questioning the future of vertical
architecture.

2. Architecture was Once an Olympic Sport

The first four decades of the modern Olympic Games, around 151 medals were
awarded to the creative arts of music, painting, sculpture, literature, and
architecture. The only criteria caveat: every submission had to be sports-related.
De Coubertin wrote at the time, “In the high times of Olympia, the fine arts were
combined harmoniously with the Olympic Games to create their glory. This is to
become reality once again.”
The first architecture competition, held in 1912 at the Stockholm Games had all
entries in specific categories of the artistries, they were required to draw links
between art and sport. The architecture competition allowed both built work and
speculative designs to evaluate along with designs for the urban and town
planning aspects.

3. LEGO used to make special bricks for architects

Usually, kids who play with Lego’s are speculated to become engineers and
architects of the future, but this company lead to a revolutionary idea of making a
brick out of plastic just like in the game for real architectural practise. The name
for this Lego architecture block was Modulex. In the times of 1963, the company
began selling a slightly different version of its eponymous modular plastic bricks
called Modulex, which were intended to enable ambitious Lego fans to construct
structures that closely resembled human architecture, by allowing for greater
detail and a more precise scale.
Modulex was somehow an interesting attempt but it failed due to its structural
durability.

4. “The Sims” was originally designed as an architecture simulator

Yes, you heard it right! The sims video program was initially designed as an
architectural stimulator with the Sims there only to evaluate the houses.
However, during development it was decided that the Sims were more interesting
than originally anticipated and so the game was built around them, thus leading
to development towards the game aspect.

5. Frank Lloyd wright’s son invented Lincoln logs

John Lloyd Wright, the son of the famous architect ‘Frank Llyod Wright’ observed
interlocking timber beams used to make the structure “earthquake-proof” a design
which was later tested by 1923’s Great Kanto Earthquake. It left most of the city
destroyed but the Imperial Hotel standing due its structural design. So, the
younger Wright acted along with inspiration to invent the similar interlocking
Lincoln Logs, which quickly proved its use to a vast market.

6. It took longer to finish construction on The Great Wall of China than the
start of Christianity to today!
Great Wall of China, extensive bulwark erected in ancient China is one of the
largest building-construction projects ever undertaken, which consists of
numerous walls many of them parallel to each other built over two millennium
across northern China and southern Mongolia. The most extensive and best-
preserved version of the wall dates from the Ming dynasty (1368–1644) which
often traces the crestlines of hills and mountains as it snakes across the Chinese
countryside, about one-fourth of its length consists of natural barriers such as
rivers and mountain ridges. Although lengthy sections of the wall are now in ruins
or have disappeared completely, it is still one of the more remarkable structures
on Earth. The Great Wall was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1987.

7. Le Corbusier and his cousin Pierre Jeanneret designed a car, which inspired
the now famous Volkswagen Beetle.
In 1936, Le Corbusier and His cousin set to design an automobile and called it
Voiture Minimum. They designed it with the concept of a minimalist vehicle for
maximum functionality. Thus, serving to its true purpose of modernism and
minimalism together. The car was never, actually, manufactured, but the
architect was persistent that it inspired the Volkswagen Beetle. Thus, his dream
became true and the car can be credited for being visioned by Pierre Brothers.

8. The City of Cincinnati, Ohio Has an Abandoned Subway System Which Was
Never Used
The people of Cincinnati voted to fund the construction of a subway in 1916 which
would revolutionize the city’s public transportation network to something new and
efficient. Few years later, all that remains is a two mile stretch of abandoned
tunnels running below the declining city. Then state of Ohio deemed the tunnel a
“confined space,” thus making it unsuitable for public purposes, and the only
entrance is through a hatch in the median of a busy street. The only utilitarian
purpose the tunnel serves today is housing water mains and some fibre-optic
cables which now defies the purpose far from what early 20th-century planners
had hoped for the subway.

9. A French Postman Spent 33 Years Building the "Ideal Palace" With Stones
He Collected During His Daily Round
Ferdinand Cheval (19 April 1836 – 19 August 1924) was a postman who spent
thirty-three years of his life building Le Palais idéal (the "Ideal Palace") in
Hauterives, which is regarded as an extraordinary example of naïve art
architecture. He spent the first twenty years building the outer walls. At first, he
carried the stones in his pockets, then he switched to a basket ending to a
wheelbarrow. The palace materials mainly consist of stones (river washed),
pebbles, porous tufa and fossils of many different shapes and sizes. The decoration
resembles aspects of both the Brighton Pavilion and Gaudí's Sagrada Família.

10. Girih Tiles, Used by Islamic Architects for Hundreds of Years, Are
Mathematically Similar to Penrose Tiling, Discovered in the 1970s
Medieval Islamic designers used elaborate geometrical tile patterns, 500 years
before Western mathematicians developed the concept. The geometric design,
called “girih”, was widely used for aesthetic purposes of decorating Islamic
architecture but the advanced mathematical calculations within the patterns were
not recognised, until now. Physicist Peter Lu at Harvard University, US, realised
the 15th-century tiles formed so called Penrose geometric patterns, when he
spotted them on a visit to Uzbekistan.
Scholars had thought the girih were created by drawing a zigzag network of lines
with a straight edge and compass. But when Lu looked at them, he recognised the
regular but non-repetitive patterns of Penrose tiling a concept developed in the
Western people in the 1970s.
Simple periodic patterns can be generated easily by repeating a unit cell of several
elements, a technique widely used in tile patterns, but the rotational symmetry
possible is limited. In the 1970s, Roger Penrose at the University of Oxford in the
UK showed, for the first time, that “thick” and “thin” rhombus-shaped tiles could
cover a plane, creating a non-repetitive pattern with five-fold rotational symmetry.

11. The Aurora Ice Hotel in Alaska was made entirely of ice. Ice walls, ceiling,
beds, bar, even martini glasses were made of ice. It was closed by the fire marshall
for not having smoke detectors
The Aurora Ice Hotel was made entirely of ice and had a short-lived existence, but
the Aurora Ice Museum that replaced it. The museum uses geothermal technology
to keep it at 25 degrees Fahrenheit (7 degrees Celsius) all year, despite summers
which can reach more than 90 degrees, thus making it liveable all around the year.
It took more than 1,000 tons of ice and snow to create the museum, which
resembled a church. The designed ice crystal chandeliers that change colours to
depict the Aurora Borealis, also known as the Northern Lights. Features of the
museum include a two-story observation tower, kids' fort, jousters on horseback,
a giant chess set, a Christmas tree bedroom, a polar bear bedroom, an ice outhouse,
and a wedding venue.

12. Celebrated architect Zaha Hadid was known for never designing a building
containing a right angle.
While Hadid had a successful practice for decades, it took the architect years to
turn her drawings into physical forms with many disregarding her designs as pure
fantasy driven architecture. With perseverance though, she soon became known
by many as the “queen of the curve”, never compromising on her ideas. Though
Hadid didn’t subscribe to one school of thought when it came to her designs, many
have attributed her style of architecture to movements including
Deconstructivism, Parametrises and Abstraction. It's clear the architect had a
tendency to play with the geometry of buildings, having once said about her
projects: “The idea is not to have any 90-degree angles”.

13. The Cooper Union Foundation Building in NYC Included an Elevator

Shaft, Even Though Modern Elevators Hadn't Been Invented Yet
The Cooper Union's Foundation Building in Lower Manhattan was completed in
1859. This large six-story brownstone building of Anglo-Italianate style featuring
heavy, ornate, round-arched windows was the first building in the world that was
designed to accommodate an elevator—four years before such an invention became
available for passenger use. At that time, New York was growing vertically and
Peter Cooper, the founder of Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science—one
of America’s leading private college today—believed that soon people would need
elevators to reach the higher floors. Indeed, the development of skyscrapers would
not have been possible without elevators. Many architects and engineers of the
time must have felt the same, but Peter Cooper—an inventor himself—was one of
the first to act.
Cooper instructed his architect, Fred A. Petersen, to build a hollow shaft running
the entire height of the building, accessible by doors on each level. The design
might have appeared unsafe to many, but Cooper was confident that sooner or
later someone would make a functioning elevator.
Cooper definitely had foresight, but he was not prophetic. Elevators have been
around for a long long time, used to hoist goods and cargoes onto ships and up tall
buildings. They were just not safe enough for hauling passengers yet. Winches
failed regularly and cables snapped sending the load crashing to the ground. What
was needed was a safety mechanism that would arrest the fall of the elevator if
the cable was to break. Such a demonstration was made by Elisha Otis in 1854—
a year after the Cooper Union's Foundation Building broke ground—at the
Exhibition of Industry of All Nations in New York.

Will architects be automated?

The question that arises with the boom in technology suggests, rumours of
architects being replaced by computers or robots. Which if we think deeply sounds
threatening, especially to the architects who spend 5 to 7 years of their life
studying its basic parameters to make a design liveable to its resident. Some argue
that automation would result in losing the aesthetic part of the architecture, which
is the first step we learn in our basic design studios.
When it comes to adopting new technology and process, architecture, engineering,
and construction have been lagged behind as compared to the other industries
such as manufacturing. But recent innovations which include the development of
artificial intelligence have considerably helped to change us as a community with
rapid innovation. It brings powerful benefits, enabling us to build more efficiently
by reducing waste and lowering costs. It enables to improve safety by considerably
reducing risk through planning and by shifting the most dangerous tasks to
machines by enabling us to build by reducing the negative environmental impacts
of construction.
But as our technology advances, with the help of machine learning, by entering
the right parameters, the machines would be able to generate the desired
outcomes. We, humans, are living in a tech-world, where things like clocks,
calculators, cars, etc. are done with the ease of pressing a button. So why not
design buildings with computers? The answer to this is not predictable, but we
have started our footsteps, slowly in this direction. The advent of the software’s
like BIM i.e. Building Information Modelling, 3D printing, Mixed Reality,
parametric architecture, animation, and other emerging technologies leading to
the digitization of the whole construction ecosystem.
According to surveys and researches conducted recently, 50% of the work done by
labourers will be replaced by robots by 2040, suggesting a loss of more than 7
million jobs in the world, with advancements in Artificial intelligence, Nano-
technology, Robotics, and other new ways to do work efficiently and with 0% error.
So, will architects be automated? Will we be replaced by robots? How much will
virtual reality affect real-time reality?
As documented, many service-based industries found workers overridden by
algorithms. Accountants are replaced by personal finance software, taxi drivers
with self-driving cars and travel agents by websites. Automation indirectly started
for ease of Architects and Engineers to execute projects at a larger scale on a
relatively smaller screen, with determined scales inbuilt in the software program.
In the 80s, CAD software, thus replaced initial drafting tools and papers with a
digital board for drafting but with the main tool of creativity to the individual
himself. So it was helpful for architects to document, create and edit large as well
as small scale drawings with efficiency. But then the design industry faced
technology advancement through the introduction of BIM, which was a single
production tool, synchronized with live preview modes of the build model. This
allowed collecting, collate and organize information from built fabric, to
understand the different perspectives through which the public would react, with
the help of layering. Thus, automating the design process in BIM would manually
require hours of layering each aspect of human ease and climatological response!
Automation and technology advancement is the way a country progresses, but
according to researchers; Creativity is not a function but a skill, which cannot be
ever acquired by computers. The human brain is complex and interesting, as it
creates various permutations and combinations on the basis of the personal
experience of each individual. Thus, making all humans unique and creative.
Computers however can be used particularly for all the technical work which
requires a lot of time, if done manually.
A recent study by UCL analysed that sculptors, architects, and painter " relate to
a different spatial conceptualization which manifests itself in a systematically
contrasts in the way of speaking about space." This expression of spatial
perception is what distinguishes us as architects from the rest of society by sharing
ideas to those who are not specialized in the field of design. Automation and
artificial intelligence discipline allow undergoing profound transformations in its
exercise: computers and software eliminate tedious repetitive activities,
optimizing the production of technical material and allowing, among other things,
atomize the size of architectural offices. Each time less people are needed to
develop larger and more complex projects.
So to conclude, many industries could be automated but the design industry would
never be fully automated, as the basic parameter for any design product or
building is the way it is designed. Thus, making a designer or architect immortal
and non-digitizable. Human experience, interaction, low percentage of repetitive
activities, and thought process cannot be automated and hence, there would
always be a void between the original idea and the manual manifestation of the
idea.

The Next Big Thing in Architecture

We as enthusiasts of the 21st Century, always look forward to upcoming trends

and ways to stay updated, in order to sustain in a world filled with technology
enthusiasts. So, talking about Architecture, what will be the next big thing in the
future of Architecture? We certainly wouldn’t be talking about colonizing other
planets or space stations but definitely some exciting opportunities in the field of
Architecture. Some research from the ongoing advancements and systematic
approaches of the future of built environments results in some of these options for
the next big thing in Architecture!
As we all know, Change is the only Constant! Similarly, in the field of
Architecture, every enthusiast needs to adapt to these changes. We changed from
traditional building materials like stones to bricks, and now we have compost
being transformed into building blocks leading to a future that is not only
sustainable but also the one causing fewer leftovers. We have used plastic,
glassware, and metal products along with smart inclusion of solar captivity in the
window system, leading to the advancement of a future, where no built mass will
be dependent on external resources.
Architects as professionals will not be the only ones designing built spaces.
Collaborative professionals from allied fields like, environmental science,
structural engineering, sociology, anthropology, and psychology would be an
important part of the design studios leading to a team of people working on
building a community and not just mere architectural structure. This will lead to
a diverse team of young individuals with different perspectives to brainstorm on
one project as a necessity, to meet the complexities of a structure. Thus, will affect
the people who are currently working in the construction industry.
When talking about the next big thing, we cannot forget VR i.e., Virtual Reality
and Immersive Architecture. Imagine a client would be able to walk through his
desired structure before it is being built! As many people fail to understand 2d
designs. They will exactly know how and where things have been designed for
maximum user performance and freedom of use on a 1:1 scale, along with
stimulating weather and light effects. They could walk through, touch and
experience everything visualized by the architect in real-time. Thus, leading to
clarity of thought and intentions of the designer. The field of VR is constantly
anticipating, and so the growth in this field in the next few years in the
architecture, engineering, and construction industry should definitely be taken
into consideration as it increases practicality. Immersive Virtual Reality uses a
few combinations of objects like computer graphics, HD Projectors, Polarized
glasses, Wireless technology, and many more such things to combine and make a
futuristic experience for all its users, which is yet to be built.
Another aspect of immersive architecture is 3d printing and robots. This allows
the freedom of thought to design by developing everything ranging from buildings
to cities with detail and precision. This aspect allows economical, sustainable, and
affordable structures designed and executed in a comparatively lesser amount of
time, providing ease of use especially to people who have been disturbed from
natural ailments. Robots and humans together will be able to create wonders with
attention to detail and mass production in less time.
Although BIM (Building Information Model) is an old concept and technology it is
constantly developing in a momentum that the architectural community thrives
for. This will be the main tool for design in architecture in the coming years as it
has the potential to do all the jobs of a designer in one software leading to
dominance over the other specialized software.
Due to lack of land space, as a mere result of high population, the future would
look more vertical than horizontal, thus leading to the development of cities
vertically. We need to think more in the direction of creatively using spaces to the
minimum required, thus making space for not only residential but commercial
spaces with public services to make a structure universally accessible to all types
of communities. This will lead to a systematically approach from the ones involved
in the design process. Humanity craves natural ways to live their lives but with
little resources left, the only option left is to take care of the existing and use them
in a way that new resources can be allowed to grow over time.
Parametric Design is one of the new ways to deal with architecture by handling
the parameters and leaving the design to the computers to generate a built mass.
It involves geometric programming language at its base through various software
and extensions to handle the program. It leads to exceptional designs with
accuracy and defined parameters. Thus, solving problems at the same time.
Human visualization along with computer graphics will lead to the design of
parametric architecture, and a relationship of artists to programming will be
established.
These were the few things which could become the next big thing in architecture.
Please comment down below if you find some interesting or if we missed something
that you think would become the next big thing in Architecture.

Architecture: Expectations vs. Reality

What do we visualize when we hear the word ‘Architecture’?

With its literal translation meaning ‘Chief-Creator’. Architecture in loose terms
means a solid structure which has undergone meticulous design processes, which
includes variety of parameters that needs to be considered in order to make it in
reality. But when asked to random people, people with less understanding of our
profession would point us out.
‘You are Architecture!’, with an astonishing sound. Besides the jokes, which are
actual realities in some cases, what do as students of Architecture or Architects
and Designers expect from our profession?
There is a simple way of listing our expectations which in turn is a sad reality that
everyone in this profession has to face with no mercy.

We are always being compared with engineers or artists. When in reality we are
the combination of the both. Art is an inherent part of Architecture along with the
understanding of building sciences. Also as quoted “Architecture is the mother of
all Arts”
In Toilets or Bathrooms, which in a very rare case, architects would never see,
unless they are stinking though, as that’s the place where they should be singing
or cleansing their body. But, in reality, that’s where most of the architects discover
the indigenous concepts and crack the difficult problems of major issues existing,
which they somehow forget until they get to the drafting table.
Everyone waits and expects a study tour to be a fun event. Unlike in architecture,
where the study tour is in its actual sense a STUDY TOUR. It involves study on
all levels of the tour. Right from the day the tour is announced to the end of the
whole semester, the only thing students in architecture do is take notes, draft,
sketch, analyse, criticize or map the activities of place they visited.
Students expect that inculcating latest software’s will be a saviour in terms of
workload, as it will help in redrafting or copy pasting but in reality, the work never
ends. When digital media enters, other problems start.
Students are expected to draft carefully with precision and all the essentials that
are needed to understand the project. But, In reality after long weeks of insults
and hard work, the only thing getting noticed is the missing North symbol and
Scale of the design along with smudge marks all over your sheets.
In architectural conferences, meetings and lectures, architects should ideally be
understanding, analysing, criticising and appreciating the works of other
architects from varied cultures and backgrounds. But reality sets, waiting for
foods and drinks, or getting a nap in the dim lit environment, where you get up in
between where sponsors advertise with loud music.
We expect our fees or our annual income to be in five or six figures, because we are
the people who shape the cities and towns. But after spending 5 to 7 years of time
and lakhs of money on our education what we receive is not even 10% of what is
desired along with a tag of being a fresher.
We expect our clients’ requirements and the design process to go smoothly without
any arguments. But it results into heated debates sometimes, when the client is
not ready to understand the basic laws of planning. As all clients want to utilise
the maximum area on their land irrespective of any rules and legislation, or
philosophy, or a certainly thought form development, leading to a plan which is
similar to a matchbox.
We expect our clients to make a decision and hence let the process foster. But the
clients will involve relatives from the far East, West, North and South, who are
not even going to visit their project, leading to a time lag in executing the project.
In the fraternity of architecture, we expect our verdict to be the final, as we have
spent an enormous amount of study and research for five long years to learn things
in Architecture but instead, we get questioned for our creativity. Everyone thinks
they can design like us. Especially, the better halves of the clients are thought to
be somehow much more creative than Architects and Designers.
We expect and design a space in a way that it should react to its surroundings and
for the users of that environment which in reality is observed to be much different
than what was visualized. People get accustomed to the space in a way which is
more accessible to them.
Coffee, energy drinks or dark chocolates is expected to make architects stay awake
and energize them but in reality, nothing can energize architects, except the
approval from the mentor or client who has been criticizing you the whole time in
architecture for your mere existence.
People expect architects and engineers to best friends, but in reality, they never
agree to each other’s design and hence have a cold war going on within but act
normal outside.
Relatives expect us not only to design everything free (which is mandatory) but
also give a discount on the materials that is going to be needed on the site which
has nothing to do with Architects.
When people with rich traditions in architecture expect architects to design
buildings with glass facades thus imitating other cultures without the socio-
political background, resulting into a similar type of design they saw on internet
the other day. But in reality, we as brand ambassadors of our profession try to
make them understand which eventually results in loss of the client or sometimes
heated debates.
We expect a lifestyle where we are the sole owner of every architectural task that
is to be done. But in reality, it’s the engineer’s, the contractor’s and the client’s
phone call which decides what work needs to be given when. So, there is no such
concept of weekends, because the work never ends!

To conclude this long list of expectations which is never going to end. I would love
to hear your expectations as a user or a student or as a practising architect. Please
comment down below your expectations from architecture and how reality sets in
that scenario?

A few articles ghost-written for the following companies’ websites:

Bonito Designs
Luna Park
Adani Enterprises
Snaptrude
Dormakaba (International Client)