Design Reflection

I personally do not believe in possessing a specific design style. If you only design a certain way, that way may not be entirely appropriate in every location. I believe in adapting the design to the site to make it site specific. This being said, my design process begins with studying the surrounding area very carefully and as in depth as I possibly can. Knowing the people you are designing for is the most important research to study since the structure is going to be for them and used by them in the end. After carefully studying the surrounding area as well as the clients of the structure, I will then look at material choices for my structure. This used to be where it was most difficult to make a decision but since the previous studio project, I’ve been able to choose materials easier and with a much better judgment. The project I am referring to intended to make you think about how you see beauty in architecture or what you look for most or find most important in architecture. This exercise narrowed down some very important aspects when it came to thinking about design, for me. After a couple months of research, I came to the conclusion that I see beauty in architecture through structure, reuse of materials, minimalism, simplicity, functionality, and thinking outside the box as far as how you can use materials in a non-conventional way. To explain further, starting with structure, I took a great interest in Santiago Calatrava and his work. In all of his designs, Calatrava bridges the gap between engineering and architecture. Most architects tend to hide the structure or don’t want to even think about how it can stand up. Calatrava, however, uses structure as architectural elements which create a lightness and refreshing feel to his work. I admire this tend to think more about how I can use bare structural components as architectural elements. Next, I think about using recycled materials. Before this can be done, however, more study of the location must be done in order to know what kind of materials that specific location tends to throw away more of that could be used as something useful. This brings me to another point about architecture. I don’t believe that an architect’s purpose is just to design buildings and structures. I believe architects should be problem solvers figuring out different ways to use or build things that wasn’t thought of before or wouldn’t necessarily be in the most traditional way. I believe thinking outside the box or asking yourself “why not?” is an architect’s most powerful weapon. Designs that are minimalistic and simple, to me, go hand and hand. When learning about the era of ornamentation, I get a claustrophobic feeling. Other than to “look cool or interesting”, I honestly see no point in having so much “clutter” in a design. Though I respect and appreciate classic gothic architecture, I would personally not choose this path when designing. This lastly leads into designing with functionality. Everything I design has to serve a purpose. I believe that’s why I admire architecture from architects like Calatrava so much because even the structure serves a dual purpose, and why I dislike ornamentation so much because it only has the one purpose of looking pretty when not even everyone can appreciate it.