We Shape Our Buildings and Afterwards, Our Buildings Shape Us

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optical illusion africa african

What did you see? What is above the woman’s head? What element is the backdrop? Researchers showed an identical image to people from East Africa, almost all of those took part in the experiment said the lady was balancing a box on her head, in an African culture where there are few angular visual cues, the group of people is seen sitting under a big tree. On the other hand, Westerners are used to corners and rectangular architecture, thus they are more likely to visualize the group of people in an indoor space and to interpret the rectangular shape above the lady’s head as a window opening.

The studies showed the influence of different culture and environment can have an effect on our visual perception, this theory was first explored by Robert Laws, a Scottish missionary working in Malawi, Africa, during the late 1800′s.

Winston Churchill’s epic statement, “We shape our buildings and afterwards, our buildings shape us,” is a fantastic observation of the architectural phenomenon, illuminating the fact that physical architecture is a static artifact and continues to transform us long after construction.

morumbi sao paulo condo rich city shelter poor

Couple with Churchill’s famous quotes and the illusion above, does a person who comes from a third world has the same creativity in architecture compare to someone whom was brought up in a historically rich city such as Paris?

terrace house property malaysia doric column

This reminds me of a conversation I had with my friend (not an architecture student) last year, we were arguing about the use of Roman / Doric columns in most of the houses in Malaysia, a typical Malaysian trend where these columns are an essential element in every houses, an eye sore. Not only the use of these mini Doric columns are ugly, he was defending the overall design as well, saying it is beautiful.

It is hard to convince them that these houses are tasty for the tasteless.

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Author: . This entry is filed under Architecture Debates and was updated on May 19, 2012.

 




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Citations And Footnotes:


  • ^ Architecture - Architecture (Latin architectura, from the Greek ἀρχιτέκτων – arkhitekton, from ἀρχι- "chief" and τέκτων "builder, carpenter, mason") is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural symbols and as works of art. Historical civilizations are often identified with their surviving architectural achievements.
  • ^ Architect - An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings, that have as their principal purpose human occupancy or use.
  • ^ Pritzker Architecture Prize - The Pritzker Architecture Prize is awarded annually by the Hyatt Foundation to honour "a living architect whose built work demonstrates a combination of those qualities of talent, vision and commitment, which has produced consistent and significant contributions to humanity and the built environment through the art of architecture".
  • ^ - Le Corbusier, Towards a New Architecture, Dover Publications(1985). ISBN 0-486-25023-7
  • ^ - Rondanini, Nunzia Architecture and Social Change Heresies II, Vol. 3, No.

Comments:


  1. cthulhu
    1

    Roman / Doric columns ARE an eye sore. Especially when they coupled with wooden houses. It’s like living in an architectural birth defect.

  2. Jonathan Gross
    2

    To you they may be anachronistic architectural elements, but to someone from Malaysia, they could be stand-ins for trees–very important in creating a sense of safety.

  3. Shi Ying
    3

    Not to forget, to the ‘tasteless’ the diameter of each of the columns are equivalent to their belly size, thus, reflecting how rich they are. That’s why my friend admitted her dad needs 6 roman columns in their driveway.

  4. wakaka
    4

    roman column is not a part of malaysian culture. So there’s no reason why we should be proud to have it in malaysian houses.

  5. Abigail
    5

    amazing…we have the same problem here in the Philippines…I thought the colonial mentality that western architecture is much preferred than our very own tried-and-tested, sustainable tropical architecture is only a problem found in my country…I see that there is also this type of problem in other places as well…I am an architecture student in the Philippines struggling against this mentality…

  6. Tommy S.S.Eisenring
    6

    I am a doctoral candidate in sociology at UNM Makassar, Indoensia. The thesis/ dissertation I am writing is about “social construction by architecture”, which is a part of study of architectural sociology. This article remind me of what Chirchili had ever said 64 last years, in case of debate among parliamentarian about whether they need to build a new building or renovate the parliament building what demand by war: ” We shape the building, but finally the building is shaping us”. Interesting article, cladding

  7. Gabriel
    7

    This foto from the slum near a luxury building was taken in my city, Sao Paulo, Brasil. It’s really a classic foto, very often used when talking about social… inequality?! sorry, not very good english…

  8. sara khaled
    8

    you can’t say every country in the 3ed world beause i think egypt have alot of historically rich city such as giza,louxer,alexandria

  9. Chloe
    9

    This is really quite an interesting post, but talking about ‘social inequality’ of that photo from Brazil, I feel really astonished that someone would put a luxury hotel with pools on each level/balcony next to a slum. And the thing that’s really on my mind, is how come they haven’t given anything to the slum. Yet, for all i know, i could be completely wrong.

  10. jeneish justus
    10

    who is the architect of the building in sao paulo?who is the architect?

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