My research question to help me study the economic principle is how do architects take into consideration societal/cultural trends while designing buildings?
The main principle I will be focusing on today is that we should design buildings consciously and carefully. In a regular church only a few hundred people will see the inside of it but, thousands more will see the outside. I think that we need to design buildings in order to send a message about what function that building serves while also being mindful of the surrounding culture. I will be using the article to support this claim.
The article says that, "a temple or church... symbolises a religion; a smoke stack representing industry and production". These seem pretty basic but, they are the core of what exterior design aims to accomplish. A more complex example is something like the new apple headquarters in New York. If you've seen it, it looks kind of like a spaceship: a giant ring plated with solar panels and glass. The message this structure is trying to send is a unique one. The Apple headquarters is trying to say that it's different. It is meant to be more of a community than a building.
Moving on, the article says, "Architecture simultaneously reflects and influences culture". What this means is that the style and type of structures a society builds are indicative of the culture of a society. Winston Churchill explains this idea pretty well, "We shape our buildings, thereafter they shape us". This is why we should be careful about what we design because it will reflect our current culture and influence future generations.
In my next blog post I will be going over the costs and environmental impacts of an actual architectural project.
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