How does Architecture affect communities?

The Barn, Sacramento, California

Architecture affects a neighborhood in many ways, including community identity, belonging, accessibility and economic development. Neighborhood design involves recognizing how physical, social, and economic conditions inform these boundaries. Urban designers and architects use geographic data, demographics, and economic statistics as well as direct community input to better understand how to respond to the needs of communities. Located in Sacramento, California, The Barn features a curvilinear design that emerges out of the pavement. The public plaza hosts gatherings, while inside you can shop, wine and dine, or wander. The Barn’s warm organic atmosphere turns this public space into a community place that is both beautiful and functional.

La Borda, Barcelona, Spain

La Borda is a building designed by the community, for the community. A co-operative housing project in Barcelona, Spain, La Borda features a lengthy community engagement process as part of the project’s development. Each resident served as a working group member, contributing to elements of the building’s design, function and management. Active participation from building residents was crucial to La Borda’s co-design process, aimed at maximizing human connection. The process aligns with La Borda’s values: “active participation, collective ownership, affordability, and sustainability.”

What is the Building built for?

Not all buildings have the same shape and size. Is it a residential, office, cultural (museum, library), or multi-functional building? Is it a government building? Does the design match the purpose? How will the building be used? Does it seem useful? A year after Chiang Kai Shek announced a national sporting event in the 1930, the prolific architectural practice of Kwan, Chu and Yang were commissioned to design a lavish sports stadium for 60,000 spectators and additional facilities for swimming, baseball, basketball, football, horseracing, and martial arts. 

National Sports Centre, Nanjing, China

Design

Design matters because it tells a story and helps innovation in the most stylish of ways. A building not only shelters us from natural elements, but  represents our cultures and reflects on the environment in which it is placed. Buildings and surrounding areas not only express the people that utilize it, they represent what is valued by the community and stand as a representation to the rest of the world for what someone wants to leave behind. They tell of the current state of an area and its potential future: an old town drowned in history and culture, a modern metropolis pushing itself to the edge of what is possible, or a mixture of both creating a dynamic dance between the new and old. 

Casa Batllo, Barcelona, Spain

Casa Batllo was originally build in 1877 by Spanish architect Antoni Gaudi. Still, it’s clear to see why it’s considered one of Gaudí’s modernist masterpieces: With a winding roof inspired by a dragon’s body, glimmering mosaics, and stained glass windows, Casa Batllo is nothing short of fantastical. No longer a residential building, Casa Batllo is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a Barcelona must-see.

Interior of Casa Batllo, Barcelona, Spain

Situated in the heart of Baku, Azerbaijan, Heydar Aliyev Centre is a cultural center which was built to symbolize modernization and development in the country after it gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. The shell-like building cultural venue is set on a public plaza on Heydar Aliyev Boulevard, a main throughway in Baku that connects the international airport to the old city. The undulating building features exhibition spaces, a library, a museum, and concert venues where a rotating program of art exhibitions, performances, conferences, and workshops showcase Azeri history and contemporary culture, both local and international. This masterpiece was designed by Zaha Hadid.

Heydar Aliyev Centre, Baku, Azerbaijan

What materials are they using?

Glass, concrete, stone, brick? Is it clear how the choice in materials was influenced by the building’s purpose? How about the facade? Does it seem appropriate for the building’s purpose? China Merchants Steam Navigation Company is an example of how architects have used the right materials for the building’s purpose. This building is inspired as much by traditional Chinese building as it is by Modernism. Unlike other ‘Chinese Renaissance’ Chinese roofs, Yang Tingbao’s design only draws upon Chinese forms in abstraction. Concrete columns form a regular frame that defines the bays by protruding from the semi-solid, semi-transparent, screen walls. The continuous balconies create deep eaves around the building. 

China Merchants Steam Navigation Company

What is the building’s relationship with light?

Room Interior of the Säynätsalo Town Hall, Jyväskylä, Finland

How much natural light is there projected onto and into the building? Are the windows properly positioned to let light in? What does it look like when light is projected onto it? Light is not built, but its perception defines the spaces and forms of architecture. It renders texture and materials, illuminates surfaces and creates atmosphere. It also has a profound effect on the biological and emotional aspects of our daily lives.

Greater focus on how we illuminate our surroundings by varying the strength, quality and color of light over time, expands our abilities as architects to amplify daily living. Based on Toward a Critical Regionalism: Six Points for an architecture resistance by Kenneth Frampton article, light and shadow should be used to create mood, atmosphere, and character in architecture. It should respect the topography and landscape of the site, integrating the building with the natural elements of the landscape.

Designed by Alvar Aalto, Saynatsalo Town Hall design is a great representation of using light effectively. The strengths of the building lie in its humane scale, subtle spatial design, natural materials and the way the building lets nature and light in. The municipal offices are accessed through a bright corridor where one wall consists of windows. 

Critical Regionalism

Critical Regionalism aims to create architecture that reflects the identity and culture of a place. Based on Toward a Critical Regionalism: Six Points for an architecture resistance reading by Kenneth Frampton, critical regionalism should adopt modern architecture for its universal qualities as well as the geographical context of the building. Villa Mairea, a project designed by Alvar Aalto is a representation of the importance of critical regionalism. It seeks to address the limitations of universal and homogeneous modern architecture by focusing on local needs, influences, and aesthetics. This is crucial because it aims to create architecture that reflects the identity and culture of a place. It offers a conceptual framework for producing diverse types of architecture that respond to site conditions and local contexts, contributing to the development of a sense of place and belonging.

Villa Mairea by Alvar Aalto

How is the space used? 

Based on Space article by Adrian Forty, space is much more than volume and form. According to this article space is a pure intuition, in which all objects must be determined’ and contains prior to all experience, principles which determine the relations of these objects. Later on, in the 1870s, the philosopher Robert Vischer, who first saw the possibilities of empathy for architecture. His goal was to explain how people can go from not experiencing a sense of unity (connection) with a piece of artwork to experiencing it. Empathy in an architecture can be seen as the basis for human-centric design, being able to understand the psychological based response to architectural space. 

Catalytic Action has designed and built a playground for the Nahreya School in Bar Elias, Lebanon. The school was developed to cater to children who have fled their home country of Syria. The playground is designed using a modular wood structure that is easy to assemble, disassemble, transport and then either re-assemble or re-purpose. The children communicated their desires and requirements through brainstorming, collages and drawing. The children suggested swings, slides, balls, seesaws, jump ropes and elastic cords. 

Nahreya School, Bar Elias, Lebanon

Nahreya School, Bar Elias, Lebanon

What’s the Surrounding Area Like? 

Does the building fit in with the surroundings? Is it of a similar height, width, girth to the rest? A lot of architectural analysts believe that the scale of the building should match the surroundings and respect the natural environment. Sydney Opera House is a perfect example of how architects have used the surroundings to design this building. Located on the foreshore of Sydney Harbour, it is widely regarded as one of the world’s most famous and distinctive buildings and a masterpiece of 20th-century architecture. The Sydney Opera House in Sydney, Australia is known for its distinctive design, which includes a series of interlocking concrete shells that resemble sails blowing in the wind reflecting the location at the tip of a peninsula that extends into Sydney Harbour. 

Sydney Opera House, Sydney, Australia

Human Movement

How do humans move throughout the building? On stairs? Escalators? How do they flow? Would it be easy to get lost? Human movement is crucial in architecture because it influences how people experience and interact with a space, affecting their perception, comfort, and overall functionality of a building, essentially dictating the flow of people through a design and making sure it is intuitive and efficient for daily activities. For this reason, understanding how people move within a space allows architects to create layouts that are not only aesthetically pleasing but also practical and user-friendly.

Villa T-Extension, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Villa T-Extension, Ljubljana, Slovenia