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The Architectural Praxis, An Introduction.



“The mother art is architecture. Without an architecture of our own we have no soul of our own civilization.” - Frank Lloyd Wright

Architecture is one of the most fundamental fields of study and is the building block of existence, quite in the literal sense. An architect is a man of versatility. He creates designs that adapt to human needs and emotions. It can be put this way; like how the prism is able to bring out the underlying colours of plain light into different shades, similarly an architect is able to manifest the needs of a client into aspects of design, aesthetics, engineering, construction, space, cost, materials and colour in the right balance.

Architecture is a fast-paced and ever-changing subject, perhaps why we don’t have many solid, stagnant theories. But architecture plays a significant role in relation to quite a few non-architectural theories and fields.

It is widely accepted that the Darwinian theory of partial selection is the way of existence in the world. A good architectural form is not only determined by its originality band innovation, but also by its survival value and sustainability. Every individual has an unique thought-profess of ideas. Competition and conflict of ideas in a society suppress or reinforce each other to produce one or more dominant ideas. So, a Darwinian process happens among many competing ideas in the mind, to produce the most dominant or in common man’s words, the most appealing idea. All this happens in an architect’s mind for the benefit of the client or the consumer. Another type of Darwinian selection takes place among the consumers when they choose any particular design over the others that depend on their personal need and stylistic fashion. One can see how such an important theory influences the thought process of both architects and the common man.

Architecture has its relation close home too with its influence over Indian astrology and the Hindu religion. The religion of Hinduism traces its roots to ancient times in India and the people place their beliefs in paramount importance. That is how the ‘Vastu Shastra’ came to play an important role in building psychology, through astrology and religion. ‘Vastu Shastra’ helps in determining the position of a structure, giving special importance to the cosmic elements keeping in mind the directions and the elements of the solar system like the sun and the moon. Overall, it is a renowned belief for one’s own personal satisfaction.

The universal concept of Golden ratio has been used in many architectural designs since the ancient times. Apart from architecture, one can find its presence in daily life under various situations; from flowers to eggs to DNA. The field of design, logo design in particular uses this concept. Some of the most famous companies like Apple, Google and Toyota have incorporated the theory and concept of the Golden ratio in their logos. It’s very intriguing that the maximum presence of the Golden ratio is seen in nature. The existence of such order in nature is what inspired to use those concepts o engineer new ideas. This leads to a field in architecture called biomimicry. It involves picking up inspiration from nature. A similarity can be drawn between pine trees and skyscrapers, from their structure; both of them have a sloping effect at their peaks. Mercedes Benz had turned towards the boxfish for their bionic car concept. The aerodynamics and efficiency of the shape of the boxfish




inspired designers to apply the characteristics of the fish to the vehicle. This resulted in an extremely streamlined vehicle with 65% lower drag coefficient than other compact cars in the market at that time. This throws light on how the convergence of biological sciences and design today depends upon innovations that are billions of years old.

In accordance with Maslow’s theory on hierarchy of needs, the levels of needs have at least one element that is satisfied by architectural ideas and influences, with the levels of Safety and esteem being the principal ones.

Finally, one of the most frequently used theories in virtually any field is the colour theory. The use of warm and cool colours, complimentary colours helps man perceive his surroundings in an aesthetic way. The layman identifies his liking only with a product’s colour appeal but an architect or a designer perceives much more than that. People tend to be largely influenced by colour. One such striking example is exhibited by fast food chains such as KFC and McDonald’s that use warm colours such as red as red possesses the ability to induce hunger and attract customers.

Every scientific profession; from designers to engineers; from psychologists to biologists, utilise colour theory to subconsciously affect our reaction that is induced by our surroundings.

Today, everything is interconnected and a slight change in any field can influence the surroundings a great deal. Architecture as a fundamental science and art, exerts its dominance in various areas, making it pivotal. It has no fixed catalogue as it is ever-changing and adapting itself to new differences and changes. Architecture should be valued more in our lives to come.

“Good architecture should be a projection of life itself, and that implies an intimate knowledge of biological, social, technical and artistic problems.” – Walter Gropius


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