I have always wondered why my mind keeps wandering from one creative pursuit to another. Sometimes it's writing, sometimes it's sketching, and on other occasions anything ranging from book designing to gift wrapping to learning a new language. Earlier I would think of it as inability to stick to a routine, but wisdom tells me, it's a boon. It is this curiosity to know that keeps me young. If the age number starts to worry me, then it's time to leave comfort zone and learn something new.
As the French philosopher Roger Garaudy suggested that while most people believe a person is born young and then ages and dies, in reality, acquiring youth in the deepest sense is a very long and challenging process. The youth of which he speaks is the spiritual strength not to stagnate or grow resistant to change but to stay ever open to new possibilities.- Dr Daisaku Ikeda.
The key here, I feel, is to stay open to new possibilities, to break out of the box defined by circumstances and old beliefs.
A few days ago, I had the opportunity to attend a presentation by a very young architect, Minaz Ansari. Minaz told her life story. She has donned various hats from being a junior architect to fostering young architects as a teacher, apart from being a writer, wife and a mother. The freshness with which she presented her story showed her passion for life and it definitely reflected in her work. I could sense from the buzz amongst students and faculty alike, that the lecture was indeed inspirational to many as it was to me. I'm sure that the journey she described was not an easy one. Juggling so many roles is challenging but her thirst for creative has left a beautiful trail of memories she's eager to share with the world.
Being an architect is the sum total of all the creative experiences we gather along the way. One of the interesting exercises done by architectural students in the early years of education is interaction with communities. Understanding architecture by observing people, their customs, aspirations, problems faced by them. Students learn to empathize and provide solutions keeping people in mind. They spend time talking to people and try to find out what they really want. This exercise also gives them a taste of divergent thinking. They come up with many ideas of interventions for the community. Some ideas fail while some combine to give rise to another brilliant idea. This exercise not only helps them to evolve their own style of problem solving but also builds character. Students who are shy, learn to communicate with strangers. Students who have never traveled by public transport, learn to cram into a bus but most importantly they learn to work as a team.
These little little experiences stored in our memory can become a stimuli in a creative process. A pyramidal composition concept learnt in a painting class may give insight into balancing a built form. Walking through a wooded trail on a trek may spark an idea about creating a walkway in a building. The habit of pushing comfort zone to learn something new and assimilate new experiences, teaches one to take risks, which is so crucial in a design process. How does divergent thinking differ from convergent thinking? It hinges on not knowing the solution to a problem. Given, that you have to design a building that is functional and aesthetically good, but, these parameters can have multiple solutions. Which is the most correct one? One has to take the risk to find out. Architects around the world have broken myths of what is expected. The structures designed by them have become landmark buildings in their own right.
The example that comes to my mind is the Pompidou Center designed by architect Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers. The premise of this building was to provide ample space for "participation, dialogue and free expression" according to the brief provided for architects.
What did these architect do? They just inverted the building. They put all the mechanical services and structural elements on the envelope of the building to give uninterrupted large spaces inside. I don't know in which whimsical moment this idea germinated but the seeds were probably sown when the architect duo came across 'fun palaces' concept by architect Cedric Price which spoke about cultural place that was 'laboratory of fun'. A myth about what to showcase in a building was broken and a landmark was created.
In life, too, we always see the obvious and respond in the same obvious way. A problem usually has only one fixed solution because that's the way the world works. We forget to open ourselves to the possibility of exploring solutions because we get scared of not finding one or of getting lost in the process. Then life becomes, as they say in my mother tongue 'मागील पानावरून पुढे चालू ' continued on next page. Let's not forget to enjoy the content on each page and enjoy in the drama life plays.
As the French philosopher Roger Garaudy suggested that while most people believe a person is born young and then ages and dies, in reality, acquiring youth in the deepest sense is a very long and challenging process. The youth of which he speaks is the spiritual strength not to stagnate or grow resistant to change but to stay ever open to new possibilities.- Dr Daisaku Ikeda.
The key here, I feel, is to stay open to new possibilities, to break out of the box defined by circumstances and old beliefs.
A few days ago, I had the opportunity to attend a presentation by a very young architect, Minaz Ansari. Minaz told her life story. She has donned various hats from being a junior architect to fostering young architects as a teacher, apart from being a writer, wife and a mother. The freshness with which she presented her story showed her passion for life and it definitely reflected in her work. I could sense from the buzz amongst students and faculty alike, that the lecture was indeed inspirational to many as it was to me. I'm sure that the journey she described was not an easy one. Juggling so many roles is challenging but her thirst for creative has left a beautiful trail of memories she's eager to share with the world.
Being an architect is the sum total of all the creative experiences we gather along the way. One of the interesting exercises done by architectural students in the early years of education is interaction with communities. Understanding architecture by observing people, their customs, aspirations, problems faced by them. Students learn to empathize and provide solutions keeping people in mind. They spend time talking to people and try to find out what they really want. This exercise also gives them a taste of divergent thinking. They come up with many ideas of interventions for the community. Some ideas fail while some combine to give rise to another brilliant idea. This exercise not only helps them to evolve their own style of problem solving but also builds character. Students who are shy, learn to communicate with strangers. Students who have never traveled by public transport, learn to cram into a bus but most importantly they learn to work as a team.
These little little experiences stored in our memory can become a stimuli in a creative process. A pyramidal composition concept learnt in a painting class may give insight into balancing a built form. Walking through a wooded trail on a trek may spark an idea about creating a walkway in a building. The habit of pushing comfort zone to learn something new and assimilate new experiences, teaches one to take risks, which is so crucial in a design process. How does divergent thinking differ from convergent thinking? It hinges on not knowing the solution to a problem. Given, that you have to design a building that is functional and aesthetically good, but, these parameters can have multiple solutions. Which is the most correct one? One has to take the risk to find out. Architects around the world have broken myths of what is expected. The structures designed by them have become landmark buildings in their own right.
The example that comes to my mind is the Pompidou Center designed by architect Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers. The premise of this building was to provide ample space for "participation, dialogue and free expression" according to the brief provided for architects.
What did these architect do? They just inverted the building. They put all the mechanical services and structural elements on the envelope of the building to give uninterrupted large spaces inside. I don't know in which whimsical moment this idea germinated but the seeds were probably sown when the architect duo came across 'fun palaces' concept by architect Cedric Price which spoke about cultural place that was 'laboratory of fun'. A myth about what to showcase in a building was broken and a landmark was created.
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| Photo courtsey: worldtoptop.com |
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| Photo courtsey: structurae.net |
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| Photo courtsey: archdaily.com |
In life, too, we always see the obvious and respond in the same obvious way. A problem usually has only one fixed solution because that's the way the world works. We forget to open ourselves to the possibility of exploring solutions because we get scared of not finding one or of getting lost in the process. Then life becomes, as they say in my mother tongue 'मागील पानावरून पुढे चालू ' continued on next page. Let's not forget to enjoy the content on each page and enjoy in the drama life plays.
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