An Art as Old as Civilization

In a recent interview, Bjarke Ingels, a young Danish architect who is quickly becoming very famous in the architecture field, was asked what architecture is. Mr. Ingels believes in a philosophy of architecture that hearkens to Darwin's evolutionary theories, in the interview he says that, "... the forms and shapes (designs if you like) of the biosphere have evolved through millenia-long selection processes." He then talks about how buildings and cities have evolved, and that now instead of living things adapting themselves to physical environments, we have arrived to the point where we can design our physical environment; we aren't the ones adapting physically anymore. Today architecture is a fluid science that adapts as our needs and wants change. New technology, sustainability, more resources, and so many other things add up to what we want and need. As Bjarke put it, "Architecture is the art and science of making sure that our cities and buildings actually fit with the way we want to live our lives: the process of manifesting our society into our physical world." 

The idea of, "...making...cities and buildings...fit the way we want to live our lives..." is equally valid when studying the architecture of antiquity. Most college students would be able to connect an entire civilization from antiquity with a single building, observe:

Hopefully most of you can identify the top image of the three to the right as the Parthenon. Studying the Parthenon and other Greek architecture reveals a lot about Greek society. The ancient Greeks relished in physical beauty, so in architecture form was valued over function, especially in ceremonial and public buildings. 

The second image I'm sure you recognize as the coliseum built by the ancient Romans. They borrowed a penchant for beauty from the Greeks, as well as many of their building styles. But the Romans took the Greek ideas and built upon them pretty close to perfection. Romans found a new obsession with power and impressive super structures, feats and advances of engineering allowed Rome to build an identity that they wanted.

The third image is a Christian cathedral. Christian architecture borrows heavily from Roman engineering, the earliest Christian buildings began as replicas of Roman basilicas and bath houses, but evolved to a unique type of architecture. The high spires, elongated pillars, and steep arches seem to be reaching for the heavens. 

In the same interview mentioned earlier in the blog post, Bjarke was asked what architecture will look like in the next 50 years, he said, "It will evolve into something that is both completely different and also exactly the same as today, and the built environment (our cities) will most likely be completely recognizable and also surprisingly new." 

I love London, it has a way of holding on to the beauty from
the past while embracing the future. 

Works Cited: 
         Ingels, Bjarke. Interview by arhi-ninja.com staff. Interview with Bjarke Ingels. arch-ninja.com  2009.                     Web. 10 November 2009
             Britannica article, "Western architecture". http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/32952/Western- architecture/47295/Roman-and-early-Christian