What are buildings communicating to us?

Profile: 

What the undergraduate career of an architectures student is like will depend largely on the college that they attend. If the college that they attend has an undergraduate architecture program, they will have classes that address the history of architecture, they will learn about individual architects and the influence their work has had on architecture, they will take drafting classes, construction science classes that cover building codes and the laws behind buildings, many will do field studies abroad. But many colleges don't have an accredited architecture program, in that situation the student is free to get a degree in whatever field they choose, and do a three-year graduate program in architecture.  Internships and employment at an architecture office during your school experience are highly recommended by practicing architects. Architects do have to be able to create attractive resumes, in all resumes a portfolio must be included that shows the creativity and skill of the candidate. Whether or not the people hiring look more at the portfolio or the experience outlined in the resume depends completely on the firm. Some firms look only at creativity, some want practical experience. The building of communication skills will begin right when the student has their first drafting class, usually they'll have to collaborate with other students to do projects.

Context/Rhetoric/History: 

Most creative types like to look towards the f

uture, since they will be creating things in the future. Anything in the context of how an idea or theory could help an architecture student get to where they want to be (turning their ideas and dreams into a physical reality), so I will probably focus on how rhetoric and the history of architecture fit into that context. Like I did in my most recent post, I will draw parallels to the design process to today, yesterday, and tomorrow. I'll address questions such as, "How can communication and rhetoric help me to build my dreams?" and "How does knowledge of the past of Architecture contribute to the future of the art?", I think it'll most effectively be done by showing an architecture student the process so that it becomes even more real to them.

Development plan: 

I think the paper and ideas will naturally flow pretty nicely. Most students of architecture will be willing to read anything about architecture (most). Starting and ending with the present in mind I think will be most effective, however. I will talk about the field of architecture today and the skill sets that are needed to be successful in the field; following that I'll talk about some specific skills, probably creative skills such as drafting, building models, and thinking of concepts, and then I will connect those skills that most people already envision architects doing to communication and rhetoric. The final point I will make concerning communication in architecture is the idea that the whole art of architecture itself is communication, the final product of what you envisioned and worked to produce communicates so much to the world. Then I will talk about history, and what architectural styles from the past communicate to the world (this is a cool point, in my opinion, architectural expression is timeless, we understand today pretty much the same message that Rome was sending to the world through it's architecture thousands of years ago!). So in the paper I'll do a brief survey of major architectural styles ranging from antiquity to today (that will likely require some additional research on my part) and how those styles function as rhetorical devices, and how a knowledge of both the styles themselves and rhetoric is necessary to the profession today.

I will then talk a little bit about how the future of architecture largely depends on its' history. And how the future professional architect will have the huge responsibility of communicating the identity of who we are in the future. Will they build structures that communicate how much we care about nature, perhaps they will communicate that we are more concerned with quick and easy jobs that take the minimum amount of resources... (those buildings likely won't last, however... think about campus, many building have been torn down, those were the cheap one's that simply were their to function as a space to put people, the buildings that are preserved are usually beautiful and enjoyable to look at and experience). Throughout the paper I will use quotes from current architects and past one's to add authority, I will likely conclude with the one that was in a photo in my last post, "Architecture is about trying to make the world a little more like our dreams" -Bjarke Ingels.

This is "Falling Water" a home designed by Frank Lloyd Wright; it
will never be torn down, but, unfortunately, most people cannot
afford a house like this to be built for them.

No dreams went into this, it is a mass
produced floor plan that is cheap
 and easy to build. It can still
be a home though!