Culture You Say

Architecture, sculpture, painting, photography, music, film, cartoons, advertising and graffiti are relics of our time. Each serves as purveyor of change within a social context. The culture we perceive remains a force but largely for consumerism. The post modernism of resistance arises as a counter-practice to question rather than exploit cultural norms.

Embracing Sustainability As Necessity

Architecture vocabulary is overflowing with timely buzzwords like sustainable architecture, ecological architecture and green architecture. Green implies energy management to reduce pollution by using solar, wind, water recovery and recyclable or reused materials as the basis for design. At a time when the world is experiencing a serious energy crisis, when the planet is dangerously overheating and when the population explosion brings with it a frightening increase in urban squalor – sustainability has become an urgent necessity. Neither architects nor anyone who is concerned about the future can ignore the effects of climate change and ecological responsibility.

7000 Years Of Stylistic Evolution

In the 7000 years of human civilization, the story of architecture has principally been the story of great buildings. Shapes of dwellings have represented to us the image we have of ourselves as societies, cultural beliefs, codes and values. The aesthetic today, however, includes ornamentation and a concern for renewability for future generations. This new context imposes moves beyond the minimal, embraces the culture of high technology and purity of line in design.

Imagine New Shapes With Information Modeling

In architecture invention, imagination and progression – continuously flow into one another. The architect is a creator who confronts past values with new ones ripe for the picking. New materials and technology such as lightweight metals and polycarbonate allow architects to get closer to the dream of infinitely malleable structure and space. The computer has also proven to be a real ally with 3D information modeling, allowing extraordinary leaps of the visual imagination. Architects now more than ever, are able to stretch their imagination and aim for the stars.

Structural Expressionism

Computer Aided Design (CAD) technology lets architects play with form unlike ever before. 3D Autodesk software not only helps put together what buildings looks like, it also tells exactly how much an extra curve here or projection there would cost the client. Structural expressionism for newer shapes and styles is also improving collaboration between architects, engineers and building material contractors who measure, cut and construct the emerging designs. CAD technology has been liberating for architects to bring forth new designs and for clients who commission the buildings.

A Cultural Rebirth Of The City

The brave new world of early architecture was based on capitalist ideals of the industrial revolution. By the second half of the twentieth century, the rise of the aesthetic resulted in a rush to live in the suburbs and decline in urban centers as places to live. Today, there is a rebirth in the cities around the world. Integrated approaches to new dwellings – encompassing environment, culture and community are making downtown as a place people want to live.