Unit 20 The Power of Architecture

1 Introduction

1.1 Read the text title and hypothesize what the text is about. Write down your hypothesis.

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1.2 What do you know concerning this issue? List your ideas in the table left column “I know”.

1.3 If you know answers to these questions write them down in the space given after each question.

1.4 Circle in the list the words and expressions you know. Write down their translation in the table and calculate the percentage of your lexical competence.

“There is no doubt whatever about the influence of architecture and structure upon human character and action. We make our buildings and afterwards they make us. They regulate the course of our lives.”

Winston Churchill, addressing the English Architectural Association, 1924.

Architecture is art and it is not art; it is art and it is something more, or less, as the case may be. This is its paradox and its glory, and always has been. Architecture is not like a painting or a novel or a poem; its role is to provide shelter, and its reality in the physical world makes it unlike anything else that we commonly place in the realm of art. Unlike a symphony, a building must fulfill a certain practical function, giving us a place to work, or to live, or to shop or to worship or to be entertained. But a building is not at all like other things that we place in the realm of the practical but that may have aesthetic aspirations, such as an airplane, an automobile, or a cooking pot. For we expect a work of architecture, when it succeeds in its aesthetic aims, to be capable of creating a more profound set of feelings than a well-designed toaster.

Architecture certainly has the power to inspire, but it actually goes much deeper than that. Architecture has a profound influence on every aspect of our everyday lives. Our lifestyle, the patterns of our day, our relationships with the people around us, our success and satisfaction in our jobs are all shaped significantly by the physical environment.

If a person works in an isolating cubicle in a rat-maze office, commutes on traffic–snarled freeways, eats most meals at anonymous fast-food joints and lives in a cookie-cutter subdivision that does nothing to promote neighborliness, then he or she may well be depressed and unhappy. If that same person works in a well-designed office with carefully managed places for privacy/teaming/communication, walks a few minutes on pedestrian-friendly streets to work, shops at friendly local stores, eats at distinctive cafes run by personable entrepreneurs and lives in a place that, by its arrangement of spaces, encourages casual encounters with neighbors, then they will have a very different life.

Even if we are unconscious of the degree to which architecture is affecting our lives, we are still operating under its power. How much money we spend on gasoline, electricity, other utilities and mortgage is all a result of what kind of architectural environment we inhabit. How much time we spend commuting, hauling friends and family from place to place, doing yard work, cleaning and maintaining our houses are also all a result of what kind of architectural environment we inhabit.

The image of a building has the ability to inspire, but that is a very small fraction of the power of architecture. The skyline of a city has the ability to impress, but the city is defined far more by the way the streets, public spaces, buildings, offices, shops, entertainment spaces, residences, etc. work together to become an influential crucible for people’s lives.

City Skyline and Harbor from Marina Bay Singapore (left)

Crowding. Environmental psychology addresses environmental problems such as density and crowding, noise pollution, sub-standard living, and urban decay. Noise increases environmental stress. Although it has been found that control and predictability are the greatest factors in stressful effects of noise; context, pitch, source and habituation are also important variables. Environmental psychologists have theorized that density and crowding can also have an adverse effect on mood and may cause stress-related illness. To understand and solve environmental problems, environmental psychologists believe concepts and principles should come directly from the physical settings and problems being looked at. For example, factors that reduce feelings of crowding within buildings include:

• Windows - particularly ones that can be opened and ones that provide a view as well as light
• High ceilings
• Doors to divide spaces and provide access control
• Room shape - square rooms feel less crowded than rectangular ones
• Using partitions to create smaller, personalized spaces within an open plan office or larger work space.
• Providing increases in cognitive control over aspects of the internal environment, such as ventilation, light, privacy, etc.
• Conducting a cognitive appraisal of an environment and feelings of crowding in different settings. For example, one might be comfortable with crowding at a concert but not in school corridors.
• Creating a defensible space

Personal space and territory. Having an area of personal territory in a public space, e.g., at the office, is a key feature of many architectural designs. Having such a 'defensible space' can reduce the negative effects of crowding in urban environments. Creating barriers and customizing the space are ways of creating personal space, e.g., using pictures of one's family in an office setting. This increases cognitive control as one sees oneself as having control over the competitors to the personal space and therefore able to control the level of density and crowding in the space.

Healthcare. It is no secret that hospital patients are influenced by their surroundings. Hospital design directly impacts patient health – in more ways than one might think. Today hospital designers are trying to evolve hospitals beyond their infamously sterile dé cor. Care is being taken to use color, nature and ways to ease a patient’s hospital stay.

A pleasant environment helps patients recover. Research shows that patients in well-designed, modern buildings get better quicker than those in conventional wards, according to the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment. A study in Nottingham found patients in wards with good lighting, big windows, external views and smaller clusters of beds returned home quicker than those in old buildings. They had lower pulse rates and blood pressure readings.

Crime. Today, it's widely acknowledged that design can be used to limit crime. Many police forces have " architectural liaison" teams who pore over plans for new developments to identify weak spots. The idea that architecture and crime-prevention could be linked goes back 30 years, to the principle of " defensible space". Research found that subtle psychological boundaries - such as gardens or hedges - could be as effective in protecting property as robust, physical fences. The emphasis now is on houses with good visibility, and homes that face each other to allow mutual surveillance. Through-streets draw in pedestrians, who will tend to deter burglars.

Education. New schools will also need to make good use of natural light, following research which shows this helps learning. Pupils appear to behave better in modern, well designed schools and studies in the US have put an emphasis on more space for each pupil. One school in Britain was able to cut the number of playground monitors by redesigning the space, allowing it to switch resources to other areas. And it's not only children who do well out of it - research in the UK found that new buildings boosted teachers' morale.

Housing. Poor housing and bad design can create a breeding ground for crime. Good design tends to boost property prices, something that will give home owners more of a stake in their surroundings. Bad housing is also a health issue. According to a UK study, billions of pounds a year are spent on treating illnesses arising from poor housing conditions.

Business. Design is also important to big business. A survey of blue chip companies, such as British Airways, which have invested heavily in bespoke offices, found they had done so to improve the functionality of workplaces and keep employees happy.

Civic pride. Councils across the UK have woken up to the fact that eye-catching architecture alone can help generate civic pride and bring in tourism. Witness the success of Birmingham's Bridley Place, where the city's old canal-side area has been transformed, with thoughtful design, from a wasteland into a busy social hub (left).

The struggle should pay off, experts believe, because when designers fabricate buildings with the mind in mind, the occupants benefit. Research by John Prescott's office found that well designed commercial centres resulted in high rental levels, lower maintenance costs and increased public support for the development. New and visually exciting art galleries in St. Ives, Cornwall, and Walsall, West Midlands, have boosted trade for nearby businesses while Peckham's award-winning modern library led to a steep increase in visits and book lending (right).