HA Tower - Frontoffice + Francois Blanciak
Even though it’s written in the sense of industrial design, read this post with a mind on architecture and keep in mind that all design should be started with these 10 principles
Good Design Is Innovative : The possibilities for innovation are not, by any means, exhausted. Technological development is always offering new opportunities for innovative design. But innovative design always develops in tandem with innovative technology, and can never be an end in itself.
Good Design Makes a Product Useful : A product is bought to be used. It has to satisfy certain criteria, not only functional but also psychological and aesthetic. Good design emphasizes the usefulness of a product while disregarding anything that could possibly detract from it.
Good Design Is Aesthetic : The aesthetic quality of a product is integral to its usefulness because products are used every day and have an effect on people and their well-being. Only well-executed objects can be beautiful.
Good Design Makes A Product Understandable : It clarifies the product’s structure. Better still, it can make the product clearly express its function by making use of the user’s intuition. At best, it is self-explanatory.
Good Design Is Unobtrusive : Products fulfilling a purpose are like tools. They are neither decorative objects nor works of art. Their design should therefore be both neutral and restrained, to leave room for the user’s self-expression.
Good Design Is Honest : It does not make a product more innovative, powerful or valuable than it really is. It does not attempt to manipulate the consumer with promises that cannot be kept
Good Design Is Long-lasting : It avoids being fashionable and therefore never appears antiquated. Unlike fashionable design, it lasts many years – even in today’s throwaway society.
Good Design Is Thorough Down to the Last Detail : Nothing must be arbitrary or left to chance. Care and accuracy in the design process show respect towards the consumer.
Good Design Is Environmentally Friendly : Design makes an important contribution to the preservation of the environment. It conserves resources and minimises physical and visual pollution throughout the lifecycle of the product.
Good Design Is as Little Design as Possible : Less, but better – because it concentrates on the essential aspects, and the products are not burdened with non-essentials. Back to purity, back to simplicity.
German industrial designer Dieter Rams and his ten principles of “good design”. The straightforward list lays down key points, clearly stating what makes a good design. This information is a timeless source of inspiration that most any designer can appreciate.
From the article: Become an Architect!
“To be an architect, you have to be an optimist…You have to be a realist, but you have to be an optimist.”
~Sir Norman Foster, Architect’s Challenge: A Sliver of a Space, in the New York Times
“A great architect is not made by way of a brain nearly so much as he is made by way of a cultivated, enriched heart.”
~Frank Lloyd Wright, quoted in Visionaries: The 20th Century’s 100 Most Inspirational Leaders by Satish Kumar, Freddie Whitefield
Now, it’s your turn.
What qualities do you think it takes to be a great architect? Optimism? Realism? Persistence? Insanity?
They must have the ability to know the constructability, resources, environmental impact, social impact, material durability, understanding of how the environment effects the mixture of materials introduced and many other aspects of the building, while maintaining the expression of art or ideology that the building represents and have the leadership to coordinate this endeavor with the countless people necessary to make the project a reality.
An architect should be organized, creative, and resourceful.
An architect must be a person who is able to transfer little ideas of a thing into bigger ideas. He is a good innovator.
These days all it takes is a truly great photographer!
He should be focused, creative, flexible, able to satisfy ninety percent in his project and leave room for future innovations.
A great architect will be a visionary; an artist with the highest technical knowledge and understanding of how structures work, and why. Using this, a great architect will sculpt forms and matter around space, or vice versa. That great architect will be conscious of the end user, the neighbor, the geographic location, the culture, the economics, the politics, the environment, the weather, the light, the textures, the sound, the smell and the sight. Just that. Easy.
A good architect is one that cannot just think and do design, but one that can produce functional design solutions that are workable within the designed environment.
A great architect is someone who is optimistic in everything he/she does.
A real architect has the ability to produce functional working drawings that are actually buildable, with consideration for the buildings mechanical, electrical and plumbing sytems. Most of what we are seeing today is what I would call “Whole Building Decorators”. They are basically designers posing as architects who have very little knowledge of what it takes to make it all work.
Architects are great when they master the details without losing sight of the big picture, and master the general idea without overlooking the details.
If you cannot question your life, your family members’ life, your neighbours’ life, the life of people living in the cottage (while you were driving you’ve seen the cottage in the middle of the forest), the economical crisis… if you question why some people are still living in the caves, on the streets or some in the villas, if you loose yourself while questioning the system, then if you find yourself and your answers, if you loose yourself while thinking about the ultimate answers to the very dangerous questions… If you can think, if you can ask the real question, you can become an architect. Otherwise you become “another brick in the wall” type of architect. I would add much much more, but it s enough for now.
An architect is a person who should be able to handle many co-related jobs simultaneously. Who should have knowledge of geography, history, sociology, and psychology. And capabilities of learning about new building materials in the market, learning about everything, in addition to thinking and designing.
Architects should have the awareness that they are the creators. Architects are responsible for the feelings, emotions, and lives of those who are going to live in the building. Their work and thinking should reach the level that their building transmits peace and cheerfulness to the inhabitants.
For the last 4 years, I’ve been an architect. According to me, a great architect must be a great observer. Only then can he design comfortable, peaceful, relaxing spaces and structures, which is his job. Other than being observant, a great architect should have qualities like truthfulness and compassion.
He\she must love what he\she is doing. There must be some steps to make architecture more orderly.
An architect needs passion and the rest just comes by heart!
A bit of luck added to passion, talent, and intelligence. To be willing to wake up at three in the morning and still be excited - that’s the way I’m going :)
Seems compassion is the most important. Architects with no compassion are just artists. Compassion lets you design for someone else, truly feel someone’s need/problem and fix it with design. Good communication and visualization skills seem priceless.
A good architect is the one that knows something about everything and ready to learn new things as they are being introduced.
I’m sort of naive in architecture as I’m about to begin college, but I feel a good architect has to possess the quality of longevity, creativity, an intrinsicality. He has to be steadfast with his work; be very out-of-the-ordinary and also distinguished in the delivery of his work. Also, the quintessence has to exist right from the draft/sketch to the finished goal of his project. I feel if an architect emits all these, then the sky is the limit.
He must have love and passion for the career. Like Gorege Washington said,”anything you love enough must reveal its secret to you.” He must understand that being an architect is more than piling stones to erect a building. As a desiger he must not only design to satisfy his client but also to satisfy his deepest feelings. He must be patient and he must have a high level of tolerance, courage to stand critics, because they will critize your work.
A good architect should be able to think broadly and be able to imagine. An architect should also be so creative and should be patient in the sense of earning quick money. Many people want to be become architects because they say they earn lots of money. Yes it is true, but that should not be the major reason as to why one should take up architecture.
An architect should certainly have an inquisitive attitude towards everything. Only then would he/she be able to experiment with his/her designs.
I think the qualities that make a great architect are that he must be able to stay focused, he must be a thinker, he must be a person who likes a quiet environment, and finally he must be a person who has lots of patience and a person who likes creating new things.
If Frank Lloyd Wright was still alive, I believe he would say passion. Why mention him? Consider this, a college dropout and unlicensed (if I’m not mistaken) he went on to become one of the most prominent architects in the 20th Century. He was recognized by the AIA for his work about 2 years before his death. Having a good imagination doesn’t hurt. Albert Einstein said that “imagination is more important than knowledge.” The built environment would be nothing more than mere talk without imagination (ie. “deconstructivism”- Frank Gehry’s arena). Regarding faith, one may ask what does faith has to do with architecture? The best demonstration of one’s faith (or belief) is to create something out of nothing, hence the essence of architecture (depending on who you ask). In a sense, every person is an architect. Why? because we have the ability to design and build our lives.
Flexibility, very good exposure, optimism, knowledge, sociability, friendliness, and continual practice can make a good architect.
Reblogged from archsy (Source: architecture.about.com)
Inspiring. My opinion also moves between these borders :)
btw - if you have anything to add, please free to do so…
