Sacrifice to architecture

Architecture, you cruel mistress. You know I am here for you and I will always be. And I made you a tribute. A book. Please, accept my sacrifice.

Author’s note from the book:

“Architecture is the most beautiful endeavour I have ever encountered. There is something magical about being able to shape the world around you. It is a nourishment for your ego and exercise for your mind. It gives you hope that the world can be a better place when you cease to exist and it gives you a chance to leave something of a value behind.

I would call it a quest for beauty. We must look for the beauty in the world and reflect it in architecture, in order for other people to see the world as we see it.

However, all this comes at a price. As Zaha once said, “If you want an easy life, don’t be an architect”. I cannot agree more. The adjectives that can describe architecture are these; ruthless, complicated, unforgiving, difficult, limiting and messy. First and foremost your freedom is severely limited by clients, laws and functional requirements. There might be many years between the moment of the first idea and the handing over of the building. The process is painfully long and in the end, how many buildings do you think you can build in your lifetime? Twenty? People will try to stop you, or worse, they will want you to make a compromise. Hence, you need to persuade those people. And that is going to drain a lot of energy from you.

However, in the end, when you see, that you were able to imprint your hopes and dreams into concrete, wood, glass and steel by influencing less than one-fifth of parameters, only then will you realize that it was all worth it.”

Read the rest here:

Cheers

Ondrej