The Hero Phenomena: Dreaming of Built Form II
“So what made you decide to study architecture?”
A lot of my friends and strangers I meet seem to dread this question whenever I have nothing else to ask despite wanting to carry on a topic of discussion. In fact it surprises me when they answer me with widened eyes and a gaping mouth while their brains start to panic and search for what deemed to be a reasonable response. “That’s quite a hard question…”, would be the first thing they would say and also an innuendo for asking me to spare them from scrutiny, however, to their dismay I was not going to let them go.
“So what made you decide to study architecture?”
There was something human about Jordan Munns’s multimedia artwork displayed in Art Express (VCE Top Arts equivalent) that captivated me during my art excursion in Sydney four years ago. There she was, a girl standing in the middle of the grey background, blinded by a grey cloth embedded with the leopard’s eyes with worn down yet tall buildings rooted proudly upon her head. The only thing that was vibrant enough were her red lips formed in some sort of a whisper, begging the audience captivated by her silent beauty to come close to hear what she has to say. Once we’re close enough we can make out the sentences boldly state on separate canvases. Immortality, legacy… Yes, legacy, the intangible form of immortality that can only be passed on through words and conversations. It somehow made architecture rather triumphant and glorious.
“These Monuments, they will speak for you
Long After You Are Gone
Long After You Are Gone
They Will Chant Your Name As They Tear Down the Walls
They Will Marvel At the Works of Your Hands”
- Jordan Munns, ‘Long After I’m Gone’ (2011)
Munn’s digitally morphed images of powerful beasts and aged architecture within the girl as a metaphor for our never ending hunt for immortality and legacy. Legacy. The word itself can carry itself through many forms, almost in the most intangible yet most visible when one person is to act upon it. As I mentioned last week - architecture can be quite a heroic at for many albeit is also a subtle blow when we are all faced with hindrance from realistic context. That aside, it is perhaps the idealistic and romantic element of architecture is what makes it so beautiful. However, architecture in terms of the proper form it is rather hard to fully pin down the comprehensive messages that are left by the architects.
There are many ways to understand what legacy within architecture truly means. Replace the term architecture with “legacy” or even “presence”. Do you remember the journey and your surroundings when you are heading for somewhere? If not, does conversation about how tall or how grand the presence around you was idly slips in? Because it is everywhere that it becomes unavoidable. The discussion of what we see and what we inhabit becomes so unavoidable that we could say that we are simply living or temporarily staying within a presence. That being said, if we consider that what we are discussing about is relative to architecture then we are already acknowledging some kind of existence, or even someone’s presence. Albeit, that kind of presence is not something we would be consciously aware of. Perhaps then, if architecture is a representation of someone could we argue that architecture doesn’t necessarily exist in a solid form? Does that mean it can be applied to texts or sounds? From competition entries to essay and manifestos, perhaps the idea of leaving your own legacy behind its to leave traces of your knowledge and creativity, allowing it to be woven into someone else’s masterpiece.
If that part is acceptable, then we can gradually come to accept that built form is simply a development of thoughts, ideas and principles from many people that could be seen as one. In other words, we can apply rose tinted lenses upon architecture as a representation of those who hope to leave something behind. Having said however, this type of vision does not necessarily apply to every single architect nor every single architect's’ vision or even their goals. Perhaps many of us simply decide to be architects purely because of the field that we could be in, or even the possibilities that we could be exposed to that makes architecture attractive. Moreover, there is also the unbuilt architecture that needs to be made aware of in order to further our understanding of our knowledge. Hence, the combination of knowledge and theory that is being applied when designing architecture is also a woven masterpiece of various people’s knowledge, hopes and visions.
“So what made you decide to study architecture?”
Till this day, I still love asking for people’s reason for the decisions they make - you might feel that I may be mocking you when I ask for an explanation however, I find it rather fascinating to understand how people would see the world. Quite ironic really, yet it is something that I find rather remarkable. There are a combination of reasons and possibilities that could define one’s decision. I can only currently give you a very idealistic reason of wanting to protect people however, given time and also extra experience, there will be changes to that reason, and hopefully it would become more mature and considerate.
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