The Future Of Architecture

Plagued by the Future

Constantly judged and evolving, the practice of architecture is forever plagued by the future. The future of people, of culture, technology and its resulting implications on the built environment that more often than not, outlives their creators. Much of the conversation surrounding this future architecture currently hinges itself on the creation of new experiences, forms and spatial relationships brought about by technological innovation.

However, architecture is not just the future, after all, buildings are intended to be viewed, traversed and lived by us, people. Despite this, many architects today rarely think deeply about human nature, disregarding their main subject matter in favour for efficiency and an architecture of spectacle. In this there seems to be a misconception that underlies much of architecture, that is, human’s relationship with the city, the building and nature. In much of today’s architecture, people are treated with as much concern much as we treat cars, purely mechanically. The post-modern search for the ‘new’ and ‘novel’ has come to disregard the profound affect design has on our lives, impacting our senses, shaping our psyche and disposition.

I believe that a better understanding of our basic human sensibilities is key to designing buildings of lasting resonance. The following discussion looks to the beginnings of architecture for its groundwork, namely through the reconsideration of the the ‘Cave’ typology. It seeks to tease out its latent spatial qualities as well as our innate cognitive responses and expectations of this environment, through it remedying the current design approach that is increasingly prospect