Learning from History of Architecture

Architectural history shows us some similar trends across regions and periods. Whenever there has been an introduction of a new ‘material’ in building construction; artisans and architects have tried to use them in a way they used the older materials. We humans try to impose previous knowledge on anything ‘new’ we encounter. If you look back at history lanes in architectural development you will find how much influence an old style has on anything new. When stone was introduced in construction along with wood the type of carvings done on stone was a clear reflection of the carvings done on wood before. Not even that; the kinds of shapes in wooden architecture also influenced the shapes of stone architecture buildings. Another great example we can find in Buddhist rock cut cave architecture – Not only the carvings but also the use of pillars was influenced by previous styles. As we know that rock is monolith and one doesn’t need pillars to make it stand. With only time do we understand the true potential of any new medium/material.

To some extent it has been true to even UI design. With this a new medium (UI) we tried to impose different known understandings to build our designs – metaphors, 3D environments etc. But sometime we forget the fact that we are dealing with a different medium altogether. They have their advantages but also create that much more problem for us. We need to understand that it a new medium, which has its own qualities. Rather than looking and forcible molding different medium for it we should understand the uniqueness of this medium and design for it. I know these are noble thoughts and easy to say and write but difficult to do. But the only thing I’m trying to do it to mold my attitude towards this thought. Cautioning myself to judge the need and utility of leveraging other older knowledge to suite UI design. Previous understandings of other fields do help in some situations but it should not be overdone. The attitude and approach should be to design for UI (new medium) and not to look for metaphors in architecture, fine art etc. every time.

The subjectivity of Design

One of the things that make “Design” so complex is its “subjectivity”. By subjectivity I mean that any given problem can have numerous solution each having some unique quality. It solely depends on the ‘design decisions’ that are made during the course of designing. Design decisions are primarily governed by its designer’s understanding of the problem, people, technology etc. That’s why any a single design problem could have multiple solutions if designed by different designers or design teams.

The ‘kind’ and the ‘amount’ of parameters (or priorities) that a designer considers while designing shapes the outcome. The more aware and sensitive a designer is about the problem the better design s/he makes. So when we say “this is a good design that takes care of even the minor details” means that the designer have built the design not only with the ‘right parameters’ but also have worked with a ‘large amount’ of parameters during designing. If the parameters or design decisions are realistic and as per users expectations there is a good possibility of it being a good design. This means that a designer should have a very rich knowledge about all the aspects of users, their interactions with the product and the technology. The more aware a designer is, the more parameters s/he can work with and thus more is the probability that the design s/he makes is useful and thus successful. One crucial skill a designer should have is a hunger to grasp knowledge though all sources – observations, reading, research etc. Another skill is the ability to see a problem with different Points of Views; thus bringing in more and more parameters to work with to build a rich design.

Possessing - Space in Time

I remember the time when I was about to leave my College - IIT Roorkee (where I did my graduation). I had cleared my ‘no dues’ and handed my ID card in the administrative office of my college. I came out and was passing from the library when suddenly realized that this place no longer belongs to me. I’ve no right to go to the library I had used for the last 5 years. I can still recall in detail how upset I was and how dejected I felt. This memory was fresh when I left my postgraduate institute (NID); so I prepared myself to accept this emotion.

I recently visited NID and I saw one of my juniors sitting quietly on the bench. The new batch has joined in and they were roaming all over the campus. I went and asked her why she was so quite. She told me a strange thing – She said that she was not able to adjust and accept that now she has to share her institute with strangers - her juniors. She was not able to accept that her institute belongs to her juniors as much as it belongs to her.

After that I came back to my home where my father had just retired after about 45 years of service – he was a Professor. I saw him sitting quietly and trying to adjust to the terms that he doesn’t have much right left in his University.

Then I sat quietly wondering how we humans start to feel emotionally attached with a SPACE. We want possess it for our lives; but we most often forget that the possession is there for a moment in TIME. That space is ours for a moment then it starts to belong to others. This relationship of time and space is quite intriguing; people return back to their old institutes/homes to re-live their gone-by era. But we forget that thought the SPACE is there but the TIME has changed. Now it’s someone else who own and possess it. That’s why when we come back to live our older moments we feel disappointed. It’s a normal human emotion and we as designer need to know it. We (designers) need to know others and ourselves a little better to make our and their life a little more pleasant. I was wondering - ‘can’ or ‘how can’ this emotions be generated for the web?

So when ever you want to re-live your moment in a ‘space’ think about the it and enjoy it in its ‘present form’…

I don’t know, but I feel that a dying man might also feel the same emotions on losing the possession of Space in Time…