Written by our in-house Architectural Design team
Here at Oakwrights, our in-house Architectural Design team comprises RIBA and RISA (Royal Institute of British Architects and Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland) Chartered Architects, Architectural Technologists, Architectural Designers and Architectural Assistants, who are equally experienced as they are passionate about architecture and designing beautifully bespoke frames using oak. With this in mind, the following blog provides an insight into architecture and why it matters.
Understanding architecture The term ‘architecture’ is used to describe buildings and physical structures. As a profession, ‘architecture’ blends science, art and engineering to develop designs which in turn create buildings and structures that improve the living, working and recreational environment of those who come into contact with them. This is a belief that has been recognised since at least the time of ancient Greece and probably even earlier.
However much we consider its cultural meanings, its symbolism or its social value, architecture will always remain as the process where buildings combine to make places that are larger than their parts. The traditional principles of architecture still apply today and its effectiveness depends on how the portions of a structure relate to one another.
Shaping the way the world looks for generations When you think of a building as an object, you may consider its overall shape, the quality of its appearance and how its sides, if they are visible, are composed. You may also think of it as mass, volume and bulk, while noticing lines, colours and materials in relation to surrounding buildings. There is, of course, another dimension to buildings that relates to the way they make you feel when you step inside them. Buildings are created to enclose space but also to work in conjunction with the surrounding area to provide the best environment for those living there or using them.
Visual perception plays a key role in how we respond to architecture and our inherent sense of aspects, such as proportions and scale, the way some materials feel harsh and other materials feel soft, or how some shapes suggest openness and others enclosure. Most people experience these physical elements of a building in roughly similar ways; for example, if a building feels big to you, it’s not likely to feel cosy to another person.
Architecture never exists in isolation. Every building has some connection to the buildings beside it, behind it, around the corner, or up the street; whether this is intended by the Architect or not. If there are no buildings near, a building has a connection to its natural surroundings that may be just as telling. As we live with buildings and see them all the time, our relationship to them is instantly more intimate and more distant than our relationship to things that we experience in our day to day lives, such as music, literature or film.
The way architecture evolves over the next few decades, and how it embraces new and fast developing technologies, will shape the way the world looks for generations to come.
If you have a project in mind and would like to discuss the oak frame design, please contact us to arrange a meeting with a member of our in-house Architectural Design team.
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