Red Pill // Blue Pill

The architecture philosophy that I have chosen to illustrate is Evolution through Context. Evolution through Context, as I define it, is the evolution of design concerning the fabric and context of the project. We, as architects, always strive to create contextualized design because designing with the context in mind has created a new wave, a new movement in modern architecture. This movement has created numerous new structures that not only appease the creative will of the architect but also the societal need of its users. The philosophy is akin to the idea of Bjarke Ingels: “I believe that architecture, as anything in life, is evolutionary. Ideas evolve; they don’t come from outer space and crash into the drawing board.” The philosophy can be interpreted in many different ways, but mainly, the core of the philosophy is evolution and choice - not just any evolution, but an intelligent evolution (rooted in the context of the times, the project, etc.); and not just any choice, but a conscious effort to design better. 

How does the illustration relate to the philosophy?

Other than the base definition I have stated above, I interpret Evolution through Context in three main ways: ‘Accepting the truths of a project pragmatically whilst challenging the norm’, ‘the design becomes more tailor-made to its users and functions’, and finally, ‘a commitment to dig deeper into the design’. These interpretations kept making me think of the Red Pill/Blue Pill scene in The Matrix. The scene depicts a choice, to either face the reality (which may be harsh) and do something about your current state, or to surrender to the status quo. I relate this hypothetical choice with the choices we designers make in our design process. We can either go with the flow or challenge the norm. We can choose to live, die, and design within the norm, or we can break free from the mundane, accept the reality of the situations presented to us, and make something better out of it. 

The philosophy is that choice to break free from the norm that is presented to us. It is the quintessential form of architecture, to incorporate the creative will of the designer and the immemorial needs of the people into good design (if possible, great design).

In addition, I have always believed that architecture is a profession that is constantly evolving. From simple contrasting philosophies like ‘Less is more’ (Van Der Rohe) and ‘Less is a bore’ (Venturi), architecture has not once stood still. Every era of history has always been accompanied by a prevailing architectural movement and philosophy of its own and most of the time, the succeeding movement/philosophy is a ‘counterargument’ to its predecessor. Case in point, Modernism was the predecessor of Post-Modernism and the ideals of the latter challenged the institutionalized ideas of the former. The same goes with the evolution of renaissance architecture to baroque architecture to rococo architecture, except in this case it wasn’t a challenge of ideals. It was more of an increase in extravagance and of eclectic forms and ideas. While the latter example (baroque to rococo) isn’t one of a direct challenge, it is still a prime example of architectural evolution through eras.

Symbolisms in the illustration

To present the idea simply, I opted to highlight the stark contrast of red and blue (since they are the contrasting colors in the concept). Since the philosophy is Evolution through Context, I chose a representative building whose design (and designer) exemplify the philosophy - in this case, the building is a hyper-simplified version of The Broad. The Broad, in my opinion, is one of the more iconic museum designs in modern architecture. It’s simple, yet elegant, the silhouette is easily recognizable, and the concept of The Broad’s two main pieces, The Veil and The Vault, are perfect for the idea that I’m going for. The Veil, the exterior of the design, is relatively easy to replicate for a minimalist illustration, at the same time, the form creates an illusion of ‘falling down the rabbit hole’ and emerging evolved on the other side. The Veil is colored red to indicate that this design was created by who ‘took the red pill’, thus completing the stark contrast of the blue graduated sky and the red building. In addition, Liz Diller, the designer of The Broad, is a vocal champion of designing with the context in mind to create better architecture - making her design the perfect analogy for the concept.

Since one of the main inspirations of the illustration is The Matrix, the people inside of the building are architects (those who metaphorically took the red pill) stylized as the ‘rebels’ from the movie (like Neo, Trinity, Morpheus, etc.) who are ready to rebel against the norm. The shapes and colors in their background are the three basic shapes and the usual colors in the color wheel signifying our tools that perpetuate the ‘creating against the norm’ ideology.

Relevance of the sketches?

The sketches and sample render/graphics that I included mostly depicted the variety of choice, because, at its core, the philosophy was also about choice (choosing to dig deeper into the design process, choosing to create with the context in mind, etc.). Page 2, sketches 1 and 2 both exemplify the variety of choices (and design outcomes) we have access to if we follow the philosophy. The idea was to present a simple illustration of a blank site (with surrounding buildings) and show the various choices and outcomes of projects that follow the philosophy. The three basic shapes are there to show the stark differences in outcomes and choices that we have access to. In Page 3, sketches 3 and 4 still follow this idea but the approach to the design was more minimalist than the first two. In Page 4, I highlighted progression over option, doubling down on the evolution part of the philosophy more than anything else. Here, the idea of breaking out of the normal box is explored a bit more. The idea of slowly digging into a project and slowly peeling back the layers to find enlightenment (or the final design) is explored more on this page - it was inspired by phrases like ‘opening pandora’s box’ and ‘going down the rabbit hole’. In the final diagram, the breaking out idea was inserted into The Matrix metaphor and in the choice of color (depicting light, an enlightened state). Lastly, on Page 5, the idea of evolution was reframed to depict choice in a progression, therefore, the stairs and the tunnel aesthetic. The idea was that the evolution would occur at the choice point (and with these final sets, I realized that I could relate it to The Matrix) - the tunnel and stairs both connote areas of movement so with that I revolved around the idea of connecting both evolution and choice to the Red Pill/Blue Pill scene.

The elements of the basic shapes and the ‘basic’ colors can all be found in the final graphic. Although the choice point idea was more implied than anything else, the main idea of evolution and choice can be surmised through the enlightened state of the ‘rebels’ and the connection of the philosophy to an iconic movie of the modern era.