To travel is to live...

After the past years that have gone by, the term 'travel' has a complex new meaning. Our motivations have changed in a way that involves more than just where we want to go. Our decisions are also impacted by considerations like how often we want to travel, how safe our vacations will be, how accessible the place is for us and what kind of experience this type of escape entails for additional activities we might undertake.

Traveling is also a part of our professional lifestyle as architects but as COVID grips the world, more and more of our work seems to be shifting online, to a successful degree. But this fact then begs to ask us the question…

What value does traveling hold for architects? 

Can architects really be good without seeing, breathing and living in different places and communities? 

How can they be inspired to be good architects without the pleasure of experiencing live architecture?

When it comes to architects, travel is part of the job agenda but it means more to us than for most people. There’s nothing that compares to experiencing a new place first-hand. Even though you can see images of different architecture styles in pictures and on the Internet, there’s no better way to become acclimated to the world around you than by strolling around, exploring and absorbing what it feels like to walk inside and through different buildings. As you move from one city or country to another, you learn more about how cities are laid out as well as many other details, both small and large.

It is known that every architectural masterpiece has its own intrinsic essence. It can be felt by simply standing in the chambers or being absorbed by its magnificence, first hand. For aspiring architects to understand this, they must be willing to travel and explore in an effort to really understand what it means to observe these intricacies. Traveling as an architect can also give you a better understanding of how many spaces vary from one another and what the transition between them looks like.

When traveling, you come across many people native to a place. Who could be better to know about a place than the people who inhabit it? People will be able to tell you what their city or town is like, and what things make it great or terrible and why. They are also able to tell you ways to improve the area in which they live, and showing them just how much potential an area has can have a huge impact on others. Architectural designs can vary greatly due to the multiple cultures around the world and their wide range of design practices and procedures. 

Architects are not just in the building business, but also a culture business. The built environment of a city or town can have as much influence on the people who visit or work there as the natural sights and sounds. We're visual creatures that are wired to make sense of everything around us, which is why traveling - for inspiration and part learning about other cultures - plays such an important role in all of the design processes we oversee. While we travel, our architect brains are always working even if we're taking time away from architecture to relax on vacation! Every new place we visit gives us inspiration for details that affect our design decisions when it comes down to creating projects that benefit from what's been learned from previous experience and travel.

Architecture is an art form that lets you experience the world. The best way to see other lands, cultures and buildings is to visit them and see what their architecture looks like up close. The buildings might say a lot about the people who built them -- and we don't mean just through what they say in words but also how they look, how they feel, how they let you come into their homes. One of the best things to do when it comes to traveling—when walking around a new city, seeing and photographing all the buildings and listening to the sounds that are unique to that place is so rewarding on so many levels! It is highly recommend taking pictures of your travels. It's such an important memento for any travellers out there who love experiencing so many different landmarks because each destination really does hold good memories! Restoration procedures have preserved historic buildings and monuments from centuries ago, and modern advancements in the fields of engineering and construction are nothing short of fascinating. Whether old, new, ornate, or minimalistic, breathtakingly beautiful architecture is all around us wherever we go.

Traveling opens up a whole new world when it comes to architecture. There is so much to take in and take in, it would be easy for us to allow ourselves get lost as we travel. However, some structures have stood tall past the test of time and technology's ever-changing landscape which makes them all the more crucial to observe in how they were composed despite having limited tools around at the time. Most of these structures come with intricately carved images that highlight skill and hard work that was put into place when building these creations by the people from long ago. We can't exactly relate or know just how they thought back then but we can certainly pay tribute to those who worked so diligently during their time!

When you're traveling, you're doing more than just getting from one point to another. You're seeing the sights, venturing off the beaten path, and learning about places that are different than your own city or town. There are a lot of different reasons to travel. Some people may choose to go on vacation and get away from the stress of work life or school while others wish to choose where they could be and how they live, visit people, explore new cultures, and volunteer for charity work. For some people, traveling helps in curing depression, not completely but it definitely will take away some of the pain caused by heavy thinking or anxiety.

Traveling is like growing. As we travel through our lives, we grow as individuals. Traveling to an unfamiliar territory is a great way to also put your uncertainties and fear of the unknown at ease. You never know where you might be going so instead of being stuck at home with limited resources and options, go travel places as often as possible to have an even greater chance of changing your state of mind for the better. The beauty about traveling is that you’re free - free from society's standards, free from social norms and free from any limitations - because what else is the purpose of getting out there?