Cultural Architecture

Even though we may often feel like isolated islands in the universe, human beings are born with a propensity to congregate and live together collectively. We have been civilized for thousands of years thanks to our ability to form communities and interact with each other for the benefit of the whole group. The way people organize themselves into groups has developed over the course of history along with social norms and the context of that era. Through this historical evolution, built and unbuilt architecture has played an important role in defining a community's building typologies around the world. Communities have expanded into cities around these spaces, public architecture still thrives on diversity of cultures, forms of recreation and the overall development of the city/country itself. Thus, helping in building urban centres which are not only resilient in public resources but also in community development.Img 1: Culture is not only evolving traditionally but also in technological and material aspectsWhile architecture forms the basis of our surroundings, technology and culture are rapidly developing making the built structures obsolete thus causing imbalance. How can we as architects design for evolving cultures as well as accommodate the identity of the place or the community? Furthermore, to create better spaces there is a need to analyze and understand the elements that drive such environments - culture.What is culture?Culture is a term that encompasses a broad range of intangible elements including language, beliefs, customs, and ways of life. It denotes the values and ideology of those who are members of a group or community. As the culture of a group forms from its own set of traditions, values and practices, it encompasses material artefacts, both tangible and intangible ones - for example, clothing or items used for rituals. These physical objects that are commonplace in a given society or social stratum are also referred to as cultural content.Img 2: Culture comes in various colors, topographies and characteristics A look at history reveals that cultural aspects have tremendously evolved throughout the ages, whether it be music and language or the way we dress and communicate. They are all intertwined with one another in today's society. This is because material culture, which encompasses non-material aspects of culture, to begin with, impacts them as well. While these things may seem broad in scope, they help define our collective humanity by tapping into the emotional intelligence of humankind itself! Why does culture matter?We are social beings that we thrive on interacting with one another in different communities. At the very foundation of these communities rest moral beliefs that both address the rationalization and empathy problems (eg apprehension). Morality is an outgrowth of evolution, so it is not uniquely developed by each specific culture, but rather tends to evolve over time as a result of biological phenomena, such as language development, mutation, natural selection and survival through gene expression.Img 3: Built spaces depend on individual/group cultures, these mindsets and backgrounds can impact entire cities in the long runAs a result, culture plays a significant and important role in the social order. The social order refers to the stability of society based on the collective agreement to rules and norms that enable us to work together, live as a society, and live together (ideally) in harmony and peace. Social order has both good and bad aspects, according to sociologists. To most people, it provides them with the same emotional response as they have for their family. When strangers share a common culture, they form an instant bond. People feel nourished and even cherished in the appropriate kind of culture. Social order is a society in which there's an equilibrium between different interests and people of diverse cultural backgrounds. This balance is meant to prevent poverty, which Daniel Rose warns us against in his book "Why Culture Matters Most." Since conflict affects social, political, and economic growth, culture is well-positioned to handle this by aligning individual goals with the general good when specific moral convictions are strongly held by the majority of people. Thus, a thriving culture is a positive reflection of a diversified and well-functioning community. In this community, architecture plays a vital role in delivering intangible and tangible cultural messages/annotations for future generations. It shapes the community image and forms a unique identity, while buildings stand as evidence and provide walls to the people, cultural landscapes assign an identity to the region itself. The role of cultural (architecture) factors in forging identityFor an efficient society, culture is served through various mediums. Built environment/architecture is one of the culture’s constant instruments. It remains evident to change in social norms, economic values, conflicts, a measure of resources, and most importantly humans and their perceptions. In other words, buildings are built by people and create a way for those people to come together. That is why social aspects have the power to shape buildings. Buildings can give us cues on how things are done in a particular culture as well as show who has more power/status than others.The built environment produces our society, but not in the sense that it produces society; rather, it helps to maintain many social forms that are inherent in society today. If we want to understand societies of today and of the future, we must first understand how societies function and what makes them - which means looking at society through an architectural lens. Not only will this help contribute to the development of generating design patterns for environmental and social behaviour, but it will contribute to emphasizing the importance of interdisciplinary collaborations in general, and of sociology and architecture in particular. What is cultural architecture?Architecture is to culture as music is to an individual. A culture can be embraced, celebrated, and even mourned through the architecture that defines it. Architecture across cultures concretely documents the social, economic and political dynamics of the groups they represent in much the same way as music encapsulates important emotions and feelings on an emotional level with its listeners. Img 4: “Architecture becomes more like art when you understand that most of it is for public consumption rather than public function.” -Bernard TschumiA space's location, size and the way through which it connects all are aided by the basic cultural significance that the space is being designed for. In other words, architectural differences between buildings and sites around the globe indicate the story of different cultures. Each nation has its own architectural heritage as part of its identity. These monuments and intangible factors merge in cultural architecture and give us an understanding of what the region is all about and their history as well.What are examples of cultural architecture?Since the beginning theatres, community halls/spaces, performing arts centers, galleries, and other cultural buildings have been bringing out the best in cultural architecture and heritage around the world. In ancient Greece, the people were highly engaged in public debates about philosophy, mythology, and science. That is where the famous gathering place of the agoras came from – it was an open space surrounded by pillars that served as public social centers for debating philosophical and political issues of the day. The agoras turned into public squares and the design can be seen even today in major cities. Similarly, the pantheon was a remarkable contribution to cultural architecture by the Romans, which signified their strong belief in polytheism in the form of classical architecture. In today's world, cultural architecture consists of: Img 5: Typologies under cultural architectureAmong these typologies, the archival branch of Cultural Heritage/Landscapes has multiple facets. There's the component that works to protect and preserve building architecture, especially when those structures are singular examples of the style in a given region. Other cultural elements also contain relics of scientific practices as well as religious texts and artifacts whose histories are an important part of understanding humankind's known history. To date, 119 properties with 6 transboundary properties (1 delisted property) on the World Heritage List have been included as cultural landscapes. Few of them include sites in:1. Afghanistan - Cultural Landscape and Archaeological Remains of the Bamiyan Valley & Minaret and Archaeological Remains of Jam2. China - China has numerous UNESCO cultural and heritage sites, few are the Ancient Building Complex in the Wudang Mountains, Migratory Bird Sanctuaries along the Coast of the Yellow Sea-Bohai Gulf of China & Mount Taishan.3. Italy with its rich cultural and architectural heritage has most of its cities under conservation like - Naples, Florence etc. It also has an extraordinary natural history at the Ancient and Primaeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians which were under the protection of Unesco from 2007-2021.4. Iran - The republic of conflict in recent years is a gold mine of the archaeological and cultural landscape. Bam and its Cultural Landscape is one of the examples of an old mediaeval town in Iran that is under restoration. The Fars region also has a significant Archaeological Landscape at Sassanid of Fars Region.Following these countries/regions, there are cultural landscapes in Turkey, the United Kingdom, United States of America, Iceland, Africa, India, Mexico, Vietnam, Japan, Australia, Argentina, Brazil and many more. Architecture competitionsArchitecture contests have a long history, dating back over 2,500 years. Several cathedrals throughout the Middle Ages, as well as the Acropolis in Athens, were built as a result of design competitions around 448 B.C. Many of the Church's efforts during the Renaissance were decided through design competitions in which all kinds of artists brought their varied talents to build up something grand in every sense of that word. In recent times an architectural competition form has taken on many forms. One form is a design challenge in which a company or the government planning to build a new structure invites architects to submit designs and plans.Architectural competitions are a great way to find creative design enthusiasts who not only have the relevant skills for designing and developing your project but who also share your vision regarding the problems affecting our society today. Types of the architecture competitions:-Competitions that are open to all (international, national, or regional) -Competitions for projects or for ideas: based on whether the intention is to build the project or to generate new ideas. -Anonymous or cooperative procedures: anonymity supports greater objectivity during the evaluation and award-granting deliberations. -Student or institute design competitions (held on university/state/country level for individual or group of students only)Which were/are the popular competitions for cultural architecture?The relationship between architecture and culture is a phenomenon that has been studied for many decades. However, what's taking place now is much more revolutionary. No longer a current style of architecture that performs well for a while, the mindset now is to build in a way that's flexible so as to adapt to a culture's changing needs at any given time. To understand architecture and culture on a conceptual level first there are numerous competitions that seek to explore this human-architecture relation. • Culture stations• Cultural Center for the city of Sedhiou• Athenaeum• Shaoxing Jianhu Planning and Design Competition• Culture Amplifier Ideas Competition• Theatrum MundiImg 6 : Beat: Honorable mention for Athenaeum (Credits- Thomas Gössler)• LEEDS 2023(artwork for City Square)• 13th International Architecture Biennale of São Paulo launches Insurgent Productions• Galiasgar Kamal Tatar State Academy Theatre• Street Museum• Linguatheque• Opera by the seaImg 7: OPERA BY THE SEA ESTONIA: Winner of Opera by the Sea (Credits: Action Liu) • Photography Challenge – CULTURE | NATURE | ARCHITECTURE• My State House • Museum of emotions• Art-ade• Artistory• Cinema Box• Fantasia• Forum• The Oasis Cultural CenterImg 8: The spirit of the culture: Honorable mention for The Oasis Cultural Center (Credits- Sara Jahed) Explore more projects in culture and architecture:UNI Design competitions UNI is a global network of architects and designers who are solving some of the most challenging problems around the globe. UNI brings together the world's largest pool of design challenges that are curated by the finest architecture academicians and professionals globally. Since 2017, UNI has hosted more than 200+ architecture competitions for various idea level to realization level briefs. In the past, UNI has helped 50+ organizations, universities, and government bodies to use our platform to generate architecture and design solutions through competitions. UNI aims to create a seamless information exchange within the architecture industry with this one-of-a-kind community. It foresees a future where architects and consumers are getting real-world design deployed over the internet through sophisticated software and applications from anywhere in the world.Discover other competitions: https://uni.xyz/competitions