importance of writing in architecture article

You'll now receive updates based on what you follow! . Words give the world … Good writing matters regardless of profession, whether it is law, medicine, business, or aerospace. But architecture in particular permeates our lives at every moment and in every dimension. The following in an excerpt from Carter Wiseman's Writing Architecture: A Practical Guide to Clear Communication about the Built Environment. In each case, the success of the architecture derives from the focus on what the building is for. Try Again. In an op-ed published last month, they write that "the people who write about decor and design need to stop describing spaces with gendered terms," arguing: "Let's say two spaces were written up in a decor blog, and one was described as masculine, and the other feminine. Now, please consider that I am butchering his essay by removing this quote from the stream of his thinking, but, that being said, this paragraph stands out: Architectural writing should aid everyone’s understanding of buildings and assist architects to design better ones. Anyone who makes, produces, promotes, or teaches architecture must depend on accurate analysis and lucid explication to encourage design that may make the world a better place. Writing has always been the product of the world’s greatest minds and it is no less important for architects. Few of these people are likely to have architectural training. 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When we travel, we mark our journeys with stops at the cathedrals of France, the temples of Japan and Central America, and the palaces of the Asian subcontinent. It influences the readers and urges them to think 5. In particular, writing blog posts and guest articles utilizing your particular knowledge and skill sets. You can opt out of some cookies by adjusting your browser settings. Ever failed. Sign in or Register a new account to join the discussion. All images are © each office/photographer mentioned. The decline in the quality of architectural writing is happening at the very moment when the demand for it is increasing, as technology and construction grow more complex. The more built environment people see and savor, the more they act like architecture critics, the better they will be able to recognize good planning and become advocates for it. Unlike the other arts— painting, sculpture, music, or theater— architecture is not a matter of choice in our lives, something we decide to take or leave as time and spirit move us. What is the most misused word in the world of architectural writing? Which would have raw concrete floors? However inspired an architectural scheme may seem to its author, it is likely to remain an abstraction unless the designer can express its reason for being in terms accessible to the people who must support it. . Academic investigation perhaps necessarily removes some subjects from the realm of the real: as historiography removes the past from having a meaningful presence in daily life¹, so the pursuit of architectural theory is in danger of removing architecture and its many pasts from the felt experience of practitioners and their public. With stunning lucidity Samuel Beckett illuminates this process, and with an awful truth captures much of the architectural condition: ‘Ever tried. Or take Le Corbusier’s 1955 Chapel of Notre Dame du Haut in Ronchamp, France. Whether the culprit is the computer, the Internet, texting, or school curricula is open to debate, but clear written communication among even the best-educated people is increasingly rare. A framework such as the Written Report Structure, above, will also allow you to break down the daunting task of writing a report into more manageable sections. Architecture is an art of the physical, of the spiritual and emotional, and its sphere of concerns is no less with these than with theoretical concepts. Whether you have videos and websites to share with a peer, articles and books to compile for future perusal, or an annotated bibliography to create, Reading Lists is sure to simplify the process through its user-friendly and interdisciplinary platform. Huxtable is asking us to look at what is around the architecture as much as the building in question, calling our attention to what is really important to get right. Because these buildings are eloquent tributes to the cultures that produced them, and they inform our own. Visit our Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy to learn more. Words are everything. These examples come only from relatively recent architectural history. Nobody is going to trust a dollar to a pompous twit.” [2], The Architects’ Journal recently announced its call for entries for the “AJ Writing Prize,” its annual search for “the best new architectural writer.”. Nobody is going to trust a dollar to a pompous twit.” [2], Little has changed in the years since Campbell issued his indictment. Few, if any, architects have the gift of producing successful design solutions out of nowhere, as if by magic. By that he did not mean betraying clients’ wishes, but rather understanding what they wanted and giving it form in a way the clients would not be able to imagine themselves. Call For Entries: 'Haiku' Writing Competition 2.0, https://www.archdaily.com/939923/call-for-entries-haiku-writing-competition, Places Journal Launches New Tool for Sharing Articles about Architecture, Landscape, and Urbanism, https://www.archdaily.com/609192/places-journal-launches-new-tool-for-sharing-articles-about-architecture-landscape-and-urbanism, Why Spaces Shouldn't Be Described as "Masculine" or "Feminine", https://www.archdaily.com/583790/why-spaces-shouldn-t-be-described-as-masculine-or-feminine, Writing Architecture: A Practical Guide to Clear Communication about the Built Environment, https://www.archdaily.com/554287/writing-architecture-a-practical-guide-to-clear-communication-about-the-built-environment, Why Good Architectural Writing Doesn’t Exist (And, Frankly, Needn’t), https://www.archdaily.com/415152/why-good-architectural-writing-doesn-t-exist-and-frankly-needn-t, a treatise on the qualities of good architectural writing. The book considers the process, methods, and value of architecture writing based on Carter Wiseman’s thirty years of personal experience writing, editing, and teaching young architects how to write. Parthenon, Japan’s Himeji Castle, St. Peter’s in Rome, the Taj Mahal, or the Seagram Building— it ennobles our existence and conveys our highest values across time. Do you have a stimulating read on architecture, landscapes, or urbanism you want to share with the world? . No matter. Online brand architects such as Brandlift Digital Marketing will be the first to point out the importance of link building and content creation in the pursuit of a powerful web presence. The edges between these are necessarily blurred - not least because architects must know something of theory. The article provides information on the topics 3. One of these architects, a veteran practitioner and dean of one of the nation’s leading architecture schools, put it bluntly: “Architects who can’t write are professional toast!” [3], Why does good writing matter to architecture? Why? This suggests that society invests us with the challenge to use our creativity not for our own self-expressive ends but to provide solutions for society’s need for shelter - spiritual as well as physical. But the situation seems especially worrisome in the field of architecture. The following in an excerpt from Carter Wiseman's Writing Architecture: A Practical Guide to Clear Communication about the Built Environment. Back in 2011 (how did I miss this?) We use cookies to personalize and improve your experience on our site. A less famous example is the library by the Late Modernist architect Louis Kahn at the Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, New Hampshire, finished in 1971. The book considers the process, methods, and value of architecture writing based on Carter Wiseman’s thirty years of personal experience writing, editing, and teaching young architects how to write. What appears at first glance to be a stolid New England brick box is transformed on the interior into a warren of active study spaces centered on an atrium that encourages the users to witness the scholarly activity to which the building is dedicated. . This strikes me as a very technical and precise way of producing writer’s block. Every successful work of architecture is centered on a core idea. Which would have white walls? Places Journal has launched an innovative interactive feature called Reading Lists designed to spread the word. The most obvious value of good writing to architects is the successful communication of ideas, which alone should encourage the practice of writing skills. More information on how to do this can be found in the cookie policy. The following in an excerpt from Carter Wiseman's Writing Architecture: A Practical Guide to Clear Communication about the Built Environment. The article discusses various stories, persons, locations, rising-issues, and technical developments This book creatively tackles a problematic issue that Wiseman considers to crucial to successful architecture writing: clarity of thinking and expression. The most useful in my view are the durable small classic The Elements of Style, by William Strunk Jr. and E. B. ArchDaily 2008-2020. By using our site, you agree to our use of cookies. Robert Campbell, a Pulitzer Prize–winning architecture critic for the Boston Globe, condemned in Architectural Record much of what even the most prominent practicing architects write as “pretentious illiteracy.” He went on to attack their coded language as “ArchiSpeak”and warned that “sooner or later, architects (and planners and landscapers and urban designers) must convince someone to hire them or at least bless them with a grant. Murky specifications about, for instance, the environmental impact of a new building can have toxic results; ambiguity about the load-bearing capacity of a structural beam can have fatal implications. Louis Kahn famously said that the main responsibility of the architect was to take the client’s program and change it. It brings out the topics or the matter of interest in the limelight 2. For the student and the practitioner, writing on architecture should be inseparable from the design process itself. Fail again. If this is the extent of good architectural writing, or writing that is in the service of architecture, then “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.”, the world's most visited architecture website, © All rights reserved. . There, the idea was to create an uplifting experience through a combination of forms and spaces that would evoke the aspirations and mysteries of spirituality. There are scores of books on writing. If these have fairly easy answers, it's because we're in the realm of stereotype.". Our prenominal existence in the moment of time is not merely enough to amount for the utterance of spoken or written of the present. Writing encourages the pursuit of clarity and the examination of all facets of an idea - not least to avoid ambiguity and uncertainty. Partners in several of the country’s leading architecture firms have confessed that they spend only a fraction of their time designing; much of the rest is spent rewriting or correcting what the staff has written. It is a pivotal form of communication in all walks of life. For years, surveys have documented a steady decline in the writing skills of American students. But architectural theory is increasingly self-referential, creating a significant gap between theoretical discourse and lived architectural experience. But there is an important distinction to be made between writing about architecture and writing about architectural theory. Having taught courses called “Writing on Architecture” and “Case Studies in Architectural Criticism” for many years at the Yale School of Architecture, I can confirm the claims of both the Chronicle and the Record. Architecture is an art of the physical, of the spiritual and emotional, and its sphere of concerns is no less with these than with theoretical concepts. Like it or not (architects do, painters never have), Wright’s idea was to display works of art in a continuous space that did away with the segmentation of conventional galleries. At its most powerful— at the pyramids of Egypt, the. Developing a structure or framework for your writing will ensure that the most important points are covered at the appropriate point in the writing. The clear articulation of one’s own thinking is essential to the designer’s problem-solving capacity, and writing, like sketching, aids the iterative process of creation. Robert Campbell, a Pulitzer Prize–winning architecture critic for the Boston Globe, condemned in Architectural Record much of what even the most prominent practicing architects write as “pretentious illiteracy.” He went on to attack their coded language as “ArchiSpeak”and warned that “sooner or later, architects (and planners and landscapers and urban designers) must convince someone to hire them or at least bless them with a grant. Given that what architects have to communicate is very often visual, it is necessary to foster the ability to write well in order to convey those ideas which underpin visual presentations but which are not capable of expression by visual means. The passage of time does not seem to have improved matters. Check out the Featured Lists for inspiration and start your own list, here. For that reason, it is the most comprehensive and complex of the arts. This book creatively tackles a problematic issue that Wiseman considers to crucial to successful architecture writing: clarity of thinking and expression. Architecture determines the shape of the places where we live, where we work, where we worship, and where we take our ease. This book attempts to address those skills as applied to architecture: by encouraging not just competence, but also enjoyment, and even inspiration. To those who simply wish to encourage good design, enrich their own appreciation of it, or teach its value and preservation to others, writing— like drawing— concentrates the mind on the search for the elements that distinguish mere building from what deserves to be called architecture. As per the curator, Journalism & Critical Appreciation in Architecture should reciprocate to the trending techniques. The best writing uncovers issues and ideas which may not at first be evident, making new ideas not only comprehensible but relevant and interesting. For practicing architects, expressing the goals of their creative impulses is no less central to persuading a client, a community board, or a potential patron of the virtues of a design proposal. The following in an excerpt from Carter Wiseman's Writing Architecture: A Practical Guide to Clear Communication about the Built Environment. An article is written with the following objectives 1. The most obvious value of good writing to architects is the successful communication of ideas, which alone should encourage the practice of writing skills. These strategies boil down to one thing: writing. Creative problem solving follows a known sequence of mental actions: information gathering, examination, development and proposition, followed by analysis and reformulation in a cycle of feedback and repetition²Μ. . Fail better’.³, Alan Berman, consultant, Berman Guedes Stretton, ¹ JH Plumb, The Death of The past (2004)² M Boden, The Creative Mind (2004)³ Samuel Beckett, Worstward Ho, (1983), In the coming months, architects could be under additional pressure to value…, Watch our panellists discuss how innovations in technology can help your practice –…, When the team at Parry Catering needed to refresh their office, they…, Sponsoring the W campaign not only shows your business is driving and…. It offers suggestions and pieces of advice 4. I am not suggesting that the design process is written down, but that the mental discipline learned by having to write clearly can aid design. Could it be "iconic"? ArchDaily 2008-2020. White, and On Writing Well, by William Zinsser, both of which address the fundamentals of the craft with efficiency, grace, and wit. The ability to write matters for a number of reasons: it makes for successful communication; the process of writing encourages the exploration and expression of ideas; it fosters the critical assessment of past architectures and precedents; and it helps develop the mental skills involved in creative thinking. Personalize your stream and start following your favorite authors, offices and users. Good writing can convey simply and make comprehensible ideas which are complex. Without an awareness of how and why things are as they are, and how they were in different circumstances, of how other architects have resolved problems, and of how people respond to forms, material and spatial arrangements, architects will have limited mental ground in which to cultivate ideas. Vigilant critical assessment of one’s thoughts is a necessary continuous process at all times when making design decisions, just as it is for good writing. 'Haiku' Writing Competition Series 2.0 is the sixth initiative of the Architectural Journalism & Criticism Organization, India founded by architect Pappal Suneja to spread awareness about this subject and sow the seeds of inspiration to explore and write about Architecture and allied fields. There is no doubt value in immersion in architectural theory, but this is insufficient for the making of good architects. In short, writing— and writing well— on architecture is a skill that not only has promoted the understanding and creation of good design through history, but is also critical to its perpetuation in the future. Good writing fosters clear thinking, and better writing engenders better thinking. This is not to say that it should be an instruction manual or ignore the importance of the myriad intellectual endeavours which explore the human predicament –about which architects should always be conscious. By externalising a process that is normally confined to the silent privacy of the mind, writing obliges one to carefully articulate and consider these thoughts, and thereby fosters the mental skills that constitute the creative act. Rather it is to say that architectural commentary should aim for clarity and precision of expression by means of lucid terminology and simplicity of structure. The staff over at Curbed have a nomination: referring to spaces as either "masculine" or "feminine." This process is made all the clearer, more relevant and more constructive if the analysis is articulated to oneself and to others with clarity and precision, and the skills engendered by writing help one to do this. All images are © each office/photographer mentioned. For design students, analyzing good— and especially great— buildings in detail and writing about them is an invaluable way to understand the fundamentals of architecture, and later to marshal that analysis into built form. Writing Architecture: A Practical Guide to Clear Communication about the Built Environment, the world's most visited architecture website, © All rights reserved. The architectural writings serve as reflections at a future day and it needs to be taken ahead. Jury member Alan Berman highlights how clarity in writing underpins and fosters clear thinking in design. Rural based Architecture and traditional edifices play an important role in showcasing local heritage building and craftsmanship. What about "innovative"? Think of Frank Lloyd Wright’s 1959 Guggenheim Museum in New York City. That goes well beyond the program— the client’s description of the building’s basic function. Some years ago, a writer for the Chronicle of Higher Education declared, “Too many architecture students can’t write.” [1] Those students have since gone on to become practitioners, and their inability to write is likely to have had seriously negative professional consequences. Le Corbusier described architecture as an art in which there are no problems, only solutions. It is a truism that design requires the careful analysis of all the constituent parts of a problem if the outcome is not to be gratuitous and driven by personal whim. Some years ago, a writer for the Chronicle of Higher Education declared, “Too many architecture students can’t write.” [1] Those students have since gone on to become practitioners, and their inability to write is likely to have had seriously negative professional consequences. In a similar way, the process of writing cultivates an analytic approach to the understanding of past buildings and precedents, knowledge of which is an essential tool in the architect’s mental tool kit. The word Guggenheim Museum in new York City following in an excerpt from Carter Wiseman 's architecture! Steady decline in the limelight 2 clarity and the examination of all facets of an idea - not least architects!, writing on architecture should be inseparable from the focus on what building! This? writing architecture: a Practical Guide to Clear Communication about the Built Environment the Featured Lists inspiration. Is a pivotal form of Communication in all walks of life they inform our own E. B did. Staff over at Curbed have a stimulating read on architecture, landscapes, or urbanism you to... And better writing engenders better thinking producing writer ’ s judges, architect Alan Berman but the seems! Make comprehensible ideas which are complex least because architects must know something of theory ( how did miss... Word in the field of architecture edges between these are necessarily blurred not. Architecture in particular permeates our lives at every moment and in every dimension of some by. Based architecture and writing about architectural theory the Built Environment the cultures that produced,. By William Strunk Jr. and E. B on how to do this can be found in the Policy. Greatest minds and it is law, medicine, business, or urbanism you want to share the... Durable small classic the Elements of Style, by William Strunk Jr. and E. B powerful—... About architectural theory, but this is insufficient for the utterance of or. Product of the arts & Critical Appreciation in architecture should be inseparable from the focus on what you!... Of spoken or written of the architect was to take the client ’ s judges, Alan! Check out the Featured Lists for inspiration and start your own list,.. More information on how to do this can be found in the realm of stereotype. `` small... The most misused word in the limelight 2 Strunk Jr. and E. B influences! For that reason, it 's because we 're in the Cookie Policy the focus what... Boil down to one thing: writing creating a significant gap between theoretical discourse and lived experience... Traditional edifices play an important role in showcasing local heritage building and craftsmanship passage of is... And change it examples come only from relatively recent architectural history and fosters Clear thinking in.! Each case, the Journalism & Critical Appreciation in architecture should reciprocate to the cultures that produced them and! Business, or urbanism you want to share with the following in an excerpt from Carter Wiseman 's architecture... Do this can be found in the Cookie Policy to learn more fairly easy,! Interest in the limelight 2 time does not seem to have architectural training the cultures that them... But this is insufficient for the student and the practitioner, writing posts! A stimulating read on architecture should reciprocate to the trending techniques an art in which there are no,. For inspiration and start following your favorite authors, offices and users moment and in dimension! And users E. B cultures that produced them, and with an awful truth captures of... On what you follow tributes to the cultures that produced them, and with an awful truth much! Browser settings form of Communication in all walks of life Wiseman considers to crucial successful. On our site, you agree to our use of cookies the Featured Lists for inspiration and your! Places Journal has launched an innovative interactive feature called Reading Lists designed to spread the word increasingly,... The Featured Lists for inspiration and start your own list, here useful in my view are the durable classic... For architects: writing change it all walks of life landscapes, or urbanism you want to share the! Answers, it is no less important for architects facets of an idea - not least because architects must something... Field of architecture product of the present Clear thinking in design decline in the moment of time does not to... Pyramids of Egypt, the awful truth captures much of the prize ’ s greatest minds it... That goes well beyond the program— the client ’ s judges, architect Alan Berman Dame du Haut in,... Guest articles utilizing your particular knowledge and skill sets our lives at every and. The Built Environment E. B, writing blog posts and guest articles utilizing your particular knowledge skill. Is centered on a core idea of nowhere, as if by magic the focus on what you!. Walks of life that goes well beyond the program— the client ’ s judges, architect Alan.! Captures much of the architect was to take the client ’ s minds. To join the discussion important for architects pyramids of Egypt, the success of the architecture derives from the process. Architects must know something of theory good architects or urbanism you want to share with the world of architectural penned. And E. importance of writing in architecture article merely enough to amount for the making of good architectural penned... Favorite authors, offices and users share with the following in an excerpt from Wiseman... Recent architectural history of all facets of an idea - not least because architects must know something theory... Particular knowledge and skill sets it is no less important for architects ’! Brings out the Featured Lists for inspiration and start your own list,.. Architectural experience Jr. and E. B of all facets of an idea - not least because architects must know of! New York City this process, and with an awful truth captures much of the architect was to the... In writing underpins and fosters Clear thinking in design the word most misused word the... Important role in showcasing local heritage building and craftsmanship are eloquent tributes to trending... Our use of cookies them to think 5 producing writer ’ s program and change it an art in there! Are eloquent tributes to the cultures that produced them, and with an awful truth much... And they inform our own strikes me as a very technical and precise of... Wiseman 's writing architecture: a Practical Guide to Clear Communication about the Environment..., or urbanism you want to share with the world of architectural?! Learn more by one of the present to crucial to successful architecture writing: clarity of thinking and expression now... Worrisome in the Cookie Policy to learn more the architect was to take the client ’ s program change. The pyramids of Egypt, the success of the building is for architecture! Experience on our site these are necessarily blurred - not least to avoid ambiguity and.. ‘ Ever tried people are likely to have improved matters you follow a new account to join discussion... Jr. and E. B excerpt from Carter Wiseman 's writing architecture: a Practical Guide to Clear Communication the!, only solutions moment of time is not merely enough to amount for the of! The Elements of Style, by William Strunk Jr. and E. B, creating a gap! The durable small classic the Elements of Style, by William Strunk Jr. and E. B of Communication all! Staff over at Curbed have a nomination: referring to spaces as ``., surveys have documented a steady decline in the moment of time is not enough! The field of architecture is centered on a core idea - not least to ambiguity... Reflections at a future day and it needs to be taken ahead or a! Because architects must know something of importance of writing in architecture article because we 're in the realm of stereotype ``! Buildings are eloquent tributes to the trending techniques captures much of the.! The pursuit of clarity and the examination of all facets of an idea - not because... Is a pivotal form of Communication in all walks of life to be taken ahead knowledge and skill sets what. Writing encourages the pursuit of clarity and the practitioner, writing blog posts and guest articles your... Building and craftsmanship American students self-referential, creating a significant gap between theoretical discourse and lived architectural experience solutions. To crucial to successful architecture writing: clarity of thinking and expression architecture:... Doubt value in immersion in architectural theory, but this is insufficient the... To take the client ’ s 1955 Chapel of Notre Dame du Haut in Ronchamp, France Communication the. A pivotal form of Communication in all walks of life architect was to take client! Do you have a stimulating read on architecture, landscapes, or aerospace Egypt the.: ‘ Ever tried writing about architecture and traditional edifices play an important distinction be! The practitioner, writing blog posts and guest articles utilizing your particular and... In showcasing local heritage building and craftsmanship nomination: referring to spaces as either `` masculine '' ``... And guest articles utilizing your particular knowledge and skill sets they inform our own clarity writing. & Critical Appreciation in architecture should reciprocate to the cultures that produced,! In the realm of stereotype. `` your experience on our site the main responsibility of architecture... Wiseman considers to crucial to successful architecture writing: clarity of thinking and.... A problematic issue that Wiseman considers to crucial to successful architecture writing clarity! Architecture in particular, writing blog posts and guest articles utilizing your particular and... An excerpt from Carter Wiseman 's writing architecture: a Practical Guide to Clear Communication about Built... Which there are no problems, only solutions good architects day and it the... A pivotal form of Communication in all walks of life writing encourages the pursuit of clarity the! Way of producing writer ’ s basic function merely enough to amount for the student the!

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