DEMOCRATIC.
ARCHITECTURE.
How do we express democratic ideals through architecture?
DEMOCRACY
"As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy."
- Abraham Lincoln
What is democracy? How do we define it, both socially and individually?
"Democracy" seems to encapsulate a broad range of meanings, principles, and connotations that can't be concisely summarized in a few words. However, the Oxford English Dictionary defines it as "a form of government in which the people can vote for representatives to govern the state on their behalf."
Nevertheless, the term carries so much more weight with it than its bare denotation. I wanted to study how this prevalent and seemingly well-understood political concept is physically expressed in the built world around us: architecture.
ARCHITECTURE
"We shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us."
- Winston Churchill
What is architecture? An art form? A science? A study? Maybe all of the above.
"Architecture" is a general term, much like "democracy" itself, that touches on many subjects. What is its purpose? Perhaps it's to inspire, astound, or even to educate. The definition provided by the Oxford English Dictionary is, "the design and construction of buildings."
However, many would agree that the word again carries far more meaning. One important concept to grasp about architecture is how it is used as a mode of outward expression. As the quote above from Winston Churchill demonstrates, we create our built environments; they therefore embody our desires, beliefs, thoughts, and opinions. Our architecture, in a sense, reflects us on some of the deepest levels. But how do these two obscure fields connect, you ask?
ENVIRONMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY
This project has its roots in a field of study called "Environmental Psychology." This field has focused on both the built and natural environment since its creation. However, although early research has placed its focus on the former, as of now with increasing concerns of environmental sustainability, deforestation, and global warming, research is expanding into the realm of the latter as well. If you would want to learn more about how this field of study interacts with my project, click here, where I also provide a list of helpful books on the topic. Moreover, if you're further interested in Environmental Psychology, there are plenty of resources online if you click here.
DEMOCRATIC ARCHITECTURE
How do the two connect?
Democracy and architecture: how do these two seemingly wholly and utterly disparate ideas come together? Riveted by both subject areas, I wished to study them both, hand in hand, forming a distinctive and idiosyncratic topic.
We can often excavate the unexpected in unconventional environments. So is the case for democracy within architecture. Sometimes, architecture blatantly points towards the idea of democracy in architecture. For instance, look at the Statue of Liberty! However, most times, this isn't the case. One must dig under the surface to find the signs, artistic styles, symbolic meanings, and history that forge a connection between the two topics. Perhaps the architect didn't even mean for democracy to be showcased through the architectural piece. Maybe the work has no relation whatsoever to political concepts. However, as an art form open to interpretation, architecture often revealed to me some of the most fascinating links to democracy indiscernable to the unsuspecting eye.
And here they are.