What About Architecture?

Architecture is…

Architecture is a path, a process, a journey... it is never achieved. You can get to architecture but you can’t have architecture. You can aim at Architecture, but it will always remain elusive… Architecture transforms, changes, transmutes. Architecture is in texts, in collages, in images, in renders, in photography, in models, in drawings, in buildings…but Architecture is not text, collages, images, renders, photography, models drawings or buildings. Architecture exists in different mediums, but the mediums are not Architecture.

Architecture is an ephemeral state. Architecture is everywhere and nowhere at the same time. Architecture can delimit space, but space is not architecture. Architecture excludes, discriminates… At the same time, Architecture embraces and welcomes… Architecture doesn’t have form, or texture, or materials, or building methods… A building can be architecture, but Architecture can’t be a building.

You can get a license to build, but you cannot get a license to do architecture. You can build all your life, write infinite texts, draft from the dawn until the morning, and still never reach architecture. Architecture could be poetry, but poetry can’t be Architecture. Architecture can be art, but art can’t be Architecture. Architecture can be in a discussion, but a discussion is not Architecture. Architecture is a mixture of elements, but those elements are not Architecture.

Architecture doesn’t win prizes… buildings do, practices do, architects do, publications do… Architecture doesn’t need curriculum vitae or a recommendation letter or a positive review from a critic… Architecture is indifferent to the public praise and the expert’s views.

Architecture is hard to understand. Architecture is mostly misunderstood. People talk about architecture, teach architecture, preach architecture, but they don’t know what Architecture really is… Architecture can’t be taught it school. Architecture can’t be taught at a design institute. Architecture can’t be taught at an office. Architecture can’t be taught. Architecture can just be learned.

Architecture is a process that comes from within… Architecture might seem like an end, but Architecture is always a beginning.