Why architecture must be new kind of patriotism.

Nowadays, we love to boast about where some of us happened to be born. By overgeneralizing, we arrogantly claim that particular nation is better than other one. If we dug deeper, we would struggle to give clear and definite answer. What even better nation looks like? What are their lifestyles? What are their difference than other nations? Most important of all, is there really excellent nation? It doesn’t seem so. We, humans, always look for inaccuracies and errors in any part of existence. We especially mastered the art of finding flaws in mostly non-controllable aspects of life, such as landscape, climate, biological diversity and etc. When we find out that some countries “lack” any of these attributes, we will joyfully, but rather mindlessly mock them, even underestimate them. The absurdity of it doesn’t have any satisfactory explanation. That’s why we have to concentrate on controllable aspects of life, such as art, science, technology and etc. Architecture, as a subcategory, must be guiding element of particular nation or country. For example, persian people should be able to contemplate the beauty of geometrical patterns in their mosques and sacred places, french people should be able to grasp the aesthesicity of gothic architecture and greek people should be able to comprehend their ancestor’s minimalist, but calming architectural taste. We don’t only have to think of architecture, but we also have act on it. If we can carefully blend certain regional design with innovative technology, we will be able to witness countless breathtaking sights all around the world. It will not only be visible in external world, but its magnificence will also reflect in internal world in unimaginable ways. After then, we can boast about our newly discovered “patriotism”. Architecture is never empty from subjective interpretation, but it must be, because of its evident inclusivity in form. It is not about just what we see, but also what we don't see. It always allows to find out and grasp new unknown things, while allowing to embrace old ones. We need this kind of vision. We need to search for something beautiful and new. So, why I wrote this story? We should do our best to find it. After all, the future of humankind depends on each of us. The future we create must be sustainable, functional, harmonized and collective. This is why we need new kind of patriotism. This is also why we need that kind of society. We should be totally connected to the nature. Additionally, we’ll need similar qualities to change the culture of mankind. For instance, we need to be able to permit ourselves to be vulnerable. This only revealed our own weakness, but also acknowledges our capability. So, anything that we do or attempt at, it must be done with full attention and knowledge, as to be able to learn something from the whole process. This is the basic attitude we must have. An architect, just as any other professional, must be able to create the best for his job. He must be able to look through the same subjects, to see the already existing value, and come up with the novel thought and solution, for the improvement. Even different individuals can have the same view, and it’s worthwhile to consider it. However, each of us, individually, and whole entire world, collectively, has to understand that every idea we put in, must be thought, formed, evaluated, carefully crafted, and meticulously designed. All those tasks are mandatory to give the reason why we actually exist. If we do not accumulate those reasons, the truth is, we should not fight for anything. After all, we are all living on this mother earth, together, with all other living creatures.

#philosophy #psychology #architecture