“design is emerging as one of the world’s most powerful forces.”
-Massive Change
There is a fundamental responsibility laden in the practice of architecture to contribute back to the global society in a thoughtful, innovative, and meaningful way. The built environment should serve as a representation – an artifact – of our civilization and therefore must highlight, respect, and speak to history in a contemporary way.
We can no longer continue to superimpose buildings on environments that cannot support them. It is for this reason that archiTEXT offers design solutions that offer a contribution to their surroundings. There must be a focus on maintaining the highest level of aesthetics while not sacrificing or minimizing the positive effects of buildings on entire societies. We must create spaces from the first to the third world that are respectful of their surroundings – that offer more than just empty space – and speak to form and function, expressing a thoughtful message through these conventions.
“we must recognize architecture as a social science.”
-Dr. Suha Ozkan
Architecture has a responsibility to house civilization, and it is for this reason that it is as much about design as it is a social science. Relying on one discipline to find solutions to problems that encompass the several aspects of human nature leaves us with a plethora of unfeasible solutions. We need to reinvent the way social, economic, and environmental issues are addressed by bringing together different approaches to one problem to create innovative – and more importantly – tangible, solutions.
archiTEXT is as much a consulting body as it is a think tank, driven by the optimism and awareness of young minds, and is constantly engaging in endeavors to evaluate and innovate on design, urban, social, and environmental systems. Undertaking research and experimental initiatives, the team seeks matters that need to be thoughtfully addressed and in many cases, reinvented.
The current discourse in planning is focused on a world where all resources are finite. Growth that needs to occur must do so in a manner that best reflects the needs of each specific context. a r c h i T E X T advocates and strives for a built environment that both reflects practical needs and design needs that address the present, but primarily, the future.
The world is too quickly becoming a unified geography with places looking more homogenous, and less with unique identities. The third world is measuring its “advancement” by striving to achieve a way of life similar to that of already developed countries, and because of this we need to shift planning goals to reinforce and build upon the qualities that create a sense of place.
archiTEXT ' s planning goals are to create legacies for local and regional communities, reinforce and implement strong urban systems, and leave behind projects that will endure over time.
“we are efficiently becoming more unsustainable.”
-William E. Rees
Measures of sustainability must not be limited to the environment, but also using architecture as an engine for change that can sustain itself beyond its initial phase of development and flow of capital. We must bring together creativity and ingenuity with a social conscience to create a definition for sustainability that can speak to different contexts, to different places, to a global society and its citizens.
We must ask: How do we define sustainability in terms of newly emerging technologies when we see that some of the most sustainable development is grassroots – where people are socially and economically empowered by their ability to sustain their own livelihoods through indigenous practices?
The shift must be to create not only buildings, but to educate communities on measures of sustainability appropriate to their lifestyles; providing realistic and practical alternatives to otherwise wasteful ways of living.
“GREEN” has become the new global lexicon. From green architecture and sustainability to climate change and Kyoto, finding solutions to respond to our rapidly depleting capacities and resource base in an effort to find sustainable, renewable, long term solutions should be our number one priority. Most importantly, it must be undertaken as an interdisciplinary approach. In today’s global society, the boundaries of all professions, at even the most basic of levels, are being broken down and rebuilt to engage in the realm of transnational ideas and economics. Architecture - being essentially transcendent in nature - has the potential to be among the more powerful agents of positive change. There are few mediums, and even fewer professions, that have the unique ability to define time, past and present, and reflect our values as a society. Beyond just architecture, we must use the “green challenge” as a mechanism to catalyze a paradigm shift in all facets of society and change the approach to ways of life that have put us in the predicament that we are currently in.
Engaging in solutions that look to “green” the building stock – whether it be existing or proposed projects – is a priority of the team, because of the fact that our current buildings account for over a third of the harmful emissions polluting our cities. Providing alternative building solutions – incorporating green materials and processes into the design and construction stages of building projects – as well as consulting on the incorporation of LEED standards, archiTEXT supports a future built environment that focuses less on taking from the environment, but rather, contributing towards a greener future for our cities.
From modernism to post-modernism, from the Bauhaus to the neo-classical, history has played a fundamental role in the way we build and the way we create spaces. It is often said that architecture serves as one of few everlasting artifacts of a generation, speaking to the values of that particular time and serving indefinitely as a bridge of communication between eras. It is because of this that when conceptualizing a building – whether it is in New York or Nairobi – architecture must speak to history in a contemporary way by addressing historical contexts through subtle enhancements of a design.
archiTEXT believes that to change the future we must respect and speak to the successes and failures of the past, and must acknowledge these by representing our understanding through the built form.
“design is emerging as one of the world’s most powerful forces.”
-Massive Change
There is a fundamental responsibility laden in the practice of architecture to contribute back to the global society in a thoughtful, innovative, and meaningful way. The built environment should serve as a representation – an artifact – of our civilization and therefore must highlight, respect, and speak to history in a contemporary way.
We can no longer continue to superimpose buildings on environments that cannot support them. It is for this reason that archiTEXT offers design solutions that offer a contribution to their surroundings. There must be a focus on maintaining the highest level of aesthetics while not sacrificing or minimizing the positive effects of buildings on entire societies. We must create spaces from the first to the third world that are respectful of their surroundings – that offer more than just empty space – and speak to form and function, expressing a thoughtful message through these conventions.
“we must recognize architecture as a social science.”
-Dr. Suha Ozkan
Architecture has a responsibility to house civilization, and it is for this reason that it is as much about design as it is a social science. Relying on one discipline to find solutions to problems that encompass the several aspects of human nature leaves us with a plethora of unfeasible solutions. We need to reinvent the way social, economic, and environmental issues are addressed by bringing together different approaches to one problem to create innovative – and more importantly – tangible, solutions.
archiTEXT is as much a consulting body as it is a think tank, driven by the optimism and awareness of young minds, and is constantly engaging in endeavors to evaluate and innovate on design, urban, social, and environmental systems. Undertaking research and experimental initiatives, the team seeks matters that need to be thoughtfully addressed and in many cases, reinvented.
The current discourse in planning is focused on a world where all resources are finite. Growth that needs to occur must do so in a manner that best reflects the needs of each specific context. a r c h i T E X T advocates and strives for a built environment that both reflects practical needs and design needs that address the present, but primarily, the future.
The world is too quickly becoming a unified geography with places looking more homogenous, and less with unique identities. The third world is measuring its “advancement” by striving to achieve a way of life similar to that of already developed countries, and because of this we need to shift planning goals to reinforce and build upon the qualities that create a sense of place.
archiTEXT ' s planning goals are to create legacies for local and regional communities, reinforce and implement strong urban systems, and leave behind projects that will endure over time.
“we are efficiently becoming more unsustainable.”
-William E. Rees
Measures of sustainability must not be limited to the environment, but also using architecture as an engine for change that can sustain itself beyond its initial phase of development and flow of capital. We must bring together creativity and ingenuity with a social conscience to create a definition for sustainability that can speak to different contexts, to different places, to a global society and its citizens.
We must ask: How do we define sustainability in terms of newly emerging technologies when we see that some of the most sustainable development is grassroots – where people are socially and economically empowered by their ability to sustain their own livelihoods through indigenous practices?
The shift must be to create not only buildings, but to educate communities on measures of sustainability appropriate to their lifestyles; providing realistic and practical alternatives to otherwise wasteful ways of living.
“GREEN” has become the new global lexicon. From green architecture and sustainability to climate change and Kyoto, finding solutions to respond to our rapidly depleting capacities and resource base in an effort to find sustainable, renewable, long term solutions should be our number one priority. Most importantly, it must be undertaken as an interdisciplinary approach. In today’s global society, the boundaries of all professions, at even the most basic of levels, are being broken down and rebuilt to engage in the realm of transnational ideas and economics. Architecture - being essentially transcendent in nature - has the potential to be among the more powerful agents of positive change. There are few mediums, and even fewer professions, that have the unique ability to define time, past and present, and reflect our values as a society. Beyond just architecture, we must use the “green challenge” as a mechanism to catalyze a paradigm shift in all facets of society and change the approach to ways of life that have put us in the predicament that we are currently in.
Engaging in solutions that look to “green” the building stock – whether it be existing or proposed projects – is a priority of the team, because of the fact that our current buildings account for over a third of the harmful emissions polluting our cities. Providing alternative building solutions – incorporating green materials and processes into the design and construction stages of building projects – as well as consulting on the incorporation of LEED standards, archiTEXT supports a future built environment that focuses less on taking from the environment, but rather, contributing towards a greener future for our cities.
From modernism to post-modernism, from the Bauhaus to the neo-classical, history has played a fundamental role in the way we build and the way we create spaces. It is often said that architecture serves as one of few everlasting artifacts of a generation, speaking to the values of that particular time and serving indefinitely as a bridge of communication between eras. It is because of this that when conceptualizing a building – whether it is in New York or Nairobi – architecture must speak to history in a contemporary way by addressing historical contexts through subtle enhancements of a design.
archiTEXT believes that to change the future we must respect and speak to the successes and failures of the past, and must acknowledge these by representing our understanding through the built form.