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Most trained architects whether they ultimately practice the profession or not, acquire an interesting ability to interpret the world around them in architectural terms. To be more precise, it seems that studying architecture is like learning how to speak a new language. Regardless of the school one went to or the country where one lives and practices, this particular art is not about learning a certain skill, but actually about learning a new way of thinking. To my understanding it has to do with the fact that architecture is a combination of art and science but has a social and political impact as well. In other words even though we are designers and aesthetics are our bread and butter, architecture is not -or actually should not be- an art that strictly follows fashion trends as it is so much more complicated. It is the product of a complex set of rules that are constantly redefined. It is the delicate balance of conflicting forces and even more than that, it is to merge diverse disciplines.

Learning to think like an architect is like putting on a pair of glasses and looking at things always through them. It is slightly obsessive but all artists and professionals that are passionate about what they do somehow end up having their whole world revolving around it.

So this is a collection of articles that find and interpret architecture in many places. It is in fact an on going game of metaphors. It is Architecture as…

Mania Oikonomou
Dipl. Architect Eng. NTUA (Greece)
MA  Arch. History & Theory (Lon.Met)