A million years ago, when hostile natural elements spooked humans and our existence was all about hunting and gathering, the priority of the human mind was survival. The ancient man was yet unaware of the endless potential that lay dormant in his conscience.
One fine day, perhaps while in the search of his food, as it was pouring cats and dogs, the man might have gathered and stacked a few stones and covered them with another stone, and voila! There he had spontaneously created something that ended up protecting him. In that instance he might not have realised that this design would ignite the future course of mankind. Similarly, several more realisations and discoveries followed, that played pivotal roles in shaping the fate of mankind. Gradually, as survival became comparatively easier, the man developed a taste for expression. Walls of his caves became his canvas, and his day to day life became the theme of his art.
As thousands of centuries passed, pages of history proved the man to be more resilient and more expressive. Initial explorations of tangible and intangible nature started falling into particular categories from sciences to arts to mathematics to literature and much more. Each of these enhanced the others. Survival instinct was followed by comfort and comfort by beautification and expression. This in turn made man understand himself better, question his existence in a world that he could physically and spiritually feel, but couldn’t intellectually comprehend.
The human mind, by virtue of its curiosity, is always chasing reason and seeking answers and science is one of the disciplines that help us grasp the tangible world by means of experimentation and logical reasoning. While science is a way of acquiring and testing knowledge, art on the other hand, is a way of expressing knowledge and is highly subjective. It thrives on freedom and is an outcome of imagination. Art goes beyond mere aesthetics, towards meaning, symbolism and sometimes spirituality because art is seamless and unconfined. These disciplines have since then branched on to countless streams that continue to enrich our understanding of ourselves and the world alike.
Science and art are two sides of the same coin and when one supplements the other, the result is life changing. Architecture is a tree grown from seeds ingrained with the Arts and is nourished under the climate of Science. One such realm is architecture. In that ancient cave, or a makeshift stone and plank dwelling, architecture was born first in the human mind. Since then, the sciences and the arts have nurtured it. Creating built spaces, is a process that involves the best of both disciplines – the imaginative freedom and poetry of the arts as well as practicality of the sciences. It aspires to convey the intangible, through the tangible.
As mankind faces a challenging future, it continues to seek opportunities. In the architecture we build, we are crafting a legacy. Architecture is hence symbolic – of our scientific capability, artistic abundance, resilience and above all – of hope.
