Understand A Building Anywhere In The World From The Comfort Of Your Home

2 May 2023
By Deshal Shah

It’s impossible to travel and see all the famous buildings to study architecture. Traveling is expensive and many other factors can lead to the canceling of the plans. But there are many ways to travel without moving. No need to pack the bags or run to airports, just travel from your room.

The understanding of a built form is attained when experienced it. In the presence of it, engaging all our senses towards viewing the built, we comprehend it the most. But often, we participate in secondary case studies that rely on the documentation of drawings of the building and the actual images or rendered images of the same.

The imagination skills to visualize a space becomes powerful, with practice. So, start with dissecting the plan into smaller parts. This way you can make a jigsaw of 3D visuals in your mind. The photos of the building can help you at this stage, for which you need to recognize the part of the plan whose picture it is. You can draw an estimation of scale through photos, that has humans or any familiar measurement. Once you have the pieces of the spatial jigsaw ready, start putting it together in form of a journey.

Find books and magazines that has the architectural project features. It will give an insight into the project from the architect’s point of view. Read novels that involve the architecture that you are studying. This will indirectly help you notice details that you might have missed earlier. It can help you form your own narrative and inspire you greatly in one way or another.

In the digital era, the 3D modelling and walkthroughs make it easier to understand the building and its minute details. The technological advancement in architecture has made designing and conveying the design simpler than what it used to be. The newer software lets the architect explain his design to common people in less complicated ways. This comes as a benefit for the students who are star-struck by buildings. It is also a background study for the enthusiasts and travelers planning their holiday.

The walkthrough is a spatial journey of any user. It directs the movement from start till the end. The transition between indoors and outdoors, changes in light conditions and the highlights of the building are usually shown in it. The virtual models help understanding the spaces and materials. It is affordable and everyone can get access to it.

The entire world is available at your fingertips. Social media covers all aspects of human life and it has not left architecture behind. Get to know more about the building idea and construction stories from the architects who participated in creating it. Interviews of the architects or Question and Answer sessions (formal or informal, that is asking as comment on their post) can give you a deeper understanding of the design.

With endless options available on the internet, studying everything has become easier. The pool of resources can be confusing sometimes, but with a little caution you can select the things that are actually helpful. Not only studying contemporary architecture of different region is possible but also the architecture of history can be studied and understood. Share your reliable resources (links of useful websites, pages, videos) in the comments, which you look up to when in any doubt!