Architecture of Comics

Architectrue is not unlike story-telling. And what distinguishes great architecture is the fact that it tells a deep story about people, their customs and values, their attitudes, processes, governance, and struggle (or lack thereof). I'm a firm believer that architets (hopefully still playing an important part in the process of city making) have a great deal to learn from story tellers.

Roko Zaper of RedCloudWhite Studio is one such story teller. His series of graphic novels portray people of various backgrounds, living in different eras, and their journeys through this thing we call life. It is an eclectic mix of drawings and text, that speaks of that very central topic in his stories.

Not so long ago, I was working in a small architect's office when one of the bosses told me "...never put your heart into anything you do." Astonished as I was to hear that, I put some thought into that remark, trying to make some sense of what he tried to say. After a few days, however, I noticed that this same person answered my question, as he had a daily saying that "life's a pain!"...Needless to say, I didn't hang around long in that job.

To cut it short, story-tellers like Zaper, tell us to stand for what we believe in, to take life less seriously, and to be true to our calling, rather than to fall into contemporary architectural profession's trap, whether it be money, status, power, or mere survival. They teach us that we are architects for a reason, and not vice-versa.

Architects and Sydney Tower

Sydney Tower, as Meaghan Morris argues in Australian Mythologies: Sydney Tower, is a fine example of a building that has no meaning, yet it successfully achieves it's intention: It was a commercial success, and it also provokes some thought. Whilst Sydneysiders do label it as their own, it does challenge architects in the debate of what the true meaning of architecture is. It is this meaning that is worrying in the architecture of popular culture.

Image by timtom.ch

It is believed that successful architects either are, or need to be narcissistic about their work, or that they eventually become so. But in this sense narcissism is about standing for one's firm beliefs. The reason that architects seem to have left out popular opinion and vernacular from their debates is based on the fact that these have been so harshly exploited in today's society, and Sydney Tower is a product of such a society. It may have some meaning, but it certainly lacks a sense of place (For example Berlin and Toronto have similar towers).


Architects in my mind have not neglected popular opinion and vernacular. Rather, they are opposed to the fact that people are becoming disconnected from places where they live. Instead, that, which is supposedly good (architecture) is suggested to the masses, by various parties with power (not architects), and every bit of this 'goodness' sold for profit.

Architecture and medicine

According to Beatriz Colomina, architecture has always followed medicine. From early modernism on, architects have been seeking ways to create "healthy" buildings. The objects that they have been dissecting are arguably dead objects. In many respects, they failed, producing buildings that had countereffects on their occupants (such as the sick building syndrome). Another violence of this act is it that it gives a great pleasure to the architect: a pleasure to design...

Analysing Architecture

This book by author Simon Unwin is a must for every student of architecture as well as anyone with a genuine interest in design of the built environment.

In short, Analysing Architecture offers a great framework for looking at what makes architecture architecture. Using original sketches the author discusses main elements of architecture, and the processes and factors by which these elements have been dealth with in creating it. The concept of place-making is given a focal point.

The book is simple and easy to follow yet ideas presented in it have far reaching potential. In this way, it will be very helpful to first and second year students, and also be of great assistance to those latter-year students who get stuck with their over-complicated design tasks. I found it to be one of only a handfull of useful references (whose topics is chiefly architectural design) throughout my studies.

Of course you can always go ahead and spent $300 on Phaidon's Atlas of World Architecture or any book inudnated with flashy works and obscure theories by latest "In" architects from the Netherlands...