Architecture as a discourse
Architecture can be seen at anywhere around the world, it is an indispensable part of human society. But what is the reason? Why architecture is so important? What does it bring to us? Architecture is defined in a lot of ways, at long time ago, which was the time when buildings firstly appeared in the world, architecture was only functioned as shelters for people to live inside and prevent them from the natural damage. After a long period of time when the word ‘architecture’ actually came out, it was not only a place for people to live anymore, it became more and more delicate so that it started to be viewed as a kind of art, which means the aesthetic intension of the architecture was somehow beyond the actual function of it. However, Williams disagrees with this sort of view and says that architecture should be thought less as a set of special material products, but rather as a collaboration between a range of social and professional practices that sometimes, but by no means always, lead to buildings (Richard, 2005, pp.108). What Williams has said points out the most important part of the consideration. Architecture is developing year after year, it is not only a work of art or a product which has only one function. With the help of the new technology, today’s architecture has become more like a discourse.
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According to Schumacher’s view, architecture is ‘a system of communications that is constantly changing’ (Patrik, 2011, pp.1) which means architecture can be anything that generates discussions. This is the trend of modern architecture . Nowadays, architecture is much more influential than before. A good architecture can make contributions to the site, make contributions to the inhabitants and these contributions are also relate to many other aspects such as politics, social and culture so that architecture becomes a sort of discourse. A successful architecture today is capable to balance the elements mentioned above and to be a hot topic of the society regardless of time. Now I am going to introduce two special projects which show how architecture influence the environment and generate amazing outcomes.