1999 Master of Architecture
Bailey Heck

At the end of this past summer (2000), after returning to the United States from Europe, I began to ask myself certain questions. Generally, these questions related to architecture. Do buildings have traits similar to animate beings, humans for example? Do they interact and respond to one another, as individuals in a collective and greater society? Like people, do buildings develop character? Can cities adapt to changing world conditions? Do they evolve? Do they age?

I cannot answer these questions unequivocally, but I do believe that our built environment has a life of its own. I believe that it interacts with us, and we with it. I believe that it lives in this world as we do.

If architecture is alive, at the level of a building or city, and if it exists as an extension of ourselves, then my idea of an inherent life in the structures that surround us is true.

We, as designers, must therefore treat it accordingly.

So, if buildings are alive, then they subsist on their surroundings. And as living beings, they can aspire to be more, or less. They exhibit personalities, some vibrant and ambitious, others reserved and passive.

Ultimately, at the completion of my studies and the end of my summer travels, I realized this: the best buildings are active and adaptable participants in their environments. Like people, they are susceptible to time; even the best buildings are mortal. At each meeting, we as people gain a broader understanding of the motivation, context, and meaning in the structures that surround us.