Take a moment. Sit back and relax. Close your eyes (not literally). Imagine yourself in a grand luxurious house. It’s your dream home. It breathes luxury. The great double height living room, the spacious kitchen with access to the back garden, the open dining with Breakfast Island and an outdoor portico overlooking the front garden. The bifurcated staircase leading to the master suite with your very personal walk-in closet and a private balcony. As you stall out from the master suite, you have a view of the grand living area which is like the centerpiece of your entire home, it includes a pianoforte, at least a thousand books and you’d want to spend most of your time in it. Hold on now, don’t move any further. Slowly open your eyes (just pretend). Tell me about this picture you had. Did you imagine living in a sleek cube box, or was it more like Jane Austen period drama-ish, Bridgerton-ish kind of vibe?
I, for sure can tell most of you imagined the latter. I wouldn’t say all, people are opinionated and they have different way of perceiving things, different taste buds. In fact, almost everything in this universe is subjective. People even grow to like something they initially hated (that’s why the whole enemies to lover romance arc exists and I’m grateful for it).
Now, I always thought futuristic architecture that embodied the modernistic, techy, out of this world aesthetic was the way to go. I am a rebel at heart, who for one would go above and beyond to break the very principles of architecture that is so celebrated that we’ve been learning them since our first semester into this course. And trust me, I haven’t done a single project that has followed any of those principles. I always thought the classic principles were boring and ordinary and lacked that jaw dropping, gravity defying factor. So, I have been team modernist-DE constructivist-futurist all the way. Until…
Until I revisited the first ground where we start from, designing a home. Not a house, a home. I’m pretty sure all of us architecture students have this secret top most important project always in the back of our minds that is, to design our dream home. It’s kind of a pressure too. We would definitely want our best work in life to be our very own place of living, right? Right! What puts me in an utter confusion is the fact that, despite having been heavily influenced by the unconventional designs all my way to this day, when I imagine myself living in my dream home, I get the image of a classical ornamented villa.
Now let me confuse your brain too. You’re entering into the property through main gate. First things first, would you rather have a plain gate or a decorative one? Everyone likes to keep their boundaries high these days. With narrow plots and narrower roads, it’s impossible for us to completely take in the visuals of that whole building all at once (unless we’re taking a drone shot of course). And they do say you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. But if you’re like me, you’d definitely judge the building’s aura just by observing the gate.
A little more personal stuff (just me to you). If you’re ever lying on your bed, doing no work, thinking of absolutely nothing, just lying there, staring blankly at the ceiling of your room (which I assume you do often too), wouldn’t you rather have a beautiful ceiling with all those intricate dreamy ornamental details, cornices, rather than just a boxy bland false ceiling? And we’re just talking about a ceiling here. Every room, every wall is going to feel that way, unless you put lots of art and decor everywhere.
Classical architecture certainly has a character of its own and there’s something about those feminine details that counteracts the massive volume and makes it all the more homely and welcoming. Unlike the transparency of glass walls brought to you by modernist, it uses just the right light volume in forms of playful arches and panels. As the playfulness of ornaments (just enough and never overdone) balances out the repetition of elements, it stands as a monumental piece you can only admire. Extra points for classical buildings for being our favorite backdrops for photographs (always classy).
If you’re still not convinced, let me take you one step further. Imagine universities, the top universities of the world. What do you see? Glazed high-rise? Irregular volumes? Space aesthetic? Certainly not. The essence of whole university is represented by just one image of its centerpiece structure, no matter how many modern buildings get added to it.
(I could go on giving more proofs but I think I’ve made my point)
Now imagine Pulchowk Campus without our centerpiece i. e. the administration building. Oh wait, don’t. Because you’d be committing a felony.
