{"id":20019,"date":"2017-06-14T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-06-14T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/architizer.wpengine.com\/why-architects-travel\/"},"modified":"2022-05-31T06:52:33","modified_gmt":"2022-05-31T10:52:33","slug":"why-architects-travel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/architizer.com\/blog\/inspiration\/industry\/why-architects-travel\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Architects Travel"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/i><\/p>\n

Lora Teagarden is a practicing architect at Ratio<\/a> in Indianapolis and the founder of L2 design<\/a>. Her website and blog offers a unique insight into professional practice together with inspiration and tips for young architects.<\/h4>\n

Architecture and travel. They go together like peanut butter and jelly. Cookies and milk. Jack and Diane. Anyone who knows an architect knows they are predisposed to want to travel the world. As a matter of fact, at the time of writing, our fearless leader<\/a> was en route to the Bahamas for some much-deserved R & R. I just got back from two trips myself. We\u2019re a profession of travelers. But why? Let\u2019s try and see if we can narrow down some reasons.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve previously written about my love of traveling. When I wrote for the AIA\u2019s #ILookUp campaign<\/a>, I mentioned traveling as a piece so inherent to my DNA and profession that I come with a disclaimer when dating.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love traveling to new places, experiencing the culture and immersing myself into the local life as much as possible. An architect by trade, I need someone who will patiently smile while I gawk at buildings.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

I wrote last summer about my first trip to Vegas and what it\u2019s like vacationing with an architect<\/a> (read: we get up early and explore). It even prompted the use of a hashtag #IComeWithATravelWarning. And I mentioned in an #ArchiTalks last fall<\/a> that most of my vacations end with a camera full of pictures \u2026 of architecture. So what gives? Why do architects feel the NEED to travel?<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\t\n\t\n<\/div>\n\n

Courtesy Lora Teagarden on Instagram<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n

Wired for Wanderlust<\/h2>\n

I\u2019m no scientist, but it seems like there\u2019s something connected with the creative brain that also causes or feeds a desire to explore, constantly learn and try new things. Nothing accomplishes all three more than traveling. When I travel, nothing excites me more than seeing the architecture and experiencing the culture. Why? Because it\u2019s more than likely new and nothing like mine, but not without its context. About this time, we\u2019ll put on our Sherlock Holmes cap and start looking for clues as to what caused the city to look the way it does. Is it oceanside and had a history of Spanish invasion? Did the hot summers call for cool marble and tall ceilings to move air?<\/p>\n

We may be in the building business, but we\u2019re part anthropologists, too. Every city has its quirk, even the next town over. We\u2019re visual creatures that are wired to learn more, to constantly build off what we learned from the last design, the last building we saw, the last culture we experienced. Traveling plays into all of that. We can step away from work and feed the fire. But our architect brain doesn\u2019t ever shut off. We experience something new to then bring back and potentially inform a detail on the next project. Personally, my passport hasn\u2019t been used in three years now, and I\u2019ve got a serious case of the twitch.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s in a Building?<\/h2>\n

No two pieces of architecture are alike \u2026 well, except for those cookie-cutter builder homes in suburbia<\/a> \u2026 but I don\u2019t really count those as architecture. So what makes them different, why does it matter and how do we tell? Just as the anthropologist looks for clues in the culture and an archaeologist looks for clues underfoot, an architect can look at a building and determine a handful of things.<\/p>\n

Even if the architect of record is not on hand (or even still alive), we have this time capsule of knowledge and culture in the shape of the architecture he or she created and left for us. Did they care about sustainability? What was the common material of the time? Is there symbolism in the design? Skidmore, Owings & Merrill<\/a>\u2019sCathedral of Christ the Light<\/a>, for example, has a floor plan that hearkens back to the original religious symbol of the fish. Can you see it?<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\t\n\t\n<\/div>\n\n

Courtesy Lora Teagarden<\/i><\/p>\n

Sure, you might be able to get a glimpse that helps you understand it from a diagram in a textbook, a magazine or this picture above, but travel helps you FEEL it. It\u2019s completely different to see a picture than to walk into a space and be engulfed in the symbolism, care and intention that went into its design. Even non-architects get it \u2026 if the design is powerful enough.<\/p>\n

I was lucky enough to witness this firsthand two weeks ago when I was traveling with friends and siblings in San Francisco. We had already had a long day, and I could tell my sister and brother were ready to get back to the hotel and rest before the night ahead. Stopping at a church was the last thing they wanted to do. And like most modern works of architecture from the \u201960s and \u201970s, it is relatively unassuming from the exterior. But when you walk through those doors \u2026<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\t\n\t\n<\/div>\n\n

Courtesy Lora Teagarden on <\/i>Instagram<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n

I can\u2019t begin to describe to you how proud I was of our profession in that moment. For them to be literally stunned to silence through the power of design. To understand why I want to come to places like this, why I travel and why I do what I do every day.<\/p>\n

Expand the Horizons<\/h2>\n

I have a map of the world. On it, I\u2019ve marked off the countries I\u2019ve had the fortune to visit so far. But it also serves as a reminder to me to plan, save and prepare for the next trip. By expanding my horizons on the map, I expand my mental horizons of what is possible in life and design. I\u2019ve written before <\/a>about the fact that we have to continue to better ourselves or we perish in the profession.<\/p>\n

Travel helps this. Nothing forces you to grow more than an unknown culture and the need to eat. You can either eat at the Cheesecake Factory or not at all \u2026 or find a cool local spot and see what the local culture eats. Granted, I think I\u2019d be squeamish about eating bugs, but I\u2019m pretty sure you could put me anywhere and I\u2019d find something. Traveling helps me do that. (Positive travel experiences also reinforce that.) Some of my best memories are of talking to locals at a bar or finding and visiting a place because of a conversation with said locals.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not a complete rationale and definitely doesn\u2019t cover all of the reasons architects love, or feel an inherent need, to travel \u2014 but it\u2019s enough for this architect. I\u2019m already itching for the next trip.<\/p>\n

This article first appeared on L\u00b2 Design<\/a>. <\/i>Top image via London Time<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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