Fernando Nieto Fernandez: Architecture as a Form of Knowledge
What kind of a relationship do we have with the environment that surrounds us? How do we live together and interact with others? Are there ways to support social connection yet maintain our ways of living and beliefs, our own space as individuals?
The discipline of architecture can provide answers to all these questions. The field of architectural design gathers the knowledge and skills needed to define the frame, the environment in which our lives unfold. It deals with the creation of spaces that shelter our activities, and their definition and materialisation in the form of buildings and urban spaces.
The current notion of cultural sustainability goes beyond understanding architecture as just the mere construction of buildings. It includes the cultural value or cultural significance of architecture as it translates into spaces the ways of life, customs, habits, beliefs, and rituals of human beings at individual and societal levels.
From Nieto’s perspective, we need architects with a holistic view of the discipline. Professionals who are able to understand and apply knowledge related to different technical as well as humanistic aspects that are embedded into their work.
This knowledge is related to a broad variety of factors such as historic, cultural, artistic, constructive, or technical, and even sociological and philosophical factors. The conjunction of all these factors allows architects to provide answers in the form of physical realities that previously did not exist.
