From Ubiquitous to Unique: Architecture as Meaningful Threads of Urban Fabric

From Ubiquitous to Unique: Architecture as Meaningful Threads of Urban FabricIn our globalized, modern world architecture is often relegated to singular, foreground objects while developers fill in the urban fabric. As a result of universally applied development models, our cities are becoming ubiquitously bland while the notions of meaning and place fade from society's collective memory. Our connection to places are most associated with the background of everyday experience, but those connections will continue to weaken as

In our globalized, modern world architecture is often relegated to singular, foreground objects while developers fill in the urban fabric. As a result of universally applied development models, our cities are becoming ubiquitously bland while the notions of meaning and place fade from society's collective memory. Our connection to places are most associated with the background of everyday experience, but those connections will continue to weaken as long as architects ignore the fertile, yet seemingly mundane urban fabric. For too long, architecture has been about making spaces instead of places, removing the contextual cues people depend upon to understand their environments. Rather, we are called upon to enrich our surroundings with design, allowing people to inform their worlds with meaning and experience. Designing from this point of view can have the power to transform our urban environments from ubiquitous to unique.