A Manifesto for Architecture .

Architecture is the built environment that surrounds us.
Houses and skyscrapers beg for attention in the traditional notion of architecture.
These buildings, however, only constitute a part of what we can call "architecture."
Architecture is the process by which anything can be designed and physically constructed.
It is the mega-structures of bridges and tunnels, and it is the micro-structures of computer chips and nanotechnology.
On the grander of these scales, architecture can engulf us.
It has the ability, as a tangible and emotive force, to convey feeling, meaning, and awareness.
Architecture, like painting and music, is a tool for communication.
Yet, where painting stimulates our vision and music stimulates our hearing, architecture has the power to stimulate our sense of space and our overall 3-dimensional awareness.
We experience architecture with the senses that allow us to navigate the 3-dimensional world.
The stimuli we collect from these senses is converted to cognition and emotion.
An architectural space can evoke from us the same response as any good work of art.
It can make us feel happy, sad, relaxed, stressed, excited, nervous, powerful, or powerless.
As architecture grows increasingly reliant on efficiency, practicality, and finance,
I call for a return to focus on architecture's fundamental role as a stimulus for human response.