In this age of instant information, technology provides us with succinct information instantly, relegating the practice of reading and writing as old school and romanticised. However, there is some solace in reading and writing – the process of confronting your thoughts in the quiet space in your head. I started this blog because I look at it as a journal – a place to write down my thoughts and develop the ideas in my head. This blog completes a year today, and I thought I would share why I write.
For starters, I find writing to be my outlet – a way to collect my thoughts and put them down in one place. More often than not, our thoughts are fleeting – interesting ideas and revelations flash by and writing ties it down, giving it the potential to develop into something greater.
Two, from my personal experience I’ve learnt that it helps answer my curiosity. All the questions and rhetoricals that rise get answered with time. By looking back at what one has written a while ago, we can see our growth and many looming questions of then seem to have obvious answers now.
Architecturally, it has a relevance that few understand and tap. The way we perceive buildings is often experiential, beyond its measurable qualities. Writing down our experiences of spaces helps us make better sense of them.
Four – the act of writing also keeps memories alive. Going back to read my description of the Taj Mahal, I can recall the experience much better than I could if I relied solely on my memory. We tend to write down the details that make that experience valuable and that stays with long after the experience.
Finally, the last reason why I write is because I want an architectural dialogue to extend beyond the community of architects. Space is universal and our experience in a place transcends our knowledge on the topic. Being conscious of how we feel and think raises our awareness, allowing us to grow and the act of writing brings us one step closer to this.
One year with this blog has given me immense scope to reflect and learn from various means – friends, teachers, books, discussions and of course, my own thoughts. As I get into my second year of blogging, I’ll leave you with this quote, something at the roots of why I write.
“I think the deeper you go into questions, the deeper or more interesting the questions get. And I think that’s the job of art.” —Andre Dubus III, published in Writer’s Digest