Examination of minimalist architecture and it's influence on our way of living - Essay Example

Despite this, minimalist architecture, regardless of where it is, who designed it, when it was created or what the end use is intended to be, tends to share a number of similarities. A study of two exemplar structures will reveal how some of the common characteristics of this approach are expressed which can then be used to examine how modern lifestyles might have been influenced by the movement. It is concluded that minimalist design has caused today’s society to be more conscious of the space they occupy, leading to a greater push for ‘green’ design and an effort to protect the environment we live in.

Architecture works in many ways to help shape and define a culture. Rather than simply erecting a specific building, the work of the architect can contribute to the advancement of a society through its artistic achievement, engineering or technical advancement, political statement or through a variety of other means. Like art, what a building communicates about the customs and culture of the time in which it is built depends somewhat upon how it is viewed and used by the people around it. Similarly, what it is able to achieve in terms of political or other statements is dependent upon the reactions of these same individuals.

Within this context, modernity is often described as a collection of studies into the social processes that order the world we live in while remaining in a constant state of flux. If one is speaking with Marshall Berman, modernity is described as “a mode of vital experience—experience of space and time, of the self and others, of life’s possibilities and perils—that is shared by men and women all over the world today. I will call this body of experience ‘modernity’.”1 It encompasses the social changes that are constantly taking shape, the way in which these changes are experienced and the reflection of these experiences in various circles.

It is a world of definition and ambiguity, a world of