IT is 2015. A new year, a fresh start, a new beginning. I’m sure that many of you have made New Year resolutions, thrown away the old and started out the year with the new. I started the New Year with a celebration and I also had the opportunity to take time out to consecrate myself again to God, and to write down my faith goals, which takes the place of year-in-year-out resolutions. Along with my faith goals, I also have a separate page where I write down all the things that I’m thankful for the year just passed. This allows me to look back and check all the things that God has done for me and all the breakthroughs that He has made me witness of.
Before I write about my thoughts on architecture and design, I want to take this opportunity to welcome 2015 by honoring God first. The past year, I was given this wonderful opportunity to write, express my thoughts and invite readers to experience the design world and its environments through my eyes, my travels and my experiences. This year, by God’s grace, I will have many more to share. But, for now, allow me to dedicate my first article to God and honor His creation. After all, God is really the Supreme Architect and, without His designs, nothing will be made possible. By His will, all things exist and have been created.
When the world was created, God had every intention of making all things beautiful. He created man and woman to care for His creation and cultivate it in the best way possible. As a student with a passion for design and architecture, I had the opportunity to explore the designs of famous architects. I have traveled parts of the world and stood in front of some of the greatest buildings, sculptures and monuments man has ever made. I have also stood in front of God’s creations—mountainscapes, glaciers, river systems, wildlife, forest reserves and waterfalls. Nothing in the man-made environment comes as close to the majesty of creation. In my practice, I have been training my eyes and my brain to continually search for inspiration.
I’m pretty sure most designers out there do the same. I have often caught myself seeking for design inspiration in nature and in the most natural of things. I find inspiration in the wings of an insect, the skeleton of a leaf, the bark of the tree, or how a rock formation is formed against the continuous splashing and crashing of waves. Sometimes, I take inspiration from lines and curves that originate from the crevices of caves, or from the cliffs that took centuries to form, or from the breakwater that has withstood the seasons. It is in small things like these that great things happen.
When I study the designs of famous architects and designers, it becomes easily apparent that they also turn to nature or natural materials as their first source of inspiration. This is a common denominator among most of the architects I have come across. Everything is already demonstrated by nature—by God’s creation. He has created all the colors, lights, patterns, even numerical sequences—all of which spell out perfection that can only come from a Supreme Architect. These numerical combinations have inspired countless buildings and inventions. From the famous Greek Parthenon sitting on top of the Acropolis, to India’s modern-day Taj Mahal, all have followed these sequences in building design. So do Leonardo Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa and The Last Supper paintings.
Seashells, snowflakes, flowers in bloom, leaves, the scales of the reptiles, the patterns on the leopard, or even the design of a peacock’s feather—laid out on all the surfaces of the earth are patterns that inspire so much ideas. These shapes and patterns are merely scaled, adjusted in perspective, proportioned out to created wonderful buildings and breathtaking architectural wonders. Even parametric modeling, a tool used for design, is generated from the idea of how nature works. One has to wonder how all these patterns came into being, and how a designer’s mind is able to extract these patterns and transform them into something that man can understand and appreciate. Every time we use God’s gifts to see and appreciate the things He created and use our design skills to further the glory and power of God, we honor Him.
Earth and everything in it is the Lord’s. All who live in it are designed to give Him praise and honor. If we use the gifts God has given us in the right way, we honor Him. My prayer this year is for everyone to start the year right by appreciating God’s creation even more. In so doing, we further the crusade to take care of His creation—to take care of nature, to preserve the environment, to relieve harm from natural disasters by preparing well for them and allowing nature, God’s creation, to protect us from their power. As architects and designers, it is our responsibility to be stewards of creation, to take care of the things that give us inspiration and ideas. I challenge everyone to see the world as God intended it to be when He first created the world, and to appreciate the little things in nature that remind us of God’s presence everywhere we go—be it in the buzzing city, our backyard, in the beach or in the forest. I pray that we learn to see God in the most mundane things of creation, and to appreciate all the details in nature.
Where do you find your design inspiration? To honor God is to find Him in His details.
Have a blessed 2015 ahead.