Do buildings have souls? I teach about a thousand students in school. We recently moved to a brand new building. I spoke with a professor of architecture who served as an advisor for planning our new campus. He introduced me to the idea that there are souls in the buildings. According to our consultant, the architectural concept of any building, be it a school, office or home, really has to be a metaphor or a way for the dreams and values of the people who will use this building. Drawing up and defining the soul of a building is a process that should include as many people as possible who will live in a finished structure.
In our school we decided to define her soul in a unique way. First, we held a competition in which anyone who was connected with our school could present a drawing, a story, a sculpture or a film about what they thought of our school. One student made a 3D model of children playing soccer. Parent introduced a series of pillows, each of which was different hero. from one of eight areas of expertise. For example, Galileo represented science. The teacher wrote a story about how a young woman with autism was accepted and loved in our school. The senior graduate wrote an article about why our sports team "The Warriors" is "The Warriors". and never say they die. the spirit of our students. All submissions have become part of a brochure for advertising the competition of design images for architects. They were asked to create a conceptual design for the search for & # 39; our school based on the soul. visions presented by our school community.
Entries in this competition were varied and exciting. One architect designed what looked like a multi-level tree. Another created a kind of butterfly drawing to show how our school wanted to transform the lives of children. Another of them came up with a plan that looked like an eagle's nest, since our school was supposed to be a place where children could learn safely, until they were ready to fly out on their own. One design was in the form of Noah's Ark. The winning record resembled the outstretched hands of God. Since our school is a religious institution, the architect made the primary and secondary school wings of our school each representative of one of God's hands with a huge courtyard in their open palms where community members could meet. If you go to our school today, this is the design that you will see.
I asked our consultant architect how we could know for sure that the building accurately reflected the “soul”. community in which it is located. He told me that the "soul" of the building could not be measured in any way. It was something that could only be noticed by the heart.
