A New Player Emerges: The Amorphous World of Architecture Meets A Fresh Voice

I am pleased to post the first entry of a blog that will strive to educate readers on an issue that shapes the world in which they inhabit. This blog aims to provide insight into the amorphous world of architecture and the urban fabric in which it shapes. Architecture, according to the general public, is often mistaken as just buildings. After extensive studies, I have found that all things in the built environment, whether it be a building or a park bench, begins to form a context in which all elements feed off one another. It is this notion that leads me to further reach to the un-built influences on architecture. These influences include, but are not limited to; social, political, cultural and economic forces. With that said, this blog will explore local phenomenons that shape the built environment of regions across the globe.

I begin my blog by introducing a set of resources in order to extend the scope of knowledge outside this particular discussion. At left, you will find a linkroll of relevant websites and blogs from a carefully selected group. The group was created by first searching general terms of relevance to Architecture and Urban Design in search engines, such as Google, and blog engines, such as Technorati. From there, locating research projects from reputable front runners in the industry and using them as a platform to link to other reputable sources proved to be a reliable way of finding new sites within the field. Once found, these online resources were then filtered using both the IMSA Criteria and The Webby Awards Criteria which are each used to determine the quality of a particular site. The Webby Awards Criteria uses 6 categories to judge a site; content, structure and navigation, visual design, functionality, interactivity, and overall experience. The IMSA Criteria uses a set of questions that challenge the credibility of a site’s contributor(s), sources, community, and language. The photo (above left) shows how two particular sites, Death by Architecture and World Changing, use visual design in two very different yet similarly effective ways. World Changing takes a classic and professional design where as the other uses an edgier and more experimental approach which I find to be quite appropriate for the design field. The selected sites have also been chosen to include a variety of sources including group blogs (such as BLDGBLOG), organizational sites (like Storefront for Art and Architecture) and commercial sites.

Before I depart, I would like to encourage the visitation of the various sites presented in the linkroll as they can be a valuable resource once Sight.on.Site begins to provoke thought and curiosities into its readers.