| Do buildings have souls? I teach in a school with | | | | advertise a design imagery competition for architects. |
| nearly a thousand students. We recently moved into | | | | They were invited to create a concept design for |
| a brand new building. I talked with an architecture | | | | the 'look' of our school based on the 'soul' visions |
| professor who served as an advisor for the planning | | | | provided by our school community. |
| of our new campus. He introduced me to the idea | | | | The entries in this competition were diverse and |
| that buildings have souls. According to our consultant | | | | exciting. One architect had designed what looked like |
| an architectural concept for any building whether it is | | | | a multi-level tree house. Another had created a kind |
| a school, office or home should really be a metaphor | | | | of butterfly layout to show how our school desired |
| or image for the dreams and values of the people | | | | to transform children's lives. Another had come up |
| who will use that building. Articulating and defining the | | | | with a plan that resembled an eagle's nest since our |
| soul of a building is a process that needs to include as | | | | school was to be a place where children could learn |
| many of the people who will inhabit the finished | | | | safely till they were ready to fly out on their own. |
| structure as possible. | | | | One design was in the shape of a Noah's Ark. The |
| At our school we went about defining it's soul in a | | | | winning entry resembled God's outstretched open |
| unique way. First we held a contest where anyone | | | | hands. Since our school is a religious institution the |
| connected with our school could submit a drawing, a | | | | architect had made the elementary and high school |
| story, a sculpture, or a movie about what they | | | | wings of our school each represent one of God's |
| thought constituted the 'soul' of our school. One | | | | hands with a huge courtyard in their open palms |
| student made a 3D model of children playing soccer. | | | | where members of the community could meet. If |
| A parent submitted a series of pillars each featuring a | | | | you walk into our school today that is exactly the |
| 'hero' from one of eight areas of knowledge. Galileo, | | | | design you will see. |
| for example, represented science. A teacher wrote a | | | | I asked our consulting architect, how we could know |
| story about how a young woman with autism had | | | | for certain that a building accurately reflected the |
| been accepted and loved at our school. A senior | | | | 'soul' of the community it housed. He told me the |
| about to graduate wrote an article about why our | | | | 'soul' of building could not be measured in any way. It |
| sports team name "The Warriors" represented the | | | | was something that could be discerned only with the |
| 'can do' and 'never say die' spirit of our students. All | | | | heart. |
| of the submissions became part of a brochure to | | | | |