It was an honour for Cyprus and an achievement for the Cyprus Architects Association (CAA) to have Mr. Patrik Schumacher as a speaker on their annual lecture for 2018, held on the 27th of June.
Mr. Schumacher is a renowned architect, principal and leader of Zaha Hadid Architects. The main hall of the Famagusta Gate, chosen for the venue, proved small to house the massive attendance by established, as well as new architects. Our company was proudly present at the event as the Golden Sponsors of CAA and happy to have contributed towards making it happen. Mr. Schumacher is recognized as one of the most prominent thought leaders in the field of architecture. With an educational background in architecture and philosophy, designing is not just drawing lines to him. Creation is a philosophical way of altering the world and creating the foundations of new styles in architecture.
As he explained in his lecture titled ‘Design as Second Nature’, design should adapt to the environment and be part of the surrounding nature. Beauty of the design should have a meaning and be part of the whole performance. Versatility and legibility are elements that must blend with each other and adapt to the setting. According to Mr. Schumacher, each element of design should work well with the other to form a composition, just like nature itself. Nature acts as a true inspiration to him, where coherence, variegated logic and order exist harmoniously. He strongly believes that designers should always turn to nature for paradigm and ideas.
Order, is another extremely important element for Patrik Schumacher, which he emphasised in his lecture. Order, he claims, should exist in every design, in every landscape. He stressed however that he prefers an environment with originality and experimental ideas put in an orderly way, to a boring one with structured and identical elements. The same criticism was expressed for many different ideas that do not blend well with one other and end up forming a chaotic result. The designs shown during Mr. Schumacher’s presentation were breath taking. Each one was spectacular and more magnificent than the previous one, indicating a genius behind the design. We saw buildings where each line meant something, proving that architecture is far more emotional and deeper than the simplistic notion of drawing buildings. It was a very interesting and impressive lecture that left the audience in awe. We felt privileged to attend Patrik Schumacher’s lecture and be part of this experience.
