Every building has a story to tell which becomes evident from the moment you look at it. Just pay further attention and you start to notice its little details that make each building unique and different from all others. In this world of architectural advancement and technology, not every building that is built; is a great building. According to my opinion, here are some of the things which make a building great;
How comfortable you feel inside it?
For me the comfort level is the most important when I choose to call a building great because buildings are meant for people to live inside or perform their daily life activities and thus if it is comfortable, it means it is successful. Think about a glass building in Middle East and you can imagine that it can never be comfortable in summer period unless you turn the air conditioners on.
Hence a building can be made comfortable only it is designed keeping in view its purpose and climate. Although electrical and mechanical systems have made it easy for building owners to make them comfortable, yet I call a building comfortable and great when you can use it with your comfort level without turning on the mechanical or electrical systems.
The ease to move around or use the spaces:
A building is great if it fulfills the purpose for which it is designed without troubling the inhabitants. Such as an overly crowded shopping mall with narrow corridors is an example of a bad building because it cannot provide comfort to shoppers in their movement from one shop to another. Thus this depends a lot on the designers involved to make the place as accessible for users as possible. Likewise I would call an office building great if all the workers are happy to work in the spaces allocated to them which should be neither too narrow nor too wide.
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| Arts Tower, Sheffield, UK |
Durability or Sustainability of the Building:
The longer a building lasts serving the humans from one generation to another, the better. Such a building is called a sustainable building; which has the ability to withstand the pressures of time or weather changes and still able to stand tall without falling apart. The sustainability of a building depends on the materials used, structure and maintenance parameters. One of the great buildings I had a chance to visit is the Arts Tower, The University of Sheffield; standing tall since 1965
The aesthetics according to purpose:
Although for a building to be great, aesthetics are not always important but a building should at least look like doing justice to its purpose. For example, I would not like a hospital building to look like a club or similarly a club should not look like a clinic of some sort.
These are some of the factors that came into my mind which I believe make a building great, but feel free to explore other factors!
Thank you for reading again!
Best Wishes
Maha