SEE. THINK. DO.

By Brittany Ricker

A trip to a library a few years back… (Kent Free Library – Kent, Ohio) These are the ideas..questions..thoughts I had as I left. These thoughts are still stuck with me and guide me through my personal design process…

We [as architects, designers, artists, students, and humans] need to: See. Think. Do.

There is a division between art and life!
There is no happiness-We are selfish human beings!
(We need to all see and experience the lives of those who have nothing. Step in their shoes for a day and imagine their struggles! The difference is they don’t know any better so they don’t see their lives as a struggle! We have the library but do we take advantage of it? NO! They have nothing yet we complain. We are the selfish ones. We are the ones ruining the meaning of life. HARSH? No, Not harsh..TRUTH! We are greedy..in one way or another, we are all greedy!
Technology is crippling us!
Revolution is needed! (Spiritual and public realm)
There is no heartfelt emotion!
There is no unity! ­
We thrive on form resulting in formalism!

Where is the emotion in architecture?
Why don’t more people think critically?
Is there a reason we aren’t more curios?
Why is there no medium in design? Extreme formalism or extreme boring is the “color palette” in today’s architecture.
Can we have revolution to change the spiritual and public realm?
Is it possible to focus on the people in design rather than our selfish desires?

Hold yourself accountable.
Destroy the division between art and life!
Solve the d*** problem!
Get curious now!
Prepare for tomorrow!
Do what you love, and do it with PASSION!

Use your skills and help someone.
(Life goal: make life less difficult for each other! Imagine how life would be if everyone went out of their way to help someone... Now imagine if all architecture served a purpose and created heartfelt emotion just by occupying the space…just imagine!)

Believe in yourself and don’t settle for anything!
(If everyone was a follower we would never get anywhere in life! The most magnificent creations and revolutions happened because someone didn’t want to settle. They broke away. Anyone is capable in doing just that! Just believe in yourself and think outside of the box. Don’t be selfish…just don’t be followers!)

Do away with the useless. Eye-candy is useless.
(We thrive on eye-candy but it does not thrive on us. It’s useless and serves no purpose. What is the library building doing for me? Nothing! The books are the purpose and should have been the ultimate focus! Instead, the books are pushed off to the side and why the heck is the children’s area upstairs!? Children are the future and should be given INFINITE space to learn and enrich their lives! Disagree if you must. At least you are thinking critically!)

Start asking those “DUMB” questions.
You know there’s a time where you sat there contemplating whether or not you should ask or speak up about something because you were worried that others might judge/laugh/think you’re dumb…. Well there’s a pretty good chance at least one other person did not know either but wouldn’t speak up. I’m guilty of this…sometimes I catch myself running the question or thought in my head trying to think of the best way to say or ask it so it doesn’t sound “stupid” or crazy….before I know it… the conversation switched and I’m left still curious. So instead of asking the question and getting an answer or sparking a discussion…I’m left clueless about that topic AND the topic I missed while I was trying to figure out what to say…. This is something I have struggled with for quite some time...I’m working on it… and I challenge you to start asking those “dumb” questions too. 

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