The Secret Life of Buildings

A new show that measures the impact of #architecture in human life

We spend 85% of our lives inside but rarely, if ever, consider what impact the design and architecture of these spaces have on us. Yet the design of our living space can connect and silently shape our identity, self-esteem, relationships, chances at school, and even our weight and immune system.

Architecture critic Tom Dyckhoff looks at how architecture affects us at home, work and play, and discovers the secret ways that buildings profoundly affect our behaviour, feelings and identity.

In “The Secret Life of Buildings”, Thomas addresses the point from the real consumer perspective, as inhabitants of a human designed space, and breaks into pieces the nonsense of starchitects with big egos. Tom Dyckhoff challenges the works of architects like Frank O. Gehry, Zaha Hadid, Bjarke Ingels, and Sir Norman Foster, putting them face to face with the people living/working/playing in the place they designed. The 3 episodes are centered around the building use typologies: Home, Work, Leisure, and some very questionable experiments on physical health or psychology are presented to fundament the findings.

It is quite notable that after so many years of stardom in the kingdom of God-like untouchable architects, someone has decided to actually step back, think about it and ask: are we doing things right? is architecture going in the right direction? anything is valid if they say it´s art?   The approach is really interesting and appealing, but it is far from balanced and always keeps a biased opinion either in favour or against it. Which I would say it´s not fair & deliberate specially in the case of Lord Norman Foster. After 40 years of practice, successful buildings all over the globe in the hundreds, pure innovation, always smart design, referent alive for generations to come,… and the presenter just maintains an unjustified position of attack in order to grab a juicy headline. And he did, the UK architectural professionals are outraged, because in the end he tried pushing Foster to admit the interiors of Swiss Re HQ (The Gherkin) were a disaster, and just then, the conversation derailed trying to defend they were not.

I have serious doubts about people who life professionally as critics, and personally respect a lot more the ones who choose “To Do” instead of “To Talk”. But someone has to do it, and we cannot be actors and audience at the same time. Everyone has to play their part and Mr. Dyckoff keeps a good track on doing so, broadcasting architecture to the public domain. Creative works are always subject to interpretation and a building is a miracle in itself if you look at the amount of things that can go wrong in the process. Having that in mind, I would also consider that it was just about time that someone would shout loud and stop the irrational iconic race in which we are immersed. There must be something wrong when Victorian Architecture built more than 100 years ago, sometimes functions better than things we just finished, and without need for complicated machines to solve the lack of common sense.

As a conclusion I would say that even with some of the questionable arguments used in the programme, it is worth all the credit for starting the debate and we should thank them for it. The series have great key interviews, good filming, a bit of science, and a cheerful presenter, so I would surely like to see a longer and deeper discussion about this important issue. The programme is purely for entertainment and focused for mainstream audience, so something more rigorous and factual would attract the attention from universities and professional sector.

Image by SimplyTelevision