In the early hours of the day, oneās eagerness to rush out of the house and hit the road to catch the train or flight to another city is an indescribable and exciting moment we can all relate to. Along the way, weāve created this ideal image, and all that anticipation comes rushing to a euphoric moment when we first lay eyes on the city! It’s been a while since we felt this way, right?Ā With the ongoing pandemic, weāre optimistic that everyone misses those feelings.Ā Ā
Donāt worry; we have already prepared a few things for you when itās safer to travel. After the pandemic, here are some tips that you should know before visiting a city to make the most of your time there! If you cannot decide what cities you should visit and use these tips, here is a previous article called “Cities Architects Should Visit!” Make sure to check it out when planning!
Tip 1: Research The City Beforehand!
If you want to have a worthy and fruitful trip, you should research the city or particular area you are visiting. First, you should always gather information in advance about the city you are planning to visit. Make sure to have a few travel guides, maps, and tourist-route plans of the country to analyze and create a to-do list. This is a perfect way to start a trip like an architect! Itās important to know that research is an effective way to understand whether the architecture of that specific place is worth visiting. So as your research skills improve, your ability to analyze the architecture around you will also improve.Ā
Even when you arrive in the city, these investigations should always continue. As you travel, you should keep up reading, exploring with the map, and, most importantly, record notes of your inferences.Ā
While studying the city, itās essential to analyze and grasp the relationship between the architecture with its environment and how the urban design is structured. Try to pay more attention to the layers, details, and structures of the city. Learn what it means to observe and formulate a critique or praise of an architectural design and the city as a whole. What is the cultural equivalent of architecture in society? Ask yourself questions and make comparisons with other cultures and traditions.Ā
Go beyond your initial impression of the city and dissect its hidden layers. When examining a structure, you should internalize that structure and deepen your insight to develop your conceptual thinking skills. To this end, you may even need to be physically present in the structure, feeling, and listening to its inner voice.Ā Itās essential that we should be emotionally aware as well. Architecture is more than a measurement and form.
Tip 2: Take Notes and Sketch!
You should study and recognize the values of any architectural structures that you know, work, or will work on. The reason is that when you examine a piece of architecture, you can gain a valuable amount of insight while photographing, sketching, and, especially, taking good notes of your investigations.Ā This will improve your comprehension of architectural elements in any projects you come across while traveling!
Let’s talk a little about the importance of drawing. One of the most effective methods of interpreting architecture is drawing. When drawing, you will start to question what is exciting and important to you. At first, you may not understand why you drew that line in a different thickness with your pencil and why you added those small details to your drawing. However, as you develop,Ā you will realize that those minor details are the most important elements that make up the structure form of your drawing. Sketching enables you to find an answer that you may be seeking within an architectural project.Ā Itās safe to assume that all architects, whether well-known or not, will say that all inspiration, creativity, and success come from drawing.Ā
Donāt forget that drawings are only one side of the coin! Notes are equally important; they provide a summary of the trip, which is excellent for jogging memories.Ā So, how do we take good notes like an architect? Although everyone’s note-taking style is different, there are some commonalities. First, having a good notepad will allow you to take notes quickly and be quite functional. Second, Itās essential to transfer your notes that you wrote on your notepad to a memo pad in case anything happens. However, donāt just transfer your notes, but also pin or bind any tickets you have bought and photos to your notebook. Why are we doing all this? One of the best ways to remember things occurs when we combine writing and images as human beings. Otherwise, the bits of knowledge that we acquire during the trip may disappear. Itās better to be safe than sorry. Therefore, donāt just rely on your memory! Donāt forget: the palest ink is stronger than the sharpest memory!
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Tip 3: Travel With Awareness
How many times have you had the chance to analyze a building that you walk past thousands of times from an architectural point of view? How often do you look at a building using your architectural knowledge? To increase the knowledge and experience of a person in architecture requires a heightened awareness of the buildings and environment around them. This is why traveling with awareness is vital to increase oneās ability to analyze architectural structures.Ā
It is essential for all architects or architecture enthusiasts to develop this awareness because traveling worldwide and experiencing architecture on-site is one of the most important learning opportunities. Those who established this awareness, typically, make the most of the places they visit, learn how to make inferences, and expand their current knowledge instead of unconsciously traveling. Therefore, itās imperative to make inferences at the end of the trip as well as during the journey.Ā
It takes a lot of effort to travel around cities like an architect. You will have to read, study maps, draw, take photos of cities and buildings, and keep a notebook. Of course, letās not forget to enjoy and see what a city has to offer during your vacation!Ā You should go sight-seeing, visit the markets, explore the streets, and mingle with the people. Architecture results from the environment, culture, and technology, so itās impossible to understand the city without doing these fully. If you arenāt timid or have a friend with you, have fun exploring and getting lost in the city! Go wherever your heart takes you; listen, feel, memorize, and experience the hidden beauty of that city. This may mean you will be out of your comfort zone, but what better way to learn about a city than to get lost? If you have patience, enthusiasm, and a desire to learn, any trip will be easy and fun!
Tip 4: Stay In Touch With Locals
Getting to know a nation and a nation’s culture – language, works, literature, architecture, and history – is an important chance for people to develop themselves. The coexistence of many cultures and thoughts in a country is reflected in the traditions, way of thinking, emotions, and city architecture. The combination of these elements is called āmulticulturalism.ā This means cultural pluralism or diversity.
So, how do you exactly communicate with and live like a local?Ā You can try using the Ā Couchsurfing Travel app. This app helps you find a local who can introduce you to the city, become your friend, and enable you to broaden your network. If you travel to a new area and hope to find someone to introduce to the city, but know no one there, then this is the app for you!Ā Thanks to the Couchsurfing Travel app, you can have cultural interactions and information exchanges with locals.
This interdisciplinary environment is not only architecturally beneficial, but itās also an important opportunity for individuals who want to develop their vision and strive to gain knowledge in every subject. In my opinion, being an architect requires not only architectural expertise but also learning about other topics like people of different countries and their culture. As Matthew Fredrick said: “An architect knows something about everything. An engineer knows everything about one thing. ” Therefore, architects are individuals who have an insatiable desire to learn. Thatās why we shouldnāt stop learning in architecture. We must keep our knowledge and thoughts up to date to be a successful and responsible architect!
When you go to any city, you should keep these tips in mind to get the maximum benefit while traveling. And so, If youāve gone to all the places you marked on the map while sketching and taking notes, then you traveled like an architect! Now you know what to do the next time you are looking to check off your bucket list! Once the pandemic ends, how about you travel like an architect by considering these? Maybe, our paths will cross somewhere, who knows!Ā
Great satisfaction comes from sharing with others. Well, what do you pay attention to while traveling? If you have different tips to share, please include them in the comments section. Make sure to follow ourĀ YouTube andĀ Instagram for more content!
This was such a nice read! I especially loved the link for the Couchsurfing app provided within the text. I am sure I’d have thought of checking it out then never do if the link wasn’t there… And wow, Kudos to the quote from Fredrick. I live on this quote and smile every single time I see it. Can’t wait to actually implement these tips once we can go back to traveling after the Corona situation is over!
Thank you for taking the time to read this article submitted by Mehmet! We are excited for you to utilize these tips when traveling is safe!
What a great post. I liked the enthusiasm in your narration.
I believe this article will change the way we explore the cities, places. I think this is the best way to explore a city. You need to learn the city by googling itās history , walking on the streets, breathing the cities soul inside your lungs and taking notes every time. The main idea and the tips are perfect. Best regards to the writer. Always be curios about life and keep it going.
Exactly! We are glad that you appreciate the article and continue to visit us!
My! Such a rich article! I knew superficially what I had to do before, but I had not made my trip so consciously. I’m looking forward to following these tips after the pandemic process is over. I took my notes and I’m waiting for the Corona to finish. Thank you Mehmet!
It was a very informative and explanatory text, how great is this! Iām not an architect but I can think and see the buildings like an architect. I am impatient to go travel with this infos, congrats Mehmet, thank you! Be sure that I will take lots of photos..
It’s amazing to gain that appreciation and awareness even without an architecture background! We hope the world will soon be safe enough for everyone to travel again, but until then, be safe!
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Thank you so much! We are glad you are enjoying our content! All the credits for this article belong to the author!