We all, depending on our belief system, ask ourselves the fundamental questions about our existence: who are we, where did we come from, what is our purpose, and where do we go after we die? From an architect’s perspective, these questions are paramount and lead to structures hopefully built to last. The aim of this essay is to show, by use of the Socratic method, how the human body influences our architecture, but it does not sufficiently influence our social systems.
One could ask: Is the liver a Company? Is the body a Corporation? Is the heart the CEO? Are the lungs like the Amazon jungle? Who are the real oxygen lords of this planet? Does the body operate with a board of directors and shareholders? Is the brain the master planner and strategist? Or is it the soul or consciousness? What about the energy fields outside our body, and all the other metaphysical questions one might be curious about? How will artificial intelligence (AI) intersect with our own? Having embraced a multi-disciplinary route in my life, I find myself in a unique position to offer a perspective not universally travelled. This is my venture into speculative thinking (thinking outside of the box).
My fascination with the study of anatomy, theology, and psychology eventually led me to becoming an architect – a spiralling path that guided me to my ultimate profession. This academic journey allowed me to use the equilibrium found in the human body as a metaphor for all I designed. I planned and supervised the construction of homes and buildings with that basic principle in mind during my entire career. After a meeting or two with clients, I could envision their dream home as I altered the empty spaces. The house had to be pleasing, to “feel like home,” to be structurally sound, and in perfect balance, like the human body; a working system of interrelated parts.
There were so many inspirations for me: from the “Seven Wonders of the World” to our mythological past. The Pyramids (golden triangles with their height-to-base ratio) held tremendous appeal, as did Solomon’s Temple (the first temple in Jerusalem, according to the Hebrew Bible, which stood for over four centuries). I later realized that all these iconic structures were influenced by our understanding of the human body.
The idea of a divine creator and alchemist intrigued me. Who created us? Who created the Creator? The questions were endless in my quest for knowledge. Throughout history, artisans such as carpenters and stone masons carried out impressive building projects. In time, the term “master builder” was used. I thought of God as the universal master builder. The human body is truly an enigma and a miracle. It is a great example of this “master builder” at work. It would become the anchor in my architectural practice.
As I continued my studies in architecture, I realized how important it was to juggle my left brain thinking and my right brain thinking. As a student at McGill University I reminded myself to hold my head upright and dead centre, as the teaching sometimes led us to lean our head to one side. There was too much emphasis on Cartesian thinking. I recall the satiric Plumber’s Pot newsletter where the student writers depicted women as just a collection of private parts, with no heart or soul. Often, it was filled with quasi-pornographic cartoons.
Yes, there was a strong engineering component in Architecture School, but the creative side was equally important. The titles of engineer and architect were once almost interchangeable. In antiquity there was a master/apprentice schooling model, perhaps more intuitive and visionary, with no formal education as we know it today. Pencils and paper were not used in Europe until the fifteenth-century or so. When pencil was used on paper and official drawings became manifest, pre-construction drawings became the domain of professionals and less so of craftsmen. In the 1990s, we left the pencil behind and started using Computer-Aided Design (CAD) tools. I learned my “trade” initially by sketching and by using the drafting board, as our predecessors did for hundreds of years. Just a few decades ago, we would no longer draft by hand; and notions of linear perspective or three-dimensional building, plus modern DataCAD or AutoCAD computer systems, would catapult the profession further than we had ever imagined.
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But balance remained key as we studied the human body, whether we used a pencil or the new technology. We have a heart, lungs, two arms, two legs and a head, for a reason. No one part or organ dominates any other. That is the foundation for all architects.
The Vitruvian Man by Leonardo Da Vinci captured my imagination, as it depicted the harmony between nature and the human form. What is often less appreciated is the pictorial form of the human body as a potential hybrid creation. Da Vinci was notorious for providing hidden messages. The drawing of the body in perfect balance embodies a man in superimposed positions, with his arms and legs apart, and inscribed within both, a circle and a square. The concept of the ideal human body proportions was an inspiration for Da Vinci from the ancient Roman “architect” Vitruvius. So, how does all this relate to corporate structures?
For a student of architecture, the first lesson is to understand the body and its proportions. Every Saturday morning we were in “sketching school” to learn to sketch the human body. Models would sit in the centre of our classroom and we would draw the contours of the body. We understood how one part of the body was interrelated to another. If, for example, you left out a leg, the body would not stand correctly. There must be symmetry and alignment.
In architecture, technical and environmental knowledge, construction management, business and psychology are certainly as important as design, but I would add that a deep understanding of the structure and function of the human body is even more critical. The architect must plan an entire project from conception to execution, while leading a diverse design team that includes mechanical and structural engineers, project managers, and other specialists and artisans. For this, the human body is the ideal guide. Like an architect, the human body uses its circulatory system of arteries and veins to continuously deliver the oxygen (energy) to each of its parts, with the heart being the pumping station. There is no hoarding of resources or supplies, just a balanced flow with no organ dominating any other one.
In this human-centred model, one organ does not swallow another to be king or dictator. There is no “good part” or “evil part.” There is no right wing or left wing. There is no Christian part or Muslim part. There is no elite part versus a cheap-labour part. There are no winner organs and loser organs. The body parts are not in competition with each other. There is harmony, equilibrium, synergy, regeneration – the possibility for new birth or creation. The body is a cooperative venture comprised of complex organizations with no monetary system.
Architectural structures need to be functional, aesthetically pleasing, and sustainable. To me, it was about creating spaces that were built to last, while providing serenity and beauty; but without losing a sense that humans must thrive. But an architectural firm expects to be profitable. So we must ask: how come nature flourishes without a monetary system? There is no profit margin concept in the human body.
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Is the liver a company or a multi-national corporation? Does the heart operate under a Capitalistic model, and the kidneys under a Communist one. Sounds ludicrous, right? Have you ever seen a single tree store tanks of water or hoard mounds of rich soil to survive? In nature, there is equilibrium. The liver is not a profit-generating system, nor a company.
The corporate model does not exist in the human body. The human body is an example of a perfectly synchronized co-operative (not corporation) with a complex organizational flow of supply and demand. There is no notion of profit in the human body, nor does one organ dominate another. The liver does not decide to store additional nutrients just in case. How did the design of our cities deviate from the primordial design of the human body? If our body was wired like our society, the human species would have become a footnote in evolutionary history a very long time ago.
Today, architects must be strategists, collaborators and innovators. They must adapt, evolve and change, as they face more digital transformation and greater challenges such as the climate crisis, rapid urbanization, population density and housing shortages, to name a few. Newer technologies and the Cloud have enabled more collaboration and creativity. Autodesk BIM is an example of sharing one platform for all stakeholders involved in the building process.
Everyone is aligned, from design to delivery. New skills and more inclusive work strategies are being developed. Will we use our technology wisely? In the Renaissance, the human body was thoroughly studied and dissected as it became the foundation for artistic and scientific advancement. I wonder whether our humanity and the human body will be depicted and reflected in the digital AI revolutions of tomorrow? Let’s continue to ask questions, like Socrates once did.
Nick Adornato is a former educator and retired architect with a multi-disciplinary background. This article is an excerpt from a manuscript he has been researching and writing over the years.
