The book 'Architecture of Happiness' begins with the chapter 'The Significance of Architecture', with the description of an unoccupied house.
The description of the house bathed in the morning sun provides the reader a feel of warmth. It is personified, enjoying its emptiness. The author indicates it housing ants, robins and even a leaning sweet pea plant with bees circling it. The architect who had designed it had the interiors done in it in such a manner that the house has the power to resist the pull towards dejection and allows space for restorative thoughts.
Yet the concern given to architecture has been viewed with suspicion since time immemorial. The negligence of observing the details of one's abode has been a historical constant, no matter how long or how short one's stay has been. Much pain has been taken by people to make themselves attain the expensive and picturesque houses. When an ugly house can reflect incompleteness in life, a sun - lit beautiful house accelerates the hope inside us. Many a times we tend to celebrate the significance of our surroundings; but this sensitivity to architecture can have irreparable negative impact on us. The author excellently compares the nature's beauty in summer to a newly built structure and says, "As summer gives way to winter, the beauty created by man too fades away with time." Thus our ancestors suggest that anything that might lose its beauty one day need to be excluded from our vision.
Many a times architects have realised how futile their efforts can go and even the most beautifully designed church would witness the meanest crime done beside it. Thus, architecture will always compete poorly with the utilitarian demands for human resources.
But when we are moved by architectural excellence, we have to realize that the structure has smoothened our feelings of a harsh reality. We need to be a little sad before buildings can properly touch us. We are usually under the impression that philosophy is difficult, but it's also a fact that it is nothing compared to the difficulty of being a good architect.