Architecture over Personality

Architecture is one field of where your personality and career cannot be separated from eachother. A few days into getting architecture school, and the way I looked at buildings changed. I began to notice the little details of how buildings projected out, of the small details in the streets and once we began to learn urban design, of the patterns on the streets - where did the people crowd around, where did they socialize? 

Move to being a professional - yesterday, I  got back to a friend's house - one I had been to multiple times during my student days. But this time, my way of looking at it was different. I couldn't look at the house just as it was - like I did earlier. Looking at the tiles, I wondered where she might have procured it from. She didn't have glossy tiles anywhere in the house. It was all matt tiles. They had a deeper step down between the dry and wet areas of their bathroom. I wondered whether that was the client's or the Architect's idea. I see their wardrobe and wonder - whether it was done at the factory or the carpenters personally.  Even as a very exhausted me went to sleep,   I noticed the plug points that was right above the bed - probably easier to use, but wouldn't let people sit on the bed without hurting their backs. 

I wondered how I missed all of this when I was here earlier. Probably the efficiency of the mind to filter out details you don't need - and now that I deal with them, I wonder the story of how this house was made. I wonder about the architect they approached. I imagine the early conversations.  I guess the stories are not going to escape my curiosity for every house I go to now. 

So fellow architects, does your mind go fetching stories and details as well?

- Ananya (Architect)