Architect addresses built environment at COB research forum

Wed, Sep 28th 2016, 10:41 AM


College of The Bahamas faculty, staff and students at the Research Edge Forum. (Photo: College of The Bahamas)

Architect Patrick Rahming implored students at The College of The Bahamas to consider their future contributions to creating a built environment that honors Bahamian society and through which its history and heritage could be preserved.

In social science, the term built environment refers to man made surroundings that provide the setting for human activity --buildings, parks, green spaces, neighborhoods and cities.

"The number one way the past communicates with the present is through the built environment," said Rahming during the Research Edge forum during which he addressed a special research series hosted by the School of Mathematics, Physics and Technology under the theme Art, Architecture and Culture in The Bahamas.

Rahming said before a person could address the notion of architecture, they must first address the language of architecture and the three areas of assessment -- context, aesthetic response and symbolism. Architecture, he said, has core requirements without which nothing matters.

"A work of architecture must visibly and sensually address these issues. For example a building in The Bahamas must clearly address the need for shade, the opportunity for outdoor living and the threat of hurricanes. It must address the location, especially the typography and orientation and it must address what is expected of it both by its owner and by the community at large," he said.


Architect Patrick Rahming speaks at the College of The Bahamas' Research Edge Forum.

The state of the nation report, the precursor to the future National Development Plan for The Bahamas, has identified the natural and built environment as one of four pillars on which The Bahamas of 2040 will stand. The others include the human capital of its citizens, the strength of its governance arrangements and the robustness of the Bahamian economy.

The report noted that the built environment encompasses what people have created with the natural capital: the buildings, utilities and services that provide shelter, clean water and energy, and the means to communicate, travel and sustain the food supply.

In his conversations with students and faculty, Rahming bemoaned the lack of substantial information relative to the built environment in the state of the nation report.

"It's what will define us and we have absolutely no interest in it. It's staggering. I don't know if you feel how important that is," he said.

The architect invited the audience to think critically about the place and value of the built environment in the overall development of The Bahamas.

"A thousand years from now when they excavate The Bahamas as an archaeological dig will the built environment you create speak of the most gifted tribe of people on the planet, of Olympic winners, Rhodes scholars, Academy and Emmy award winners, basketball, baseball and other sports superstars? Will they unearth evidence of a tribe that celebrated its births and deaths in dignity and its festivals with pride? Or will the ruins tell only of a tribe that couldn't afford to celebrate its own greatness?"

Rahming said he was concerned about the direction in which the country was headed. He was the first speaker to launch "A Conversation With" Series with assistant professor in the architecture department, Valaria Flax focusing on the past, present and future of art, architecture and culture in The Bahamas.


The College of The Bahamas Assistant Professor in the architecture department, Valaria Vlax.

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