Architecture can be poetic, but can the same be said about poetry inspired by design? A bit of a thought experiment on the cross-pollination of built environment design and literary design lead to a unique exhibit from several years ago on this very topic. Two faculty members at the Miami University in Ohio curated an exhibition showing student work with correlating student sonnets.
"...The two art forms are similar because of their interest with form, their use of meter or structure, and their stance toward their environments..." says Architect and faculty member Ben Jacks. "Both poetry and architecture...involve our perception and how that perception is translated into a created, or built, environment."
Why this is important to designers and poets alike is the fact that both art forms convey subtleties and nuances that are often esoteric to those not in the respective fields or circles. Designers and writers both have command over their "artistic license," to build or write as they feel most powerful, and often, to the untrained eye (or ear), much of the logic or beauty can be missed. Where the overlap occurs is in the articulation - one prose and one physical. In order for others to appreciate the craft, one must be able to define it, and explain it well. This exhibit and exercise meant for Architecture students is an important one in the sense that they must express their design verbally in a new, challenging and interesting way. Although this exhibit is now a decade old, more collaboration of this type should be encouraged in schools and in the profession (we are creatives, after all!). To get started, perhaps our next blog post will be a Haiku on Hypostyles...
Source: https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/text/walking-poems-buildings-poetry-and-architecture-collaboration