Architecture as Art
June 13, 2025
UNH Student Work
Rather than asking students to solve technical challenges, students are challenged to observe, to feel, and to imagine.
Partner Brian Murphy has been teaching undergraduate students at the University of New Hampshire and high school students at Philips Exeter Academy’s Exeter Summer program for the past several years. He’s also led downtown Portsmouth architecture tours with Portsmouth Middle School and built many a fairy house with the toddler set. None of the students he works with are pursuing a professional degree in architecture; but all have an opportunity to experience architecture through the lens of art.
Art, in the broadest sense, is the realm of human creativity and imagination. When considering the art of architecture, we tend to think first of form and aesthetics, or physical appearance. But the creativity and imagination in architecture lives just as vividly in what’s less immediately visible: in spatial relationships, proportions, scale, and rhythm. It lives in the quality of natural light as it shifts across a wall, in the acoustics of a quiet room, or in the transition from a narrow corridor into a wide, open space. It lives perhaps most vividly in the way all the many subtleties coalesce to create a deeper sense of relationship between building and place, between human and the greater ecological context.
Architecture is often approached through the lens of function or visual appeal, how a building works, how it looks from the outside. While these are essential aspects, they don’t capture the full depth of what the experience of architecture offers. At its heart, architecture is a form of art — an expression of human creativity and imagination that surrounds us, grounds us, and subtly shapes how we experience the world.
Exeter Student Work
Unlike most forms of art, architecture is immersive. We don’t just look at it, we live within it. It is often so much more than the backdrop for our lives; it is a force that actively influences how we feel, how we move, and how we relate to others and our surroundings. It has the power to calm or inspire, to orient or disorient, to open us up or draw us inward.
Brian’s work with his students is based on the conviction that anyone, at any age, can learn to recognize and then make artistic choices based on these qualities. Rather than asking students to solve technical challenges, students are challenged to observe, to feel, and to imagine. In recognizing architecture as art, students and practitioners alike begin to see buildings not only as objects, but as environments with emotional depth and cultural significance. Brian posits that each of us, by our mere existence in the built environment, must live as both students of and participants in its design.
In recognizing architecture as art, students and practitioners alike begin to see buildings not only as objects, but as environments with emotional depth and cultural significance.
UNH Student Work
Understanding architecture as an artistic discipline opens the door to deeper engagement with space, with culture, and with the human experience. It cultivates sensitivity to the intangible qualities that make a building more than a structure. When students learn to design not just for performance, but for presence, they begin to see the value of architecture not only as a professional transaction, but essential to shaping the world around us.
In our work, we often find ourselves focused on the technical aspects – optimizing energy efficiency or durability to provide value in the long term. But it is equally important that we consider how a space unfolds over time, how it connects to the landscape, and how it invites people to feel: safe, energized, curious, grounded. A thoughtful design considers not just the physical arrangement of materials, but the atmosphere it evokes.
Madbury library concept sketch and realization.
Ultimately, architecture is a powerful form of artistic expression not because it demands attention, but because it shapes experience—quietly and profoundly. It’s a medium that blends utility and beauty, rooted in the physical world yet reaching toward the abstract.
In recognizing architecture as art, students and practitioners alike begin to see buildings not only as objects, but as environments with emotional depth and cultural significance—spaces that reflect our values, expand our perspectives, and enrich our daily lives.
Resources