I scrolled past this image today and paused a second to gasp. I’ve forgotten how much I miss experiencing places in the built environment. I studied architecture in college and I think a part of me has always been tuned to the design of place, of space, and how people move around, view, and experience it.

I haven’t seen much architecture this year, other than through my screens.

But just seeing those epic proportions. Imagining walking among that structure, through those imposing legs of the building. To be put in one’s place. To realize the smallness of oneself. To experience what cooperation and collaboration can create with your full body and being.

Architecture has something that software can’t capture (yet). Richness of materials. Scale beyond a screen. Full immersion.

The user experience of a building isn’t straight forward, isn’t a journey. It’s a life. No one opens a piece of software and gasps. I have yet to have a life-altering experience via pixels. There’s opportunity in the future, but for now, I wish I could stroll through that plaza and run my fingers over the concrete as I take in the view.