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Written by: Noor Aizura Zulkifli

Architecture usually calls our attention to physical things. But in detail, those physical
things are actually close related to people; the people who designed and made buildings, and
the people who use and experience them. People are one of the components in society.
Questions; what can we understand about society by examining its buildings and physical
environment? What can we understand about buildings and environments by examining the
society in which they exist? Anthony D.King in his book µBuildings and Society¶ stated the
assumption behind it is that buildings, indeed, the entire built environment, are essentially
social and cultural product.
Social can be defined as an interaction process between individuals or community.
Community indicates a group of people with a common identity and often interact regularly.
Socialization makes these groups of people communicate to each other, sharing knowledge
and exchange information. It is a process of learning to adopt the behaviour patterns among
the community members. When interaction occurs, these groups of people called society.
Society can be refers as an organized group of people who share a homeland and who depend
on each other for their survival and well-being. A human societies often have their own
identity which characterized by patterns of their relationships that share distinctive culture or
institution. However, each human society has an overall culture, but all societies contain
groups of people who have lifestyles that are not shared by the rest of society.

Meanwhile, culture refers to the learned, socially acquired traditions of thought and
behaviour found in human societies. It is socially acquired lifestyle that includes patterned,
repetitive ways of thinking, feeling and acting. Some anthropologists prefer to view culture as
a purely mental phenomenon consisting of the ideas that people share concerning how one
should think and act. It is meaning that society shaped the culture and the culture is a basic
structure of social system. Cultural connotation is differs from one place to another. The
differences is because of many factors such as climate, topography, the way of living, the
way of thinking and the way of acting within their own natural surroundings in the society.
Knowledges, beliefs, arts, activities, behaviours, traditions, value, skills and abilities reflect
the culture in human society. However, culture can be learned and shared. Therefore, it can
be integrated and changed because culture is dynamic.
 Meanwhile, socio-culture is a combination of social and cultural aspect to perform a
unique value in society. The term socio-cultural is a useful reminder that society and culture
form a complex system of interacting parts. Socio-culture is the way people act and develop
based around their surroundings. The socio-culture approach is also based upon people¶s
beliefs and what they stand for. The social factors, as well as cultural factor are the roots
which formed the society. They have been assimilated and developed over the years and
decades, going through evolution and remains there to be evolve times to times. Socio-culture
is also about how people lived before and how they live now. In short, socio-culture is an
interpretation of man - to - man - to - environment - to - man interaction that consider
historical and contemporary value which shaped the society now and will shape the society
later.

The essential idea of socio-culture in architecture is making buildings more

responsive to human value. John Portman in his articles µAn Architecture for People and Not
for Things,¶ addressed architect to speak of statics and dynamics. Architect in the past have
tended to concentrate their attention on the building as a static object. He believed that
dynamics are more important; the dynamics of people, their interaction with spaces and
environmental condition. Architects must learn to understand humanity better so that they can
create an environment that is more beneficial to people, more rewarding and more pleasant to
experience. This is the simple idea about socio-culture; how to bring people closer to their
environment and appreciate things around them.

Socio-culture is just something around us; the people, the environment, and everything that
we live and experience with it. Building results from social needs and accommodates a
variety of functions such as economic, social, political, religious and cultural. A good
architecture should represent the people literal image of their environment, and making it
better. Architects may not be a sociologist, but they should think with collectivism minded to
tackle the socio-culture issues. It is important to understand that architecture must be thought
of as following several directions and taking several aspects into overall consideration. This
would definitely help to generate a sustainable world and a better place to stay.