To an Idaho student, a waterfalls in her region looks like a skyscraper that’s thin at the top and has cascades rippling downward toward the bottom, much like the tower at 1 Wall Street in New York City. To someone else, the sight of an egg shell evokes a dome, a delicate and yet strong design. After all, the egg shell doesn’t break despite a hen sitting on it. A row of grand oak trees conjures up the columns of a Greek temple.

We can see architecture all around us. At least this was the idea of a student from the Boise Architecture Project in Idaho who posed the question on the project’s Facebook page: “Have you ever been looking at some completely random thing and thought about architecture?” Carolyn Whited, a student at Timberline High School in Boise, gathered answers (including one I submitted) and then used them as the basis of an article, “Appreciating Architecture in Unexpected Places,” on the PreservationNation blog published by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Playing a game of Jenga first spurred the question.

The answers as well as the article remind us how similar forms and shapes exist both in the natural and human-created world. They show how persistent principles such as symmetry and order are and how the best architecture leaves powerful images that stay within us day to day.

Such curiosity and awareness are a key part of what the Boise Architecture Project (BAP) is about. The four-year-old project, led by teacher Doug StanWiens, is an endeavor of Boise high school students to research, document, photograph, and promote great architecture in Boise. The BAP focuses on integrating architecture, preservation, and digital education into a new model for studying the community. (You can follow the group’s activities on the PreservationNation blog as well as through Facebook and Twitter.)

A Building in a Sofa

In this instance, the inquiry sparked a range of unique answers that prove, as Whited writes, that “architecture is everywhere.” A fellow Timberline High student, Alexandria Hughes, thought that Multnomah Falls, a magnificent waterfall that falls on the Oregon side of the Columbia River Gorge, resembles a tall building that is tapered at the top and grows progressively wider downward. Another Timberline teen, Nate Spencer, said he thinks of architecture when he sees couches, ceramic pieces, and many other objects. StanWiens looks to the natural architecture of Arches National Park in Utah, a visual impact and experience of beauty that he likens to the Chrysler Building’s incredible swooping shapes.

Most often, I’m inclined to think of design and architectural forms when out in nature. Clouds bring up shapes I see all the time in buildings. While I was recently walking at Jones Beach on Long Island, the wide-open sky with billowy clouds felt like looking at the soaring ceilings of a Gothic cathedral. Even everyday objects such as a can, a layer cake, or aluminum foil (perhaps Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim Museum Bilbao) prompt thoughts about architectural structures.

Clouds at Jones Beach create the feeling of a cathedral ceiling.

Of course, architects have not only noticed architecture in their midst but the forms and qualities around them have shaped and influenced their designs and concepts for many a moon. Frank Lloyd Wright sought to integrate nature’s principles and forms in his philosophy, design, and choice of materials and colors. Natural shapes and forms, especially of the sea, influenced the Art Nouveau style of Spanish Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi. As one awakens more to how objects, principles, and forms around us make us think of architecture, it enhances the appreciation of the beautiful and powerful structures architects have produced.

Do you see something in your surroundings – whether outdoors or in your home, walking the street or wherever – that makes you think about and envision architecture?