How to design freedom a journey of a nomadic architect

[Music]

four years ago

i decided to quit my life nothing seems

to make sense to me

while everyone around me seems to be

satisfied only i

couldn’t check the feeling that

something wasn’t right

after my life partner and i decided to

split i moved to tel aviv

i was sitting in my tiny apartment

surrounded by boxes that used to be my

life

items i collected over the years

suddenly seemed like a burden

a heavy load they strive to take off my

shoulders

next to my building there was a 24-hour

construction site

and my noise-cancelling headphones

couldn’t help me anymore

it was if the city was trying to push me

away

but i couldn’t understand why i had

checked all the boxes on the adult life

list

i had a great job as a partner in an

architecture firm

i was in a meaningful relationship with

a wonderful guy and my future looked

bright

yet i couldn’t help feeling unfulfilled

have you ever found yourself asking is

that all there is

well in that extremely loud moment in my

apartment

i decided i’m going to find out for

myself

i needed more than working nine to five

in an office

i was craving life new experiences and

new ways of connecting with people and

cultures across the world

i decided to sell all my belongings to

get rid of the heavy boxes and go on a

one-way ticket journey

to places i always wanted to be in even

if at a time

i had no clear plan to follow this meant

i had to give up my identity as an

architect

since i was taught there is only one way

of practicing architecture

just the thought of it terrified me

after all of those years of studying and

working

but i couldn’t imagine living another

day that looks exactly like the one

before

working on another building that looks

exactly like the one next to it

like a machine it’s the exact opposite

of what living means to me

my friends and family couldn’t

understand what i was doing

they thought i was crazy throwing my

life away after

everything i worked so hard to achieve

but the way i saw it it was my chance to

rewrite the script of my life

so the first thing i did was to fulfill

an old dream of mine

and fly to japan one of my favorite

things to do there was getting lost on

purpose each morning i would wake up

choose a spot on tokyo’s map that i

haven’t been to before

go there and wander around for hours

there’s a special magic in the act of

losing control

walking around without a specific

destination it makes you experience

your environment in a mindful way i

started paying attention to details and

took the time to stop for tea

and do nothing but admire the beauty of

the teacup or the local woodwork

for the first time in years i felt alive

my senses were sharp i could breathe

deeper and i was finally feeling like my

curious self again

at that point different questions

started arising

if i’m not an architect what am i who am

i and how am i going to afford keep

doing what i’m doing

after traveling for a while i became

lonely

when i first arrived i was mainly

interacting with tourists who usually

left after a few days

quickly after i began seeking people

that lived there

as i continued my travels i met more and

more people that identified themselves

as global citizens

a new movement of people who all

explored during their home countries

some of them fell in love with a

specific place and started their life

theirs

others formed a pneumatic lifestyle and

kept moving around between different

countries and continents

for those people borders do not exist

following the sun like birds

many of these global citizens were

working online or started

or started their own businesses in a new

country we met in working spaces cafes

meetups and shared apartments they

formed communities in

beautiful locations across the world and

saw the world as their playground

as they craft their lives according to

their own values

i felt like we share a similar mindset a

mindset of choice

these people were in the same journey as

i was reinventing the way they live

work and connect in the old paradigm

success was measured by having a big

house a steady job and a new car each

year

for those global citizens success was

simply the freedom to ask themselves

questions

when there is no path to follow the

possibilities are endless and it makes

you dig

deep and find the true intention and

meaning behind your choices

in the first year traveling i met about

500 people

50 of them had a direct impact on my

life and mindset

they became my friends i learned new

ways of living

each one different from the other it

sparked my imagination

and i realized that i’m not the only one

who feels like there is something

missing about the way life was presented

to us

we are all unique therefore there isn’t

one correct way to follow

i still didn’t know exactly what to do

but then something happened that put

everything in place i met a couple who

had just bought a hotel in japan

their faces lit up when they discovered

the diamond architect and they asked me

to help them with the design of their

hotel

a similar thing happened when my code

surfing host asked me to do a consulting

session

for an empty former hospital building

they wanted to reuse

so when i arrived in thailand i decided

to run an experiment

i posted on the local facebook group hi

i’m adi

and i’m an architect i’ll be here for a

few weeks

let me know if you need anything believe

it or not

it worked thailand was the first place

where i started my way as a nomadic

architect

i realized i can be an architect while

living a nomadic lifestyle

all the things that i thought that were

holding me back were actually the things

that made people want to work with me

my outsiders perspective allowed me to

design for global citizens

the ones who wish to express their

uniqueness both in the lifestyle

and in their projects not long after i

began projects in portugal

guatemala the us and many more the kind

of projects i could only dream about a

few years back

each one was unique i love the

challenge of tapping into a new culture

and understanding the context

it allowed me a new kind of freedom

when you let go of the idea of how

things should be

you can see what’s in front of you but i

would have never found it if i wanted to

be willing to break

out of the patterns i grew up in thanks

to technological progress

nowadays we have more and more freedom a

kind of freedom our ancestors couldn’t

even imagine

take for example the tiny house movement

where people live in affordable units on

wheels

breaking the pattern of size by choosing

to live smaller but gaining free time

and the ability to move around no debt

no cage

co-living projects are also changing the

way we relate to our communities

we don’t want to be isolated in our

apartments anymore

people choose the living buildings that

have private areas as well as communal

spaces

being a part of a co-living means you

get to know your neighbors form

meaningful relationships with them

and share your life with a community of

like-minded people

it seems that after experiencing the

world as a global village

as a society we have more appreciations

towards uniqueness of places and

cultures

using local materials techniques and

crafts over copycat designs

for example this project in indonesia

it’s a dream come true for rina

where she upcycled 300 years old

javanese structures

and created the project of her dreams

innovative architecture teaches us their

various ways and models for living

that reflect our values and choices so

when you think about your life

can you identify which parts did you

choose and which parts you accept

without questioning

this is where we’re at a year ago the

world couldn’t imagine the way we all

live nowadays

the patterns around us are breaking and

we have an historic opportunity to be

proactive in designing our lives

as the world keeps changing we have to

be better in understanding of self

lifestyle design and where we fit the

new millennium

offers us the opportunity to truly own

our choices and to imagine new ways of

working and living

all we have to do is be active creative

and adopt a flexible mindset you don’t

have to sell your belongings

or travel the world you do have to think

for yourself

are you building life based on a design

someone handed you

or are you the architect designing your

life

thank you