A bleeding heart is defined as: 

1 : a person who shows extravagant sympathy especially for an object of alleged persecution.
2 : a person regarded as too sentimental or too liberal in dealing with social problems.
3 : a person considered unduly soft-hearted or sympathetic without warrant or right.

The term bleeding heart has many connotations, such as flowers, birds, politics, and protesters. Some of the connotations are positive and visual or even lean toward the extreme. To have extravagant compassion towards people may be thought of as absurd. It is obviously not a concept that the masses abide by. If more people did uphold this selfless concept then society would be extremely different than it is currently. Architecture, likewise, would be affected significantly if an architect were a bleeding heart. The term can establish itself as an additional sector to the field of architecture and design where the extremeness of compassion would not be absurd, but effective. However, the concept of a bleeding heart architect and designer encompasses more than sympathy. It depicts a lifestyle.



“Bleeding hearts” are people who are less inclined to only think of themselves and the people that are closest to them. Instead, they think holistically and become more aware of their social responsibilities. A bleeding heart gives way to the consciousness that people are all interconnected and dependent upon one another in some way. How people interact and relate to one another impacts each individual involved in the interaction for the rest of their lives, and every human interaction is the catalyst for the next interaction. It is the continual act of life and communication. Everyone is susceptible to the actions of others. Even the microscopic actions reverberate throughout the ethers and eventually touch base within someone’s conscious, or subconscious, and change them forever. A bleeding heart architect puts deliberate efforts into increasing awareness of how he or she affects the world with actions and design.