How can the architect survive?
With the debate on Tuesday I found myself asking the question, what role does the architect play? Initially the gut reaction is that the architect is the shape of space and our built environment but as I stewed on this question I began to have a bit of a back and forth with myself. This was a topic posed in the debate in several different ways. One way to look at it was if people design their own spaces is the architect obsolete and the second way to discuss this idea presented was the idea of beauty in the eye of the beholder or the architect.
Again my first reaction is that the architect is the one who defines spaces and the built environment but then you start to think about really how much architecture is informal, or the remnants of history, or temporary spaces. So if we don't shape the entire built environment what is our impact? Are we just influencers? If that is the case isn't it just a select few who really influence modern day architecture? If this is true its really depressing. I think the truth is that we are influencers but more than that we are stewards of the built environment. Often I don't think we see ourselves in that light and easily get caught up in deadlines and project budgets. I think this also goes back to Koolhaas and becomes one of my issues with him. He thought architecture was meant to be like the rest of American culture and be BIG.
If we as architects act as stewards for architecture and attempt to play god less. I think we will have staying power in a world where knowledge is more and more democratized. I see their being strength as tools of and for the people rather than architecture being an exclusive club it could be a threshold into the build environment for people who otherwise where kept out.
Again my first reaction is that the architect is the one who defines spaces and the built environment but then you start to think about really how much architecture is informal, or the remnants of history, or temporary spaces. So if we don't shape the entire built environment what is our impact? Are we just influencers? If that is the case isn't it just a select few who really influence modern day architecture? If this is true its really depressing. I think the truth is that we are influencers but more than that we are stewards of the built environment. Often I don't think we see ourselves in that light and easily get caught up in deadlines and project budgets. I think this also goes back to Koolhaas and becomes one of my issues with him. He thought architecture was meant to be like the rest of American culture and be BIG.
If we as architects act as stewards for architecture and attempt to play god less. I think we will have staying power in a world where knowledge is more and more democratized. I see their being strength as tools of and for the people rather than architecture being an exclusive club it could be a threshold into the build environment for people who otherwise where kept out.
I like your idea of stewardship. I feel that architects today are often guiding clients though the design and construction process. Something that can be a new process for many clients. Architects also have to guide or influence experience clients and developers away from problematic solutions they might propose.
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