From last to First
“Working on ‘how’ without rigorous control of “why” inevitably excludes reality from the planning process. Proposals for the solution of problems necessarily stand between the definition of goals and the evaluation of effects”.
-Architecture and Participation
It is impossible to overstate the importance of this quote by Jeremy Till. Some much of the current discourse in architecture within the ivory tower is focused on “how”. It fucks me up to watch students, nearly on the verge of collapse, create things without questions of intent or purpose. I’m not simply speaking to clients needs or issues of program, but to having thoughts and giving birth to those thoughts in material reality only to discern that the gestation of said ideas are rooted in some contrived notion of construction.
This idea of “Why” is often the last lecture heard within architecture education and it should be the first. Architecture education is quite long, almost 3-7 years usually, and students should spend almost all of it considering the “why” in and of their ideas/manifestations, instead of the last moment. In the last moments the “why” becomes irrelevant, largely due to the demand to find an occupation. With said occupation, the why becomes warped by need for finance, acceptance within a firm or organization, and to produce work rapidly amongst other things. The contortion seems to only end once a student turned architect starts there own firm and becomes the primary source for why. Even then, a firm can become enamored with meeting market requirements and a bunch of other bullshit. It is a special kind of nightmare to watch an architecture protege turn into a construction foreman without control of why they become this way. All SOAs should place emphasis on students “finding why” through each decision as if it is the last one will ever make. Your identity in architecture is the only thing your truly possess within the greater discourse and it would be a shame to continue this ruinous experiment until we all become a part of the construction management program.
Cheers
-Vincent Christopher II
Vincent,
ReplyDeleteI think to ask why is to also understand that the space for asking why is the latter of the future situation. We need to overhaul society to ask why. We don't have the time to ask why, and for all the reasons you have stated. We value commodity over experience, and money over time. We willingly say here is my life in exchange for currency that will break us into freedom or fruit that this society has only made available to the lucky. The why, is and always should be the focus, but without these other steps, we may never have that the the sole contributing factor.