The Obsolete Commodity: Self-Identification
Habraken’s writing about how architectural trends impact the
education one receives resonated with me this week. Habraken can encourage
thought for students and educators about how to be equipped for the tactic of
time through a series of critical values. Time, a tactic I had depicted in my
previous blog about serving as the driving factor for architecture, defines the
quality of architectural importance. These values include location quality,
addressing change over time, design control, ideology v. reality, creativity,
teachings, research, and skills. So long as the architect articulates and
answers these umbrella values, disagreement about how it creates such an
engaging built environment. “What is common cannot be special, but it can be of
high quality” (Habraken, 14) shows Habraken’s awareness that architecture will
never be one qualitative thing. It is the architect's responsibility to make
informed decisions about their work and continue to accept change in
consequence to time and the values that evolve from such. “The way we see
ourselves is a product of the past and is becoming increasing
counterproductive” (Habraken, 14) articulates the byproduct of time in the form
of the architect.
I agree with your defined role of the architect: informed decisions and smart predictions are all we can ultimately produce when it comes to future designs. There are so many factors we can account for that will lead to fruitful architecture, but to an extent, all we can do is make an educated guess as to what is best for the user.
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