Redefining Architecture

"It is a challenge to architects to open up their radar to a wider set of issues than merely the aesthetic and tectonic, and instead follow the Ariadne's thread through the urban register with all its social, political and physical connotations. Only then can we possibly invoke the word 'critical' that Frampton introduces but never fulfils" Jeremy Till, Here, There and North of Nowhere. 

Far too often it seems we as architects are put into a box that confines us in terms of design as well as impact. We can find this increasingly in specific sectors dealing with developers rather than individualized clients. That in it of itself is one thing I am dreading about the field. That one day I will come across a developer (bound to happen) that does not give a shit about the people we are designing for. The user. They see an open plot of land with dollar signs and automatically think let me fill it with a building. I am dreading this day because I care so much about users, especially in a field that struggles with its ethics in terms of the user in certain demographics and that scares me. I am afraid of gentrifying inherently because of money. I know this day will come and there is not much I can do but advocate the best I can. Architecture is a great field but the dream that we have a huge say in the politics of the city is just wrong. I lived in social housing until I was the age of 5 and I remember it so vividly because it was extremely traumatic. Cinderblock walls might be a cheap material to build housing with, but it reminds me of prison and still does. I have seen so many examples of social housing with concrete walls and I never understood why....you cannot hang up jack shit on concrete without resources or money. Living in such a place truly feels like you are in a prison and can barely afford the furniture to fill it. It may be cheap, but my mental and physical health are not. 

I want to change the way we design and define social housing in the future because man, I can't stand what some are coming up with because they have never lived it. Its an experience I put on no one, but that doesn't mean anyone can design it. 

The word 'critical' to me means thinking outside the box in ways of designing for the user as well as the people paying for it. It is definitely not easy, but that is why they don't pay just anyone to do it.