The Role of the Architect
Thinking so often about my role in society as an architect came to a head after reading Samuel Mockbee's "Rural Studio" and Jeremy Till's "Scarcity contra Austerity". What does it truly mean to be an architect? A creator, an innovator, a person that just puts stuff into the world? I feel that we have a duty to be so much more.
"Architectural procurement is normally focused on the efficient production of new buildings, here spatial intelligence is deployed to redistribute what is already there in a manner that mitigates the effects of scarcity" (Till Scarcity contra Austerity).
"The architect's role will be to make architecture labour under the given conditions of a particular place...It is not prudent to sit back as architects and rely on the corporate world's scientists and technology experts to decide which problems to solve. It is in the architect's own interest to assert his or her values--values that respect, we should hope, the greater good" (Mockbee Rural Studio).
How can we expect architecture to be diverse if we do not create diverse architects? The education of architects must change. Not entirely, but I propose there should be one added element into architecture education around the world; civic engagement. If we want to try to create diverse architects, diverse in the manner of the mind not just the people, we must let students experience diversity. Why don't we take students into a gentrified neighborhood and create a catalyst. We talk about it so much in school, but never address it. My undergrad did it, and it truly changed my life. If we only talk about problems within society, but never experience them it creates this lack of belief or even unattained experience.
It is the architects role, no not to change politics, but to give a reason to change politics and society. We must give the voiceless a way to be heard because honestly, architecture as a whole does not create diverse architects.
Kimani - thanks for taking this spin on this week's readings to study more of the short-comings of architectural education. To tag along to your point on architecture not creating diverse architects, I think it's important to talk about the accessibility of a formal architectural education, to say the cost of entry for an educational program then entry-level work is incredibly high.
ReplyDeleteIts honestly terrifying to read about the typical cost of tuition when you compare it to the typical house-hold income of the communities that could most benefit from the soft/hard skills of an architect. For the next generation of architects to truly be more diverse, these paths to formal education and employment need to be much more accessible and equitable.
Kimani, I completely agree with your post. Not only should we be taught that problems existed in the past and still do exist, but we should be given the opportunity to experience them in school and attempt to solve the problems rather than designing a building that only the most elite of developers could afford to build. Diversity and inclusion for architects is important to include adequate representation for people across the globe, and also for architects to understand and be able to participate in civic engagement issues in their own back yards.
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