Samuel Mockbee Sews The Gaps In Architecture

"Citizen Architect Samuel Mockbee and The Spirit of the Rural Studio"

There are a couple interesting breaks in the world of architecture seen primarily in the past century and in first-world countries. Both of which are retained and remain unbroken in Samuel Mockbees work. 

First is the break between architecture and construction. It's generally seen as a means by which architects can avoid liability on the project but in doing so creates a disconnect in terms of knowledge and process. This makes design control more difficult for the architect as they can often be hired by the contractor and a part of the early stages of the process. Once the design is done it can be priced out and then often value-engineered to become more feasible. This hands over design control to the GC, subcontractors, and associated engineers to determine what the final piece becomes and how it is put together. This is inherently a flawed process as the designers being segregated to the early stages of the process, do not know what they are doing wrong and the process won't build them up into filling this gap in their knowledge. Additionally, it may cause unfortunate or even large scale changes inconveniently later in the design process. Peter Gluck at Gluck+ considers this as a reason why architects are generally underpaid because their work is not really understood by the public. The inherent qualities brought in by an architect are abstract, theoretical and by the general public may not even seem necessary as opposed to the process of construction which comes through as tangible and crucial. 

The other break that Samuel Mockbee really hits on is who architecture is for. The lack of equity in architecture seems more evident in poor rural areas where construction and design knowledge is often pushed aside for utility and community needs. This helps us understand where our knowledge may be most vital as he applies it to places that lack it most. The other layer is teaching architects to have a conscience for economy, materials, and sustainability. With tight parameters, this forces designers to focus on the available tools towards more humble and at times more fundamentally creative work.

I think as we continue to see the impacts of capitalism and post-modernism and architecture schools begin to focus more on equity, sustainability, and economy we will see more work that reflects design/build methodologies as well as architecture that addresses places that need it most.