Before You Judge
Denis Scott-Brown said, "In the movement from low art to high art lies an element of the deferral of judgment. Judgment is withheld in the interest of understanding and receptivity." I think this is important because, whether we like it or not, high art and low art play huge roles in society. It doesn't matter how much we hate big box stores, silly duck-shaped buildings, or streets covered in neon signs, a client asked for them, a contractor built them, and people use them every single day. It's important that we understand what makes each of these special and why did they happen in the first place. What phenomenon happened to make strip malls? And how can we take this new knowledge and improve architecture? From what I currently understand, this is one of two ways to make architecture better. The other is trying to make something completely new and different than anything we've seen before (kind of like modern architecture in the early 1900s). Which process do you think is better, or do you disagree completely?
Hey Lydia, I thought you brought up some really good points. I think that we as designers need to look past the first visual impression and try to understand the thinking behind our environment and why it has grown into what it is today in order to truly be knowledgeable designers.
ReplyDeleteI love the client centric ideology that comes from the idea of the Duck. But how does a designer, or the architect, take the duck and make it marketing the client wants and a piece of architecture that is beautiful and elevates the profession? Or maybe that doesn't exist simultaneous to each other. It's forever separate.
ReplyDeleteLydia, I think it is important that you brought up the consideration for why things like "duck-shaped buildings" exist. Clients ask for them, architects design them, contractors build them, and people use them. It will continue to be this way until this method begins to fail, which I don't see happening for a while. While these buildings are easy to judge from an architecture student's standpoint with a relationship with architectural theory, large user groups across the world enjoy and use these spaces daily.
ReplyDeleteI agree, I think that it is important for architects and designers to be able to actually understand what it is they are looking at and why it looks the way that it does. Without this understanding, our profession would have no way of advancing. How can you create something new if you have no idea of what has already been done?
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