Are we actually in control??

 

When reading Habraken’s thoughts on form and control I couldn’t help but wonder if an architect has ever truly been in control of the built environment. I’ll come out and say that I think a lot of architects are very prideful. It is this characteristic in the profession that leads to this aura of control that’s carried around. That what an architect sees for the future of the built environment is what it will become, but I think in many ways that’s false. 

The lack of control that architects have was first shown to me by a professor in undergrad. He spent half the semester teaching us the evolution of American architecture and the most intricate parts of architectural styles until it was time for us to see it in person. We went to see Greek revival and Georgian and federal styles houses and what we actually saw revealed that the controlling parties was in no way the architect, but a group of 20 something’s in a fraternity making the built environment their own. The houses weren’t being used as intended, but some party had control. 

This makes me wonder, how much of architecture is designed under the idea that the built environment is under our control, and how much would these designs change if architects felt they had no control?