Modernism Ruined It For Everyone

If you’ve been reading any of the industry press since before the beginning of the year it can’t have escaped you all this chat about what is going on with the architectural profession.

The long and the short is that essentially, architects seem worried for their position in society. In the wake of the world recession, budget busting starchitecture are being shunned and everyone seems a bit unsure what’s going to happen next.

To be fair, I didn’t see it coming either, there have been celebrity architects since one rich guy said to another ‘Here, who built your house? I want the same thing.’ There is no reason that popular figures couldn’t be around for the foreseeable but with the current economic climate the practice is under scrutiny and the world is questioning exactly what the architect is good for. Which, as you can imagine, is making a lot of people uneasy.

Now, this is a massive subject with so many facets from education to office practice to public relations and beyond. For this exact reason I haven’t felt inclined to make comment on it because I hate long rambling posts that don’t really have any conclusion, but today a read an essay as part of Architectural Review ‘The Big Rethink’ series that really bought all these stray ideas in my mind together.

Many of the commentaries about the current climate ask the question ‘Where has architecture lost its way?’ but only in a rhetorical fashion. Peter Buchanan put it very simply in his article that we have lost our way due to mass production.

Yes, I mean the industrial revolution, de-skilling of the work force and Herny Ford’s Motor Factory - I’m talking about Modernism.

Modernism is the simple provision of needs. In architecture that includes; shelter, security, function, etc. While all are obviously important, this modernist approach in no way addresses people’s culture or psychology.

Now in a Post-Modern architectural world we've forgoten how to address the things that matter. As a result there is now a compensating over emphasis on subjective statement, meaning and symbolism in architecture. While symbolism is not new, in fact it’s probably the only thing learnt in architectural history, there is no understanding of it’s usage, culture, and place making these statements arbitory at best and utterly misplaced at worst.

Grassroots understanding has been erased by modernism’s lazy approach to architecture. By allowing the architect to become removed from the culture and become lax in their understanding of the anthropological form, there has been a perpetuating of the post-modern superficial statement architecture, and so the Bilbao Effect take hold and the starchitect was born.

Now the starchitect must die in this post post modern world but they are not gone yet. The starchitect is swelling like a red dwarf star, imploding and scorching everyone with in any proximity. The aftermath is still yet to be realized. While the CCTV tower and the Los Angeles Disney Concert Hall will shine on like white dwarf stars, the rest of the architecture universe will hopefully be forced to re-evaluate.

The AQAL is offered up as the way forward, encompassing everything from sustainability to public image, I can not but help feel like it’s just another ‘5 points’ to be lazily trawled through with out addressing or understanding the real principles of a project.  

At this dark time in architectural history at very least a solid map in the AQAL, a sharp bump down to earth and the benefit of hindsight is definitely preferable to a gilded guiding star.