BusinessWeek Global Architecture Highlights: Eyes in the Sky?
A couple of days ago BusinessWeek published an article about The World's Most Anticipated Architecture. Almost instantaneously I found myself jumping to the site to enjoy what I thought would be an amazing piece just to find another report on titanic skyscrapers and mirrored facades.
The article goes on and on describing the current situation of the construction industry and how bad the financial crisis has 'affected' such a prominent field. Apart from two or three minor details, this article does not offer anything new nor an envisioning perspective, nothing.
I can only speak for myself when I say that contrary to what the title states, this is not the architecture we want to see. As a designer and former architecture student, I believe that these days the architectonic challenge has gone way beyond height and shape. Once upon a time architecture was about shapes, forms, textures and processes. Today (to me) architecture is about impact and responsibility, foremost architecture is about reaching the people, not the sky.
When I first entered the architecture school my very first lecture was with Chilean architect Alejandro Aravena. There we were, a bit more that one hundred overexcited young kids staring at this dark figure at the bottom of the auditorium, waiting for him to cast the spell. After three or five minutes in silence Aravena nodded as a sign that he was ready to speak and started his welcome speech with these, his first and only words:
"I want to make sure you are all aware of the fact that you are part of the elite. That you know you are part of the elite of this country because you have access to education. Within that elite, you are part of the elite because you have been accepted in this university. And within that elite you are part of the highest elite because you have been accepted to the Architecture School."
That was it, the spell had been casted and all of us were clapping our hands and looking to each other with pride and confidence while the mythical Aravena exited the room unnoticed.
At the end I didn't pursue a career in architecture, four years in I decided I wanted something else and I turned my attention to Industrial Design and design processes. But for years and years this speech has resonated in my head trying to somehow make sense of it beyond a very snob and pretentious self affirmation of the egocentrism of architects and designers.
Today while reading this article a decade after his [in-] famous speech everything falls into place. The message Aravena was trying to transmit that morning of 1999 had little to do with pretentious and self referent practices or architects all dressed in black to show how intellectually superior they are to care about colours and smiles. Aravena was talking about the impact and responsibility that we all acquire when we make our choice and pursue a career in the creative industry. His message was about the impact our work has, the scope of our actions as designers of buildings, products or services on people's lives.
I refuse to believe the architecture we are waiting for is that filling the Unhappy Hipsters pages with cold and über stylish spaces where the only human element (the actual person) seems as distant and unengaged as the sleek lines and concrete surfaces he is laying on. Or the mighty glass fortresses rising in the skyline of Dubai or Kuala Lumpur.
For me the architecture we are waiting for is about people. The one that serves as a catalyst for innovation to improve the way we live and experience spaces and cities. The one that provides the tools and methods to challenge paradigms and academic traditions in the pursue of a better life and a better practice.
Today architecture should be about inspiring students to dream big and build greater. About stimulating experienced practitioners to believe that amateur creativity can disrupt traditional academic paradigms allowing them to find meaningful ways to create spaces that are relevant to those who inhabit them.
Personally, the architecture I am waiting for is about people...
*Alejandro Aravena is a Chilean architect based in Santiago de Chile. His work includes the Siamese Tower and the Architecture School for the Universidad Católica in Santiago, Chile, the new facilities for St. Edward’s University in Austin, Texas, new children workshops and training facilities for Vitra in Weil am Rhein and social housing and urban projects for Elemental. He has received several awards: Silver Lion at the XI Venice Biennale, 1st Prize in the XII and the XV Santiago Biennale, the Erich Schelling Architecture Medal 2006 (Germany), and has just been appointed member of the Pritzker Prize Jury. (Full bio & work here)
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