SOME Buzz

To all of us that have either started or completed an "Architectural Education" in the last thirty years, please take a look at this posting:

http://architectureboston.com/2010/11/10/why-modern-architectural-education-is-archaic/.

Can you find a reason to disagree? What shall we do about this? I have to give a plug to my partner for his efforts working on the fringe of reality in the measly backwaters of Community College here in Monmouth County. I think he has always based that beginning education in the reality of the built world. But why the hell can't that attitude be adopted throughout academia with the exception of a few "special" projects or programs? Whenever programs like Rural Studio or some Ivy League class actually building something make news we and the popular press or public television all join on those bandwagons, yet we are not willing to make that the standard versus the exception. Food for thought. And boy am I hungry.

I checked out my brother's blog page today and it jarred me to do something I haven't done in a long time - pull a non-technical architectural book off the shelf and look at something. It wasn't even a pretty picture book like those really great ones from Phaidon (btw: still looking for a hardbound copy of CFA Voysey by Wendy Hitchmough that doesn't cost an arm and a leg. Yes Trent, I know that I need to buy a softbound copy in the meantime, it's just that....well, you know). No, this was "Body, Memory, and Architecture" by Kent C. Bloomer and Charles W. Moore and the importance then, as today, was simple. It made me care about the place-making importance of architecture. I have encountered a lot of people that entered this profession for that simple reason. Most days now, I have lost that reason.

For a few hours, every so many weeks/months, I get it back for a few hours, but so much of what we do has NOTHING really to do with real place-making. You know, there's that one moment in a client meeting where you've shown a solution to a client of which they could never have conceived. The "they-get-it" moment where you've shown them a possibility of the brilliance of good design. That moment when a client grasps that what we do is something special is a truly incredible thing. The absence of that reward on a regular basis - it's the saddest part, for me, of the state of our profession. It is emotionally rewarding to help a client complete their project every time, but the lack of time and consideration for investigating and interpreting what will be a good "place" for most projects has created a giant void in my daily life as an architect. Is this just my particular state of mind? Am I just a gratification junkie? Shouldn't getting paid for a service be enough? Is this a common void for those that I know, have worked with, respect, and admire for their commitment to the Mother of All Arts?

I don't know. It just seems to me that there should be a way to get it back - and real soon. Why else slog against the myriad codes (NJUCC updates every so many months; National Codes change every 3 years), fads (well - so and so has this in their house/office/church - shouldn't we have it?), pop opinions (I saw this on HGTV and would like it in my place), and just plain difficulty of getting something built in 2010 if the bliss of great place-making isn't there, too? Shouldn't the significance of 'place' trump much else that we have to deal with everyday - no matter the building type? I mean, why do we as a public, as much as a profession, accept so much bad place-making all around us? We know better, shouldn't we make it so?

Well it's been over a year...that should be about enough between postings. After reading/following a number of blogs in this time, I've finally gotten a grip that too much prep for a post means it's never going to get posted. Collecting thoughts, images, links, etc. mean nothing if it never gets out there. Subjects like the difference between environmental art vs. landscape architecture vs. architecture will have to wait for the next iterations (not another year of lag, however). In the meantime I've been lured into a discussion of the title of this blog by an organization I have a fair amount of respect for, although I'm currently only an email participant: CORA or the Congress Of Residential Architecture. http://www.corarchitecture.org/

If you have some familiarity with our practice you will recognize some of the higher profile participants of this group on our bookshelves: Dennis Wedlick, Jeremiah Eck, Duo Dickinson. Skillful and thoughtful (can those characteristics be separated?) practitioners of the making of HOME - not always an easy achievement. I'll save other discussion of the organization and what I see as it's value for another post. For this title I would like to jump to the letter which they presume to present at this year's AIA Convention in Miami, in June. It's titled as a Position Paper, and that's a good thing. Taking a position on the state of the art of our profession. I don't find agreement with all the positions, and find that it's contradictory in some of it's own premises. However - it takes a position. And - it intends to present this position to the organization that much of the country sees as THE representatives of our profession in a way that is not particularly deferential to that organization. BULLY, I SAY!

Here's the letter:
http://www.coragroups.org/manifesto/

This has generated a fair amount of dialogue not only on the CORA and residential architect "Linked-In" discussion groups, but among some other professional friends with whom I've shared it. These are people that may or may not actually practice in realm of residential architecture. Our practice is not limited to residential work, either. The subject matter resonates. I hope if you read this, it does that for you, too.

Now here's a dilemma I see with this manifesto. Architects have a long history with these, and the truth to me is that they have rarely actually contributed to any benefit for the profession in the eyes of the public. There is simultaneously not enough discussion of the plight of our profession and too much of it. Too often we are too concerned with our competition and not cooperative enough with it. Let's face it - this is probably the singularly most competitive profession of those requiring licensure to practice. But we too often talk to one another about the things that don't sustain our profession, and talk to the public in ways that don't make ourselves sufficiently relevant to those that ultimately will be our clients. Manifestos reek of bringing the message down from a lofty perch. The public doesn't belong to our church and we're not being very good missionaries or even preachers - which also begs the question: Should we be preaching? And therein lies the question of this title - Is NOW the time to come to the aid of our profession? Or - as so often thought in my bleaker days - are we at least 30 years too late? What is the right aid to our profession, and how can we really make it happen? How can we make ourselves more relevant to not just ourselves, but to the world at large? And if not, why not?

Hope that's enough to start a dialogue here, and if you think there's value in the CORA effort, please forward support to Duo Dickinson, as per the letter. If you don't - tell them that, too.