SOME Buzz

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?