After completing the readings for first two weeks and being caught up in the Intensive whirlwind since Saturday things are still a blur, because there has been so much information coming in. One thing I have definitely absorbed from the Bickford reading, "Constructing Inequality: City Space and the Architecture of Citizenship" is when I've thought of architecture in the past I think of us as designing to meet the client's needs, or a specific use. These readings have changed my perspective about our profession to include our society as a whole. What impact do we have on our society? How are we able to shape the future of our society? What can our profession to break through some of the racial and gender barriers that tend to handicap groups of our society? I've asked myself these and similar questions in the past few weeks. And it I'm convinced there is much that the design professions can do to move all of society forward to being more exciting for everyone. We have an advantage that many other professions don't. We have the ability to manipulate spaces, public and private, outdoor and indoor, to provide more interesting, rewarding and safe living conditions and experiences for all of society, not just a select few.
While I am excited about what we have the capability of achieving I'm also aware of the reality that our profession continues to be a closely guarded "club" that most reluctantly accepts women and minorities. Ahrentzen wrote in her article entitled, "The Space Between the Studs: Feminism and Architecture" that, despite the contributions to architecture and other design disciplines, "all annual Pritzker Architecture Prize winners are men, as are all winners of the American Institute of Architects Gold Medal."
Therefore, I'm certain the task is monumental. But I once heard someone say, "The will to win is nothing without the will to prepare to win." Hopefully, our experience and training at BAC will prepare us to win.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
When architecture is reduced to mere creation of buildings, everyone within and around those buildings suffers (as do the people who make them). When architecture addresses its social context and impacts, we do a better job.
I'm glad you've taken up this cause. Architects really do have a powerful position from which to make change.
Angelo it was great meeting and talking with you. Just by your comment and several others while at the BAC, I think the BAC has already started to impact how Architects (especially the hand full there last week) think about how design will effect the social needs of all. That in itself is a win!
David, thanks. It was also a pleasure for me to meet you and everyone else participating in this innovative approach to learning. You're right the BAC is effecting our thought process. I think the challenge will come when we are charged with educating those most effected by social divisions and our design responses to them, the owners and the users. I beleive most in our profession can see, understand and respond to our social needs in positive ways. But it is difficult for us to educate clients that money that they are investing to bridge social gaps is worth it. It is also difficult to educate those less fortunate that changes to their neighborhood will be "good for them".
Thanks again for your comment,
Angelo
Post a Comment