In a recent reading of the University of Sydney Architecture Annual 2014: Propositions, the following article resonated a constant challenge faced by students and practitioners: resisting the siren of attention-seeking architecture.
"The setting forth of something as a subject of discourse; something proposed for discussion, or as a basis of argument.
A question proposed for solution; a problem, a riddle.
The action of setting forth or presenting to view or perception."
The University of Sydney Architecture Annual 2014: Propositions was first published in 2014 by Freerange Press in conjunction with the Graduate Architecture Exhibition 4th-12th December, 2014.
Freerange Press is an online and print publishing co-operative based in Australia and New Zealand. Freerange'so focus is on global issues of design, politics and life for an urbanised humanity.
www.projectfreerange.com
1 comments:
MC, that was an interesting article. While the 'social condenser' is shown to be the wholesome antidote to the superficial, novelty driven magazine architecture, and it's slightly more palatable phenomenological sibling, I'm inclined to think that this ignores the problems which have created the apparent crisis; while the author convincingly demonstrates the application of a socially driven architecture to create an improved, habitual 'being in the world', the limitations of the agency of the architect are noted as being intellectual, rather than problems of time, money, professional standing or along property boundaries. Once it has been agreed that the backgrounded, socially empowering architecture for the masses will be paid for and produced, there remains the problem of how these complex social engineering mechanisms will be successfully expressed in architectural form - returning us directly to questions of aesthetics, fashion, and phenomenology.
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