"Perhaps the most far-reaching implications for the profession, however, lie in formalism’s emphasis on the making of often compelling architectural images. Imitating conceptual art’s attempts to negate the material aspects of the artwork, architecture has premiated its schematic diagram and photogenic appearance, suppressing the material particulars of its construction. The invocation of conceptual architecture seemed to be accompanied by, or interpreted as, a marked lack of care given to the fabrication of the architectural object, the exigencies of the construction process, its material components, their methods of assembly, climate, weathering, and so on. Buildings constructed from these drawings often yielded a host of problems (like peeling paint, cracked tiles, water damage, and sloppy construction)."(8)
8. D.K. Dietsch here discusses the deteriorating condition of Michael Graves’s Portland Civic Building in “Postmodern Ruins,” Architecture, July 1997, 13, while Suzanne Frank recalls the various weather and construction related issues of Eisenman’s House VI in “The Client’s Response” in Peter Eisenman’s House VI: A Client’s Response (New York: Whitney Library of Design, 1994), 49–72. To be sure, many of these problems were a direct result of budgetary limitations and contractors unaccustomed to unconventional designs, but aren’t these factors also part of the architect’s professional responsibilities?
Architectural students seem to be learning only on the computer and do not seem to know how to imaginarily walk through a space 3-dimensionally. I met a graduate student from Columbia the other day who had not built a model since high school. There is also the problem of contractors – although I have the suspicion that this cause is overrated and provides architects too much of the high design excuse - and unions. While an architect might take off the blinders of “building,” a contractor can sometimes not imagine the materials needed to facilitate the architectural vision. But all in all, I think they get a hard time (and ultimately, most importantly, as you point out, it should be the responsibility of the architect).
Do you know the story of the “wobbly bridge” in London? Maybe it is a bad example though, because it is the case of the engineer getting blamed, not the contractors…
Sorry, another link (without the link):
http://www.structurae.de/en/structures/data/str00603.php
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8. D.K. Dietsch here discusses the deteriorating condition of Michael Graves’s Portland Civic Building in “Postmodern Ruins,” Architecture, July 1997, 13, while Suzanne Frank recalls the various weather and construction related issues of Eisenman’s House VI in “The Client’s Response” in Peter Eisenman’s House VI: A Client’s Response (New York: Whitney Library of Design, 1994), 49–72. To be sure, many of these problems were a direct result of budgetary limitations and contractors unaccustomed to unconventional designs, but aren’t these factors also part of the architect’s professional responsibilities?
- bill 2-18-2004 9:11 pm
Architectural students seem to be learning only on the computer and do not seem to know how to imaginarily walk through a space 3-dimensionally. I met a graduate student from Columbia the other day who had not built a model since high school. There is also the problem of contractors – although I have the suspicion that this cause is overrated and provides architects too much of the high design excuse - and unions. While an architect might take off the blinders of “building,” a contractor can sometimes not imagine the materials needed to facilitate the architectural vision. But all in all, I think they get a hard time (and ultimately, most importantly, as you point out, it should be the responsibility of the architect).
Do you know the story of the “wobbly bridge” in London? Maybe it is a bad example though, because it is the case of the engineer getting blamed, not the contractors…
Sorry, another link (without the link):
http://www.structurae.de/en/structures/data/str00603.php
- anonymous (guest) 2-19-2004 12:25 am [add a comment]