sloArch

Category: Editorial

  • State of the Profession

    The story is becoming all too common these days.  A few more are being let go this month because there’s no work to keep them busy.  Talented and career-minded people.  Friends and colleagues, mothers and fathers.  The economy doesn’t care about the various affiliations behind your name on a business card.  The economy doesn’t care if you have a mortgage to pay or a family of mouths to feed.

    My neck on the proverbial chopping block.

    You see, up until about a month ago, I considered myself one of the lucky ones.  I was working in an office that had yet to be touched by the big, bad economy monster.  I wasn’t blind though, I could see what was happening out there and when the lay-offs started hitting closer to home, it wasn’t all that much of a surprise really.  Every time another friend was let go, I counted my lucky stars that I still had a job to return to.  None of this should be news to any of you.

    Then it finally happened and it was my neck on the proverbial chopping block.  My turn to step up and take one for the team.  What I’ve witnessed in the time since then, has honestly and truly scared me beyond all belief.

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  • Architecture and Morality

    The new Rural Studio HQ. (Courtesy ffffound)

    I don’t know about you, but now that I’ve been out of school a few years, I’m finding it increasingly more difficult to not get frustrated by endless stacks of RFI’s, tight budgets, or impossible project schedules.

    Sure these things are accepted parts of our profession, but at what point do you draw the line?  When does the work we do cease being a shelter or a communal gathering place, and become a soulless shell of a building, waiting for yet another tenant move-in?  Is it wrong of me to think that ever since the move into the “real world” that architecture has slowly been less about true design and more about the ever-present bottom line?

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  • Is My Degree Worthless?

    I received the email below last week and at first didn’t know how to respond.  I finally responded as best I could and it turned into some sort of personal manifesto.  In writing this I also felt a sense of renewed pride in what brings us into this crazy, sometimes frustrating, world of architecture.

    One thing we have learned from doing theStudio is that there are many of us who share the same experiences.  In the hope that this might help more people, or at least cause you to think about your place in this profession, we are reposting my response here.  Names have been changed to protect the innocent.

    Here’s to good people and good architecture!

    I graduated from Washington State University in 2002 with an naab b.arch, and just left the profession all together. I was sick of being treated like shit. I contacted the NCARB coordinator here in Washington a month ago thinking I might stand to deal with this idiot occupation in a year or two if I had the strength. And they pointed me to the NCARB web site, God knows I was having a hell of a time finding it with google.

    My question is, is this still an idiot occupation, where people are treated like shit and forced to make video games all day long, or has it actually changed any? Or would you recommend that I flush my degrees down the toilet where they belong?

    -Frustrated

    Here is my response:

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  • Disney Architecture

    Pop Century Resort at Walt Disney World

    For many years now when I see a building that attempts to be something its not, or is outlandishly playful or misshapen I call it “Disney Architecture”.  The term isn’t meant to be derogatory towards the architects Disney has employed over the years, including Michael Graves and Frank Gehry, but more a reflection on my own affinity for honest, practical design.

    Disney has been a master of using design to create illusions, whether it is the forced perspective of main street and castles in it’s theme parks, or the amazing synthetic stone and wood that it creates its attractions with.

    One of my favorite blogs, Imagineering Disney, recently posted an article that highlights the worst of the worst Disney architecture:  The Era of Big and Tacky.  Michael Graves’ Swan and Dolphin hotels have received some criticism, but it is a masterpiece compared to some of the weirdness Disney has built in recent years.

  • Google: A Window to Architectural Public Opinion?

    Just out of curiosity yesterday I did a few generic Google searches to see what kinds of results would come up.  First, I searched for “Architecture”.  I was rather surprised by how uninspiring the links were.  Do Google’s search results give us some insight into how the public perceives architecture?  Does is show us where we as architecture professionals need change or improve how we present architecture to others?

    On my Google search last night the first link, as is typical with Google results, was a link to the Wikipedia entry on Architecture.  Next we had the Architectural Record, the AIA, Architecture Magazine, and About.com’s architecture page.   Not until the sixth link on the page did we start to see something that might jump out to a non architectural professional, GreatBuildings.com.  The only news item highlighted on the page was about computer programing architecture.

    Architecture - Aug 5th Google Search
    Architecture – Aug 5th Google Search

    As I was watching So You Think You Can Dance, I next searched for the word “Dance”.  What a contrast!  There were ads for dance lessons and then the first links were for Wikipedia, the hit dance television show “So You Think You Can Dance”, Dance.net, image, video, and news results, and then a map to local dance studios.

    Dance - Aug 5th Google search
    Dance – Aug 5th Google Search

    I then performed similar searches for “fashion”, “art”, and “music”.

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