a is for architecture

The age of the architectural icon—that extravagant, exuberant, “wow”-inducing building on a pedestal—is dead, or more precisely, in its death throes. And what will replace it? President Barack Obama, who once dreamed of being an architect, had something to say about that Tuesday in his inaugural address: the age of infrastructure.

– Blair Kamin, The Skyline, Chicagotribune.com

I didn’t know Barack Obama wanted to become an architect — but that’s good news, as most probably, even if he didn’t become one, he’s still passionate about architecture, and we all need that.

We need sustainability and usability too, in architecture — and most starchitects tend to forget that. They maybe keep an eye on the sustainability front, but as for usability, they’re not that fussed. They prefer “the iconic sign” over anthropometry and utilitas. An icon that most of the time could’ve been built anywhere, a monument to their designing genius and nothing more.

I’m not saying they didn’t create architecture, they did, but their architecture is rarely thought of as such in the first place: it’s thought of as something that has to leave people gobsmacked looking at it.

They’re amazing buildings to look at, but, as for myself, I’d never want to live nor work in them, I wouldn’t feel comfortable.

Maybe it’s time we get back to a kind of design thought for people, not just to show how cool the designer is.