of ranting
I wrote this 2 months ago but something was holding me back from publishing this out but i guess now is the right time to do so....
So we come to the stage in archi where things your tutors say start to influence you or at times question their credibility.
Architecture isn't some course we take to get a degree to find a job with, its beyond that and so should every degree. But Noooo....we were brought up to think that all we had to do was
1.study
2. get that lousy piece of paper
3. make it big.
bleahhh
Its amazing how everything i think of now i try to relate to architecture, it isn't that kind of enthusiasm people have with stamp collecting. No... its much more, so much more.
Cliche as it may be architecture influences everything, politics, economy, environment yadda yadda yadda so it really irks me that some big firms in Singapore (there are too many to mention) totally ignore whatever impact their buildings have and just produce pretty objects. Maybe they're still living in their own modernist world where the building is just a container with no relation to its context. I mean you can't blame them for having their introverted way of creation, its ALOT more easier to design with a narrow perspective, its a shallow design with a damn nice looking shell.
and now you all can start slamming what i just said...
I hope reality will one day smack you in the face and show you that the little pen strokes you do on paper (or worse those heartless mouse clicks on CAD) do have an impact on people.
Lets go big scale and look at the environment and how we friggin love to waste energy with all that useless glass, which in most cases are just a show of luxury, a sign that we have "made it" in society that we as tropical beach apes must follow our western counterparts. Asshats. You know how many construction workers die from sky scraper buildings? Please do look out for scaffold deaths and construction accidents because its really all the architects responsibility at the end of the day.
Disturbing point 2 is that architecture has lost its links with politics, we play it safe too safe and when the opportunity comes to make a difference we butcher it up by making flying saucers. you know what i mean. And then We build like we have tonnes of space around us and when we run out of space we go up (or the latest friggin trend...we go underground..like its a cool thing to do). And architects do all that and during their weekends they play friggin golf on their thousand acre idunnoewhyyouhavetolandscapeitlikesanddunes Singapore island country club.
Stop saying that architecture is an Art, nor is Architecture just a science, its both and none of them. Confusing as it may be a buildings "success" is based on so many perspectives but that's just questioning the way we judge success or is there such a thing as a success in the first place? Worse part of it all is the way we come up with concepts...arghh that sickening word. I'll be honest here: sometimes i think that as students our concepts suck, all we do is string a few words and create one liners. FOR THE LOVE OF ROTRINGS! stop using seashells for inspiration!
and don't confuse your inspiration for a concept, its different most of the time. Just to make things more confusing the concept of a concept has been lost, its now just a post rationalised phrase that we use to sanction our weird looking stuff we make with cardboard. We have a narrow perspective as students and the sad thing is that we're being brought up that way, that architecture as a school is just in under the the larger realm of the school of "design and environment" which we totally are not. We're suppose to stir up waves and make huge impacts but all we do is make sound sculptures and pavilions (I'm guilty of that too).
But saying all that i need to start contradicting myself just to show how friggin convoluted the teachings in my course of study is (convoluted not sophisticated, philosophy is sophisticated, archi isn't). We can never get the right balance with "design and environment", paying lip service (which is what most people are doing now) sickens me but what is worse is that we sell ourselves totally for it. That we as architects think all to mighty of ourselves with our Icanchangetheworld attitude (which somewhat contradicts the first 4 paragraphs) that the world will stop warming up with our thermal chimneys and solar panels. That we have to shoulder the responsibility of saving the earth when the airline industry continues to waste fuel and the heavy industries keep dumping their shit into the sea. so what if we have natural ventilation when all we do is glass the damn thing up and install air conditioning?
We can only do so much the rest is up to government policies and the the public to change their daily attitudes and habits. Take public transport! don't use plastic bags! REWORK the friggin KYOTO protocol. They make a larger impact than photovoltaic cells. Sustainability has just become another "cool" word in your Wallpapers and ISH.
So now I screwed myself with this little rant, I got to go back to work on my submission. It feels good to let all this out and I'm still excited to learn new stuff, just don't friggin compare us with medicine or law students.
jon...
oh man what the shite was i thinking of two months ago?
So we come to the stage in archi where things your tutors say start to influence you or at times question their credibility.
Architecture isn't some course we take to get a degree to find a job with, its beyond that and so should every degree. But Noooo....we were brought up to think that all we had to do was
1.study
2. get that lousy piece of paper
3. make it big.
bleahhh
Its amazing how everything i think of now i try to relate to architecture, it isn't that kind of enthusiasm people have with stamp collecting. No... its much more, so much more.
Cliche as it may be architecture influences everything, politics, economy, environment yadda yadda yadda so it really irks me that some big firms in Singapore (there are too many to mention) totally ignore whatever impact their buildings have and just produce pretty objects. Maybe they're still living in their own modernist world where the building is just a container with no relation to its context. I mean you can't blame them for having their introverted way of creation, its ALOT more easier to design with a narrow perspective, its a shallow design with a damn nice looking shell.
and now you all can start slamming what i just said...
I hope reality will one day smack you in the face and show you that the little pen strokes you do on paper (or worse those heartless mouse clicks on CAD) do have an impact on people.
Lets go big scale and look at the environment and how we friggin love to waste energy with all that useless glass, which in most cases are just a show of luxury, a sign that we have "made it" in society that we as tropical beach apes must follow our western counterparts. Asshats. You know how many construction workers die from sky scraper buildings? Please do look out for scaffold deaths and construction accidents because its really all the architects responsibility at the end of the day.
Disturbing point 2 is that architecture has lost its links with politics, we play it safe too safe and when the opportunity comes to make a difference we butcher it up by making flying saucers. you know what i mean. And then We build like we have tonnes of space around us and when we run out of space we go up (or the latest friggin trend...we go underground..like its a cool thing to do). And architects do all that and during their weekends they play friggin golf on their thousand acre idunnoewhyyouhavetolandscapeitlikesanddunes Singapore island country club.
Stop saying that architecture is an Art, nor is Architecture just a science, its both and none of them. Confusing as it may be a buildings "success" is based on so many perspectives but that's just questioning the way we judge success or is there such a thing as a success in the first place? Worse part of it all is the way we come up with concepts...arghh that sickening word. I'll be honest here: sometimes i think that as students our concepts suck, all we do is string a few words and create one liners. FOR THE LOVE OF ROTRINGS! stop using seashells for inspiration!
and don't confuse your inspiration for a concept, its different most of the time. Just to make things more confusing the concept of a concept has been lost, its now just a post rationalised phrase that we use to sanction our weird looking stuff we make with cardboard. We have a narrow perspective as students and the sad thing is that we're being brought up that way, that architecture as a school is just in under the the larger realm of the school of "design and environment" which we totally are not. We're suppose to stir up waves and make huge impacts but all we do is make sound sculptures and pavilions (I'm guilty of that too).
But saying all that i need to start contradicting myself just to show how friggin convoluted the teachings in my course of study is (convoluted not sophisticated, philosophy is sophisticated, archi isn't). We can never get the right balance with "design and environment", paying lip service (which is what most people are doing now) sickens me but what is worse is that we sell ourselves totally for it. That we as architects think all to mighty of ourselves with our Icanchangetheworld attitude (which somewhat contradicts the first 4 paragraphs) that the world will stop warming up with our thermal chimneys and solar panels. That we have to shoulder the responsibility of saving the earth when the airline industry continues to waste fuel and the heavy industries keep dumping their shit into the sea. so what if we have natural ventilation when all we do is glass the damn thing up and install air conditioning?
We can only do so much the rest is up to government policies and the the public to change their daily attitudes and habits. Take public transport! don't use plastic bags! REWORK the friggin KYOTO protocol. They make a larger impact than photovoltaic cells. Sustainability has just become another "cool" word in your Wallpapers and ISH.
So now I screwed myself with this little rant, I got to go back to work on my submission. It feels good to let all this out and I'm still excited to learn new stuff, just don't friggin compare us with medicine or law students.
jon...
oh man what the shite was i thinking of two months ago?
Labels: architecture, nus, singapore, sustainability
posted by Jon at 11:04 AM
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