Note from Self: Architects Selling Out
Speaking at a recent literary festival in London, writer Will Self reproached the architects who helped set the stage for this summer’s games. “If you are an architect and involved in this obscenity then you should go home and consider retraining as a dentist… You might be able to use your creativity in a form that doesn’t do so much damage,” said Self, comparing the buildings to snake oil used to veneer over “people’s looming sense of the inequalities in society.” In a follow-up interview with Building Design, Self questioned why the profession’s most critical thinkers, like Rem Koolhaas, Daniel Libeskind, and Richard Rogers, continue to work for socially unjust clients. “It’s not because they can’t afford to pay their heating bills,” said Self.
3 Responses to “Note from Self: Architects Selling Out”
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i’m not sure when exposing feelings of inequality became the priciple purpose of an architect or design. i do personally agree that on the world stage at least some of that would be nice to see, but wisdom can also be found in the regular and homogenized as many times this sets the stage for contrast for creativity to unfold. one man’s opinion…
Selling-out has been at the core of the profession since its start – remember Philip Johnson’s declaration that all architects are whores? Where exactly is the line between righteous work and the reprehensible? Is working in Abu Dhabi on environmentally reckess buildings akin to the work Albert Speer did for Hitler? The simple fact is that architects clamor to where the money is like puppies do to their mother’s teats.And very often the money is where the large corporations are, the same entities that buy and trade against the average person’s interests to make money for themselves FIRST and then a trickle-down to their sthareholders. There are execptions certainly, but Architectuire will NEVER seek to differentiate because while its about money its much more about Ego, and that’s soemthing even more at the core of the profession.