Jumat, 01 Februari 2013

Architect In Retreat

When we were studying architecture, we felt that we are so poetic, creative, philosophical and even powerful to a certain extent. We create something out of nothing, we dictate how people live in our creation, sometimes we even felt that we are playing the role as God! During the creative 5 years that we have to go through in an architecture school, everything around us becomes the abundant raw materials that we can tap into to develop our ideas. We become idealistic and perfectionist. To us there is nothing that we cannot do. As a result of this environment and our strong belief at that time, we produced out of the world architecture; we developed brilliant ideas and we challenge the conventional way of life. We were presenting a better solution to our current social problems by creating a better living condition through our design.

Do you still remember such a time when you managed to design great buildings because you know that you could not fail and there was no constraint to hold you back? I'm sure we all do, it is just that some of us have been practicing in the industry for far too long that we haven selectively forgotten such wonderful moments that we experienced during our study life.

When we practice architecture in the industry, we are all too preoccupied with council's guidelines, client's budget and employer's expectation that our creative capabilities were systematically erased over time. Majority of architectural firms end up becoming more like drafting companies producing drawings designed by someone else to submit to the local council for approval. We don't even care whether the developer will follow our construction drawings and build according to plan as our employers' only concern is to be able to receive their professional fees.

Do you think architects can produce design that can benefit the society as a whole in an environment like this? The answer is an obvious NO! We are constantly worrying that the client might not accept our design; that our submission would be rejected by the local council and other firms would snatch future projects from us. Imagine this, if there is a heavy metal chain around your legs, do you think you can run fast and far? All these constraints around us are like the metal chain that is stopping us from unleashing our full creative potential.

If you study architecture just because you want to earn a living, then wouldn't a Medicine degree make more sense to you? Of course, we may never be able to replicate the experience we got from university in the real industrial situation, but we can at least be more assertive in defending our ideas and not let other parties dictate our every move. If you fall into this group of architects, then you should consider quitting practicing as architect right now! Yes, quit your job and do something else. At least take a break and rethink about what you really want. The sad truth is you can never be creative if you continue to stay in the commercial industry. The power of economics is simply too great that it will overpower you and you have control over nothing.

In order to produce architecture, you should consider doing something else that can earn you a living while you sharpen your architectural skill in the meantime through some experimental design or writings. Put yourself back into the learning environment of the university once again and explore new possibilities to our current social woes because after all architecture is not just about building, it is about a way of life. Give yourself a break and recharge your design power before you plunge yourself back into the mundane professional life that satisfy only other people's expectation.

This may be an extreme approach to some but it is something that worth pondering upon.

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