Regional and Urban Design Committee

This message has been cross posted to the following Discussion Forums: Regional and Urban Design Committee and Committee on Design .
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            The public benefits from more than architectural appearance, energy conservation and interior design. It's time to build the knowledge required to support a stronger case for excellent architecture. The research needed is not an evaluation of opinion, history, program or products. Additional information, knowledge and tools are required to meet the emerging environmental challenge.

             Opinion has its place, but not in the foundation of a convincing argument for the broad public benefit of architecture. A foundation of opinion makes it a political effort with a limited constituency. A stronger case is needed to support architecture's claim of public benefit when it has been the servant of special interest throughout history. This argument will depend on a new level of logic anchored with knowledge rather than opinion. (Building and zoning codes did not emerge as a public benefit from architecture, after all. They had to be imposed by others after artistic license was found to be inadequate.)

              A percentage of the general public will always appreciate "star-architecture", but a broader concept of architecture is needed to place it in a context that protects the public's physical, social, psychological, economic and sustainable quality of life. The protection of its health and safety was only a beginning. The protection of its welfare will prove to be a far more complicated challenge involving coordination that includes politics and law in the public arena. There is no option. It is simply a matter of who will undertake the city design required, and if the imperative will be recognized in time to produce the next level of awareness I've had the temerity to call The Symbiotic Period. Excellence in this period will be represented by architectural appearance within city design strategies that adapt to forces in a universe we cannot ignore - if we choose to use the gifts we have been given. (See "Design with Intensity" and "City Design with Space" for elaboration.)

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Walter Hosack
Author
Walter M. Hosack
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Walter

You are absolutely right (and nicely put, too)!  I have been thinking along the same lines for some time now, and agree completely that if we are to survive and contribute as a profession we must have a base from which our value springs, and opinion, or 'art' simply is not enough.  Note that I did not say that they are not important, but rather that they are not enough.

I know that is hard to accept, but 'art' in particular simply does not carry the significance in the general populous that it does within the architectural community.  We need to be able to argue for a design solution based on knowledge.  This is not an urban design issue, but a general design issue.  If we can say "Because of X, Y and Z research, this solution provides blah, blah results and therefore should be adopted", we are much more likely to survive the trivialization (or through value engineering, the 'optimization') of architectural design.  

Knowledge Communities like this one are the places for the general membership to begin to affect that.  Practice and Academia need to work together to identify the issues and opportunities for strengthening our knowledge base and delivering it to the practice for implementation.  A knowledge based profession is not to be feared, but embraced.  It does not preclude art, but rather gives it the solid foundation on which to stand.

I look forward to (hopefully) hearing from the rest of the profession.  I'm hopeful this will incite a thoughtful as well as passionate discussion about HOW we move forward.  The who MUST be us.

Thanks for your post - a very nice start to the day.   

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Edward Shriver AIA
Principal
Strada Architecture, LLC
Pittsburgh PA
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