Forum A+P 08

Debate në Arkitekturë
Two different ways to be
successful as an architect
Raimund Fein
As architects, we live in a very lucky period: Not
that there is work for everybody anywhere; nor has
our daily work become less stressful, complex and
demanding.
All this is obviously not the case. But there
is something else that seems to be changing:
Architecture, maybe for the first time ever, is rapidly
becoming a topic of public interest. Newspapers
write about questions of architecture, exhibitions
of architecture find a lot of interest, TV offers
programs on architecture. Architecture is discussed
publicly. The public wants to know what we are
doing, what is happening in architecture.
No longer is it possible for architects to
discuss architecture only among each other, to
aim mostly at their fellow experts’ recognition, to
lock themselves into a sort of Ivory Tower. We
are being chased out of the Ivory Tower in which
we have been staying for too long, from where we
have been looking down at those poor mortals who
do not understand our sophisticated and abstract
discussions. It seems that today, more than ever
before, to be successful and recognized, you have
to look for applause among the non-architects. In
short: Architecture seems to become a matter of
mass culture, of popular interest. It has somehow
arrived in the common people’s mind.
Wonderful, we could say; finally the people
are interested in what we are doing. And hasn’t
it always hurt a bit that we had our discussions
only among us, far away from the limelight? Isn’t
it good news that this seems to be over, and isn’t
this a wonderful chance?
Yes, it is. But we, as architects, have to
decide how to go about this situation. Basically,
I can see two ways to react. These two different,
rather opposed ways are what I would like to look
at for a moment, because one of the two ways to
reach the public seems to me a short and rather
easy but a dangerous one; the other one appears as
long, hard and difficult, but maybe more serious.
The first way, the quick and easy one, is
to adapt to the phenomena of mass culture by
allowing the elements of show effect, fashion and
star cult into architecture. All one has to do is to
offer a visual surprise with each design, to offer
something that has been unseen before. To allow
architecture to have a visual impact, it is sufficient
to limit the effect to the surface. It is like when
someone is putting new clothes on a puppet each
time the season and the fashion changes, without
ever changing the puppet itself. In fact, you don’t
have to change the puppet; you can use it over
and over again. Only the surface changes; in this
case, it is only the dress that counts, what makes
the effect and what eventually sells.
The same happens in architecture when it
is seen as a fashion object that is there to fulfill
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