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When is the revolution in architecture coming?

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121–130 of 211 posts

Re: When is the revolution in architecture coming?

#121
post #35

So. Fucking. True. The state of architecture is a disaster. Ever since Adolf Loos wrote “ornament is crime”, architects have booed anything decorative. We get textures, sure. Oh boy do we get textures. We get all the woods, all the stones, all the 3d printed concrete. Sculpture? Hell, no… And no it’s not that expensive. When you build 234 park avenue, every apartment sells for $10m. maybe there is some of it that can…

Every architect I've met is like a jaded COBOL programmer at the government that refuses to leave their niche because change increases the chances of you getting fired.

Architect here.

From my experience I would say completely the oposite, every intern is a Idris or at least a Haskell programmer. Architectural offices, soon or later, will make them Java programmers.

COBOL programmers are the government authorities and the typical investor.

Re: When is the revolution in architecture coming?

#122
post #23

I've seen enough revolution. I would be far more interested in an architectural counter-revolution, with the vendee marching on these modern monstrosities with pitch forks, torches and jackhammers.

Architectural revolutions come and go in steady cycles. This guy is of the post-modern school, which hates on the modern school. They do irrational nonsense just to make a point against rationalism. They post eg in /r/evilbuildings Modernism hated art-noveau and previous such schools, like baroque, and esp. rokoko (late baroque), the typical l'art pour l'art extremist schools. Nobody takes them too serious, so they g…

Can i make my own art-style then, with a fractal floral decoration, which consists of constantly getting smaller brutalist buildings ad infinity.

Re: When is the revolution in architecture coming?

#123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every architect I've met is like a jaded COBOL programmer at the government that refuses to leave their niche because change increases the chances of you getting fired.

Architect here. From my experience I would say completely the oposite, every intern is a Idris or at least a Haskell programmer. Architectural offices, soon or later, will make them Java programmers. COBOL programmers are the government authorities and the typical investor.

I remember reading that architects have one of the highest job dissatisfaction rates in the US. Which makes sense comparing the kinds of projects I saw the architecture students due in college with the architects I've met, whose excitement is designing the ductwork in strip-mall Target stores.

Re: When is the revolution in architecture coming?

#124
post #40
post #2

This misses a big point: highly skilled craftsmanship will never again be affordable on an architectural scale. So we'll have it again when it can all be done by machine. It costs human lives to build a Notre Dame, both in deaths and in total lifespan output, and as for Sagrada Familia it's still not complete. We now value human life and labor too much to be able to afford it. I personally can't wait to have detailed…

This is plain wrong. Hamburg’s philarmony cost 900 million euros to build. That’s an awful lot of money. Architects decide to spend on structure and texture instead of decor. And with today’s machines, we actually could make all these intricate details without human intervention.

I visited the elbharmonie and man that whole neighborhood is probably the most lifeless boring place in europe

Re: When is the revolution in architecture coming?

#125
post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every architect I've met is like a jaded COBOL programmer at the government that refuses to leave their niche because change increases the chances of you getting fired.

That’s a good way to put it. I know a number of architects, 99.9% design the equivalent of Taco Bell’s. Unless you’re exceptional it’s a very mind numbin job where you’re easily replaceable (like most everything else).

[deleted]

Re: When is the revolution in architecture coming?

#126

I live in Amsterdam in the former social housing area where Anne Frank grew up. It was built in the 20s and is known as “the Amsterdam school” [1]. It is incredible: it is mostly lower than 5 floors (human scale), has a classic look and it provides just enough ornamentation for every building to be just slightly different from its neighbor. Inside the apartments, there are slight variations (eg, different stained gla…

I've always wondered why "open source architecture" never took off - i know every site has it's own challenges and each city it's own building codes but it seems like it would be pretty easy to make 50 types of buildings and essentially copy and paste them to make a nice city

Re: When is the revolution in architecture coming?

#127

One of my favorite architectures is not anywhere real, but Morrowind (Elder Scrolls game). All cities are astonishingly beautiful. More, they all sort of fit together internally. They form a coherent style. Plus the interiors and the exteriors are both gorgeous and work together. See Ald'ruhn: https://elderscrolls.fandom.com/wiki/Ald%27ruhn,_Manor_Distr... and Vivec (not sure I went there years ago): https://elderscr…

Not sure I agree that those buildings are good looking.

Incidentally, I think there are some nice architectures in the "Dishonoured" series (and in fact many Arkane games, Prey included).

Re: When is the revolution in architecture coming?

#128
> So, architects, be bold. Go crazy. Gothic futurism. Do it.

All other things being equal, yes please. My bias is to think that all other things are not equal. In particular:

1. The price of creating beautiful unique pieces is probably higher and more uncertain. It's probably cheaper to churn out boxes using prefab components and so the dominant architecture will follow that constraint.

2. It's not the architects that are too timid, it's committees that must be convinced and they are biased toward conservative designs.

The more productive call to action would be something like: Look at new fabrication methods, materials, workflows on the building site and ask how the envelope of design can be expanded without introducing cost and risk.

Re: When is the revolution in architecture coming?

#129
post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> highly skilled craftsmanship will never again be affordable on an architectural scale Is that why those award-winning buildings look like that? Because the architects tried to make them cheaper? Is 'detail' requiring highly skilled craftsmanship the only way to make pleasant buildings? Because a few of the buildings (Venice and the Italian village) the article gives as examples of beauty have only the barest, simpl…

I think the statement you quote is incorrect. Our society is quite capable of paying for artisans to restore the architectural splendors of earlier times, and does so. At the same time, expenditure on architecture for its own sake seems to have increased in the last decade or so, at least in centers of wealth (which, in modern times, is where non-utilitarian architecture has its first home, even if it likes to have a…

The Victorians had a concept of civic pride and public service which is completely absent today.

I owe a lot to this dude, because he made sure that when worker was housing was being built it would have a library on the periphery.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Passmore_Edwards

There was an explicit goal of providing education and opportunities to working people. (Well - working men. But this was over a century ago now.)

Modern philanthropy has no equivalent. There is no interest in creating high quality useful public spaces for ordinary people. So there's no architectural tradition to support that goal.

Re: When is the revolution in architecture coming?

#130
> WAS THE CONSTRUCTION WORKER AT THE BOTTOM ASKED IF HE LIKED THE BUILDING? IF NOT, WHY NOT? SURELY HIS INPUT SHOULD HAVE MATTERED.

A construction worker is strictly implementation. Soliciting design input that isn't relevant to implementation is a recipe for chaos.

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