8 SYKES ON EIGHT...
MMX today, MML tomorrow
Architect Christopher Sykes gets worked up about what the future holds and what it will look like, touches down in Dresden and provides a touching reminder of the innocence and expectations of youth.
REGULAR READERS OF THESE PAGES MAY SUGGEST THAT THE AUTHOR HAS FINALLY FLIPPED. ‘THIS IS NO PLACE TO INDULGE YOUR FAMILY SNAPS AND INGRATIATE US WITH HUMAN KITSCH,’ SOME SAY. ‘NOT SO,’ THE ACCUSED REPLIES. ‘THIS IMAGE IS DEEPLY SYMBOLIC. FIRST, MANY OF US WILL NOT BE HERE IN 40 YEARS TIME BUT THIS CHILD WILL BE AND AGED 45 TO BOOT. HERE SHE NOT ONLY WELCOMES THE FIRST SUN OF THE YEAR BUT ENJOYS, NAY EMBRACES, ALL THOSE EMBRYONIC ELEMENTS FROM WHICH HER/OUR VERY OWN BUILT ENVIRONMENT WILL SPRING – WATER, STONE, TIMBER, SPACE,
ENERGY....IMAGINATION.’
F
orty years is significant, and congratulations are in order, because earlier this month the industry’s weekly Building Design published its 40th anniversary special issue (number 1906 MMX). And within it were included worthy musings and questions about actually what will architecture, building and the environment be like in another 40 years time (MML)? These questions are important because building isn’t just today, it’s tomorrow and clever people, clever architects and product manufacturers should be thinking long and hard about how their decisions and outputs today will affect people, like this little girl, tomorrow.
The BD comments come essentially from architects although architects are not necessarily the best clairvoyants. In fact,
Centrum Galerie Dresden - BREEAM 2010 Excellent winner
there’s a very interesting comment from Oxford University’s David Sanderson in the Guardian which suggests that architects are the last people needed in Chile and Haiti because.....’Most are taught the exact opposite of what is needed – ie they focus on the product (the building) whereas humanitarian practitioners major on the process (involving people)’. This truism is so true when, frustratingly, the lauded works of many architects are actually only pieces of sculpture, some outrageously and inexplicably crafted to defy gravity, clad no doubt with interesting things but inside which people themselves have somehow to sort out how they will exist, work and play.
It’s sometimes with the
same difficulty that a starling has in nestling and nesting within a Henry Moore sculpture!
Ella USA
The result of all this is that some begin to question whether architects (maybe not all) will actually exist in 40 years time. That is quite opposite to others who suggest that architects’ will have regained their status and expanded into responsibility for all developments and public realm with a brief to think bold about such matters as economic special welfare and the physical environment.
▲
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76