Leader
Clients and architects alike are hungry for it: fame really is good for business, says Rory Olcayto
N
obody wants to be an executive architect when they begin their studies at
architecture school. Who wants to deliver a building on behalf of another, more glamorous architect, only for them to steal the glory after the job is finished? Quite a few students, however, do want to be famous, influential, and most want to be, at the very least, respected. You may find this facile, pathetic even, and wonder ‘why oh why’ must all prospective architects imagine they can be a Corb or a Kahn when clearly, they can’t. But that would be unfair. My
introduction to the world of architecture was framed by lectures on Alvar Aalto, Frank Lloyd Wright and Mies van der Rohe and by studio
tutors similarly obsessed (Gordon Benson was head of school when I began at the University of Strathclyde in 1989). Yours was probably much the same. As a community, we were
inculcated into this ego-driven culture, a process brilliantly described by Jeremy Till in the opening chapters of Architecture Depends. Despite the success of the sustainability agenda to become a crucial part of the student outlook, the starchitect is still more thoroughly worshipped than any other aspect of architectural culture in schools up and down the country. Te point here is that fame – and the talent that, pre-X-Factor, was guaranteed as part of the package – plays a big part in architectural culture and clients in particular are drawn to it. Our lead story this week illustrates this point with brutal clarity. Several of the new projects Will Alsop has secured for his studio at
Letters received
Last issue AJ 25.11.10
From Bauhaus to Bristol Designer Marcel Breuer’s remarkable journey from Hungary to the west country
25.11.10
The Regs How Part L will affect historic buildings
Please address letters to: Te Editor Te Architects’ Journal Greater London House Hampstead Road London nw1 7ej Telephone 020 7391 4574 Fax 020 7391 3435
The Alsop legacy
Tree building studies: Shanghai cruise terminal by Sparch and a cricket pavilion and school by Alsop Sparch
Sustainability in Practice
FAT reinvents low-carbon housing in Middlesbrough
Alternatively, please email
crystal.bennes@
emap.com by 10am on the Monday before publication. Te AJ reserves the right to edit letters.
16 Saving architects’ fees
Three ideas for how the AJ can help to preserve architects’ fees (AJ 04.11.10): 1. At EKJN Architects we
passionately believe that well-designed buildings (which means good details and specifications as well as pleasing aesthetics) have a higher fiscal value than poorly designed buildings. Well-designed buildings need cost no more to build than poorly-designed buildings and will usually cost less to keep. This means we are worth more than the cost of our fee because we are good at what we do. Clients can be convinced of this, but it is a difficult stance to prove categorically. Perhaps
the AJ could commission a survey of the market value of well-designed buildings (designed by good architects) compared to the market value of hum-drum buildings (presumably designed by non- architects)?
2. On occasion we’ve referred to government research (okay, Australian government research...) that found that for every $100 reduction in design fees, the construction cost of a project rose by $1,000 as a direct result of the deterioration in design information. It would be useful to have this research repeated in the UK, perhaps. 3. Many ‘one-off’ clients don’t realise that an architect can control the whole construction process. Good
aj 02.12.10
THE ARCHITECTS’ JOURNAL
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