BusinessWeek’s Bruce Nussbaum has written one heck of an article about the state of Design today, entitled “Are Designers The Enemy Of Design?“. “Designers suck,” he says and he tells us why (Arrogance, Ignorance and Disregard for the Planet!).

One paragraph I particularily liked was about the arrogance of architects:

Let’s talk about the arrogance of architects. When I began covering architecture a decade ago for Business Week, we launched an annual contest with Architectural Record. When we were about to publish pictures of the first winners, I looked at all the fancy architecture magazines. None had any pictures of people inside buildings. The buildings were all devoid of people. And most still are. We put people inside the spaces they inhabit. We inserted people into the conversation of their lives. Now, smart architects engage the masses in their designs. They hire firms who do social geography, showing how people really interact in organizations, not what their titles suggest. Informed with this information, they design spaces.

Designing WITH the people and not FOR the people is key to a the new, inclusive design thinking.

I highly recommend reading that article.


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9 responses to “On the arrogance of architects..”

  1. Haitham Issam Avatar
    Haitham Issam

    I don’t think it’s arrogance, I think it’s not possible to design WITH people in all cases, and the examples here in the UAE are way too much and it’s mostly the result of the uneducated client pressuring the architect with his paychecks to design “what he wants”.

  2. Mariam Ayyash Avatar
    Mariam Ayyash

    Outch, truth hurts

  3. Rami Avatar
    Rami

    Design is one form of artists, and artists have big egos in generals, most of the time. It is quite the same in journalism, and in education, too.

    I just posted some pictures of fine swedish archeticture on my blog.

  4. Lowfields Avatar
    Lowfields

    I don’t think it’s difficult to conclude that the only building the majority of the world’s architects know how to build is an ivory tower… and if you don’t like it, you simply don’t understand.

    Archtitects seem to struggle with the notion that buildings aren’t simply theoretical exercises in space and form, but structures required to serve the needs of humans. And like all good practitioners or theory, these latter-day social engineers can’t understand when their creations become anachronisitic eyesores the moment design fashions change…

    Remember, architects in the 1960s thought concrete the most beautiful material imaginable…

  5. Humeid Avatar
    Humeid

    Mr Lowfields (I know who you are :)

    I agree with your comment..

    But what do you have against concret? It is indeed a beautiful material. And it has not gone away since the sixties.

    Look at some examples here:
    (Tadao Ando)
    http://kwc.org/blog/archives/2005/2005-03-17.talk_tadao_ando.html

    (Zaha Hadid)
    http://www.chi-athenaeum.org/archawards/2005/rosenthalcontart.html

    Cheers..

  6. Lowfields Avatar
    Lowfields

    Good try, Humeid!

    But the Japanese project you posted is exactly the cold, brutalist use of concrete that I reject as a solution to human-centred design. Nuclear bunkers are not, the last time I looked, a lifestyle aspiration! Where’s the light? Where’s the warmth?

    While the Zaha Hadid building in Ohio has some merit, it is nicely (and not accidentally) offset by glass and polished stone, and it can’t be denied that weather will have a considerable affect on the concrete’s appearance in 10, 20 years time.

    Sadly, most concrete isn’t wielded by the likes of rare visionaries like Hadid, but by local government who put up hyper-functional, mass-use buildings on the cheap.

    Like these bitter memories from childhood:
    • http://www.retrowow.co.uk/retro_blog/Get_Carter_Carpark_2.jpg
    • http://www.bbc.co.uk/london/content/images/2006/06/19/tower440_440×300.jpg

  7. manal y Avatar
    manal y

    concrete is an amazing material to work with

    look here and see what they are doing with concrete
    Light transmitting concrete

  8. Humeid Avatar
    Humeid

    Mr Lowfields

    Look at le corbusiers chuch. Concrete can age quite well.
    http://www.alovelyworld.com/webfranc/gimage/fra066.jpg

    If you look at my Flickr images to the right of this comment you’ll see a nice conrete wall (not finished yet) used in the new children museum in Amman.

    Also see the Fuheis housing project from the 1980’s by Rasem Badran:
    http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/P/0500342067.01._AA240_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

    It’s plastered concrete, painted white.

    Any material can be a good material. It depends on the designer. Stone in the hands of crappy government achitects (or private sector Amman apartment developers) can be horrible too.

    This is turning into a concrete discussion :)