The architect does not work in a vacuum. His products are solutions to problems and situations coming from the environment. The situations are for instance made up of economic, political and social conditions; of cultural traditions; of physical conditions such as climate and topology. The situations are not static, but always changing; the political organization of the society changes, the economical conjunctures, and the climate hardly offers constant solutions. The architect is not the least of human beings who sees the environment in very different ways.
At present architects are designing beautiful buildings. Such designs are in every formal and technical way done with great integrity, but they can never transcend the limited social and political goals for which they were created. If architecture is to regain credibility, architects will have to acknowledge their responsibility in presenting and dramatizing their people’s particular cultural values and not others. |
