The interest in our civic architect

The interest in our civic architecture has increased dramatically in the last few years. It seems every city throughout the world has or is about to make a substantial commitment to Statement Architecture.
Andrew Wach
Andrew Wach
The interest in our civic architecture has increased dramatically in the last few years. It seems every city throughout the world has or is about to make a substantial commitment to Statement Architecture.

This architecture of significance commands a large portion of civic attention and to architects it is satisfying to see architecture considered as a significant presence in the emerging urban landscape, a status it has had in the past but a significance that was lost in the last decades of economic rationalization.

Statement Architecture is very influential and very important, but it represents a very small portion of all architecture built today. The vast majority of architecture constructed today is in the background and is often overlooked when considering the contribution of architecture to our urban realities.

We are referring to what may be called ‘the architecture of the everyday’. The somewhat anonymous endeavour of creating the vast physical infrastructure that we confront and live within, in the everyday.

The origin of the term ‘the architecture of the everyday’ to my understanding emerged from a studio discussion at a Canadian University, when a student asked how a design project the class was working on related to ‘the architecture of the everyday’. The term is interesting in that it implies that there is somehow a distinction in architecture, a line of demarcation between “the architecture of the everyday’ and Statement Architecture.

This is the case from an economic perspective, “the architecture of the everyday’ will certainly cost less than Statement Architecture for a given building size and certainly the project ambition for the ‘architecture of the everyday’ is more limited in scope. Our expectations may be less but the shear volume of `the architecture of the everyday’ does make it the significant contributor to the life of the everyday.

To consider the influence of `the architecture of the everyday’ we would begin by stating that this architecture should be, socially honest, it should be representative of our social intentions, in other words, we value education, we build schools, health care is important, we construct clinics, hospitals and care facilities, we are a capital based economy, we construct offices, shopping centres, industrial buildings, we are collectively democratic, we build civic architecture.

We would also see that `the architecture of the everyday’ must be socially inclusive, it is intended for all of society, it is used by all of society.

Consider the possible impact an indifference to `the architecture of the everyday’ would present:

• When the architecture of education does not support learning,

• When the architecture of health care does not support healing,

• When the architecture of capital does not respect environment,

• When civic architecture is not representative.

This ‘architecture of the everyday’ becomes a reasoned reflection of our society today and represents a measure of our social wealth.

The importance of ’the architecture of the everyday’ cannot be over emphasized.

In other words the ‘architecture of the everyday’ must be representative of the issues of the everyday and when this occurs architecture exists at the edge of the current social dialogue and is then in the process of becoming a better school, a better hospital, less consumptive, more adaptive, it becomes inclusive, it becomes a right, a right for all citizens.

“The architecture of the everyday’ at its best increases the quality of the social dialogue and creates an inclusive architecture that helps to weave our social intentions together and within this weave we become more socially honest, we become more equal. “The architecture of the everyday’ measures us as a society. Statement Architecture is the creation of our illusions, “the architecture of the everyday’ is the creation of our reality. Architecture at its best is transformational, it is always in the process of becoming the illusion and the reality at one and the same time.

Kết quả (Việt) 1:

Sự quan tâm trong kiến trúc dân sự của chúng tôi đã tăng lên đáng kể trong vài năm qua. Có vẻ như mọi thành phố trên khắp thế giới đã hoặc là về để thực hiện một cam kết đáng kể để tuyên bố kiến trúc.Andrew WachAndrew WachSự quan tâm trong kiến trúc dân sự của chúng tôi đã tăng lên đáng kể trong vài năm qua. Có vẻ như mọi thành phố trên khắp thế giới đã hoặc là về để thực hiện một cam kết đáng kể để tuyên bố kiến trúc.Kiến trúc này ý nghĩa lệnh một phần lớn của sự chú ý của công dân và để kiến trúc sư được đáp ứng để xem kiến trúc được coi là một sự hiện diện đáng kể trong cảnh quan đô thị đang nổi lên, một tình trạng nó đã có trong quá khứ nhưng một ý nghĩa bị mất trong những thập kỷ cuối cùng của kinh tế hợp lý hóa.Kiến trúc tuyên bố là rất có ảnh hưởng và rất quan trọng, nhưng nó đại diện cho một phần rất nhỏ của tất cả các kiến trúc được xây dựng vào ngày hôm nay. Đại đa số các kiến trúc xây dựng vào ngày hôm nay là phía sau và thường bị bỏ qua khi xem xét sự đóng góp của kiến trúc đô thị thực tế của chúng tôi cho.Chúng tôi đang đề cập đến những gì có thể được gọi là 'kiến trúc của mỗi ngày'. Nỗ lực hơi vô danh của việc tạo ra cơ sở hạ tầng lớn mà chúng tôi đối mặt với và sống trong phạm vi, trong mỗi ngày.The origin of the term ‘the architecture of the everyday’ to my understanding emerged from a studio discussion at a Canadian University, when a student asked how a design project the class was working on related to ‘the architecture of the everyday’. The term is interesting in that it implies that there is somehow a distinction in architecture, a line of demarcation between “the architecture of the everyday’ and Statement Architecture.This is the case from an economic perspective, “the architecture of the everyday’ will certainly cost less than Statement Architecture for a given building size and certainly the project ambition for the ‘architecture of the everyday’ is more limited in scope. Our expectations may be less but the shear volume of `the architecture of the everyday’ does make it the significant contributor to the life of the everyday.To consider the influence of `the architecture of the everyday’ we would begin by stating that this architecture should be, socially honest, it should be representative of our social intentions, in other words, we value education, we build schools, health care is important, we construct clinics, hospitals and care facilities, we are a capital based economy, we construct offices, shopping centres, industrial buildings, we are collectively democratic, we build civic architecture.We would also see that `the architecture of the everyday’ must be socially inclusive, it is intended for all of society, it is used by all of society.Consider the possible impact an indifference to `the architecture of the everyday’ would present:• When the architecture of education does not support learning,• When the architecture of health care does not support healing,• When the architecture of capital does not respect environment,• When civic architecture is not representative.This ‘architecture of the everyday’ becomes a reasoned reflection of our society today and represents a measure of our social wealth.The importance of ’the architecture of the everyday’ cannot be over emphasized.In other words the ‘architecture of the everyday’ must be representative of the issues of the everyday and when this occurs architecture exists at the edge of the current social dialogue and is then in the process of becoming a better school, a better hospital, less consumptive, more adaptive, it becomes inclusive, it becomes a right, a right for all citizens.“The architecture of the everyday’ at its best increases the quality of the social dialogue and creates an inclusive architecture that helps to weave our social intentions together and within this weave we become more socially honest, we become more equal. “The architecture of the everyday’ measures us as a society. Statement Architecture is the creation of our illusions, “the architecture of the everyday’ is the creation of our reality. Architecture at its best is transformational, it is always in the process of becoming the illusion and the reality at one and the same time.