Kenneth Frampton Archiculture Extras Interview
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00:00
DoorRoomArchitectureComputer animation
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ArchitectBuildingMeeting/Interview
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ArchitectureLouis QuinzeArchitectBuildingModerne Kunst <Geschichte>WassernutzungConstructionComputer animationMeeting/Interview
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ProfilblechArchitectureIssue (legal)High techBuildingConstructionSpaceElevatorRomanticismFraming (construction)Moderne Kunst <Geschichte>ConcreteComputer animationMeeting/Interview
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Moderne Kunst <Geschichte>Aspirator (pump)Air conditioningAbwrackungArchitectureComputer animationMeeting/Interview
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BuildingConstructionEarthworks (engineering)ArchitectureScale modelArchitectFuturismComputer animationMeeting/Interview
09:45
Computer animation
Transcript: English(auto-generated)
00:10
What is very interesting to think about architecture and I tell this to people, you know It's possible to be in some other profession to be a scientist or to be I don't know what even a doctor or or I don't know
00:21
Many many other professions, but an architect has one unique thing about it, which is that architects look reality in the face Because you know the client for which the building is being built is that reality It is a representation of a power of some kind or other, you know That is looking at you directly so to speak. So architects have this, you know
00:43
The business of designing buildings and getting them built is a kind of direct Engagement with power, you know either the private individual's wealth or the or the corporation or the state or whatever Yes, I mean, you know in a way architecture has always been a luxury
01:04
profession, you know, it's never been You Know unlike let's say I don't know what Fashion design let's say for that matter would be more, you know universally understood or even that of course is a luxury item as well, you know very much so and
01:22
And also one of the sobering facts is and I think it's been a fact for a long time that like Well over 90% you know, maybe 95% of the built production in the United States Has had no architect involved in its design at all So it's been designed by builders or by engineers or by somebody else but not by architects
01:42
So in that sense has always been a kind of minority, you know the profession I think really takes off in the 17th century and that's interesting in itself because if we If we take France in particular, you know and the French Academy You know, it is the modernization of France in the 17th century which produces the profession of architecture
02:02
because the Royal Academy in France Trained the Arctic's who had only one task in France under Louis the 14th Which was to design and supervise the construction of the buildings of the state They were not really trained for you know as free professionals. They were trained to
02:21
Accommodate and represent the state basically so I think I think architecture really starts to come in into its own in the modern sense with this Idea of the nation-state and the representation of the state, you know end up and the institutions of the state, you know I mean one of the kind of now perhaps slightly
02:42
passé but one of the ideological Manifestations of recent years with regard to the computer and regard to digital, you know computer-aided design, you know Has been you know kind of rather simple-minded analogies
03:00
between let's say technological inventions in the 19th century like steel frame construction the invention of the elevator a reinforced concrete construction, you know, and the impact that these technologies and inventions had upon built form and then you know, I think in rather simple-minded terms people were saying, you know, well the the digital and digital computer-aided design will will have a similar impact and
03:27
And Yes, and no, I mean up to a point it has had some impact and It's been possible to conceive, you know buildings and to Work them out in in in in detail very complex space forms and structures, you know, which would not have been
03:47
Would not have been possible prior to computer-aided design So there has been a certain Definitely a certain impact of this technology on design itself, you know, I
04:02
think you know as always of course, there is a romanticism of technology or of technique and I think an interesting term used by someone who had a big influence on me Thomas Maldonado is the term techno idolatry, you know and I think
04:20
To the extent that you know, a certain hyper modernity has been associated with techno idolatry, you know, I eat that the maximization of any technique is is Desirable, you know and that and and then we come to an interesting issue there I think you know that we could say that maximization is a problem altogether
04:41
You know that that maximization not only in architecture, but in other fields is a problem, you know Maximization of the application of high-tech surgery, for example, or the maximization of the of the use of pharmaceuticals The you know, this kind of maximization of technique is a problem elsewhere, you know, but also in in
05:07
in architecture or let's say artificial fertilizers as a maximization of You know agricultural production. I mean these usually one has to pay a price for this maximization, you know in the long run and
05:20
And anyway, it's out of balance. I mean ideally, you know architecture should be involved with balance, you know, so Yes by all means I mean the It's impossible to work without the computer. You know, you can't the building industries Everything has changed. No one has to computerize the information totally and it hasn't had many many benefits
05:43
I think in terms of the management of production and will continue to have but But you know the the intelligent use of the technique and and and the You know using a technology that's appropriate for the task. That's the issue, you know rather than
06:04
You know simply pushing for an image that's hot, you know, and which comes close to in my opinion techno idolatry Well, you know Modernity altogether is in a difficult situation. I think you could also say democracy is in a very difficult situation
06:24
The speed of change altogether, you know threatens all sorts of human institutions, you know, maybe not professions Maybe not the medical profession. Let's say Which is so, you know key to survival for for example, but but many other professions
06:42
And also maybe more importantly institutions are in a state of crisis. I mean, I think democracy is in a state of crisis, you know and The simple-minded belief in the modern project that the modern project would always be progressive, you know That it could only go onwards and upwards, you know this notion this
07:03
very innocent notion as Is a little harder to sustain in this and has been hard to sustain for quite some time I mean, I think there's a fundamental break. I mean the fundamental break is of course Hiroshima You know from this point onwards the modern project is never going to be the same because the possibility of
07:23
Total annihilation is sort of sitting right there as a product of modern technology You know and though we most of the time don't think about it. It did not go away. It's sitting there, you know and that changes everything I think in terms of psychology of the society and so on and
07:41
I'm not saying that the crisis of democracy derives from that but these things are interconnected. I think you know the The modern project in the sense of a liberative modern project politically culturally and otherwise is very much linked to the to the aspirations Of democracy and to the extent that democracy is in trouble
08:00
You know This this project is in trouble. It's another aspect of the same and architecture It is is a symptom in a way of this condition I think in terms of its death threats Let's say I don't believe it's a bit dramatic to talk in those terms, you know But for instance as we are talking today
08:20
I mean the the Supreme Court just passed legislation yesterday Which basically threatens American democracy absolutely and fundamentally because corporations can now spend whatever they like to get Whoever they like elected. Well, the democratic principle is already in trouble heavy trouble
08:44
So the future of the profession well the profession goes on of course and in some ways, of course, there's more building being built Worldwide perhaps than ever before more also, there is this paradox that although there's an enormous amount of indifferent or bad or
09:04
Informed construction all over the world. I mean statistically most of it, you know But at the same time there's also quality work being done all over the world, you know Not on the same scale maybe but still there is more than ever I think you know part of that I think is to do with the information age, you know that the
09:23
the the beneficial aspect of the information age has been that the provincial architects so-called provincial architects all over the world Judge them judge their own production by world standards, you know through the media etc, etc so in fact that has had a You know, it's had a positive effect upon the profession upon the quality of the architecture worldwide