Mary Woods Archiculture Extras Interview
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Archiculture Interviews21 / 30
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ArchitectRoomComputer animation
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ArchitectTypology (theology)LandschaftsgestaltungZumthor, PeterLandscape architectureBuildingTempleCity (band)Meeting/Interview
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Landscape architectureSpirit levelArchitectProfilblechBuildingConstructionComputer animationMeeting/Interview
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Earthworks (engineering)Landscape architectureArchitectRenaissance Revival architectureConstructionScale modelWater wellBuildingProfilblechLandschaftsgestaltungModerne Kunst <Geschichte>Computer animationMeeting/Interview
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Landscape architectureBauträgerArchitectIndustrial archaeologyBuildingPublic spaceClassical orderWater wellComputer animationMeeting/Interview
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ArchitectEarthworks (engineering)HouseLandscape architectureAir conditioningModerne Kunst <Geschichte>Avant-gardeComputer animationMeeting/Interview
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Computer animation
Transcript: English(auto-generated)
00:10
I think it's so interesting that in ancient Egypt, and certainly in South Asia as well, the architect was privy to secret knowledge, again, knowledge that would be used in constructing
00:23
a temple, constructing a palace, again, building typologies really associated with the upper echelons of society and power. And so architects were also thought, particularly in Egypt, to possess magical powers. And I think in today's architectural profession,
00:40
they still cultivate that as well with the star architect. I mean, I was just reading, although he would probably dispute this identification with the star architect, the Swiss architect, Peter Zumthor, and the notion that he has to interview the client, and the client has to convince him
01:02
that he or she is worthy of having a Peter Zumthor architect. So again, sort of being initiated into the cult or the priestly cast of architecture in some way. And so in a funny kind of way, I think that mixing up of architects with magic and religion, and again, having certain powers,
01:23
still continues on today. Certainly in this country, the architectural profession has always been very market-driven. In the absence of sustained patronage by the state,
01:41
and the government at whatever level in this country has always been a fairly reluctant patron of the arts and architecture. And again, the concern as to whether or not public monies, which were limited, and particularly are limited today,
02:01
are put to the best use by going to art and architecture. So architects in this country have always had to be entrepreneurs, and they've always had to market themselves. And in a funny kind of way, I think that in our media-saturated culture, in a culture of branding and of self-promotion, in many ways, American architects historically
02:22
have been the best equipped to deal with that. Because they didn't have the cushion of either private patronage or the state as a patron, as they did in Europe, and certainly globally. And so architects in this country have always had to scramble. And part of the problem, again,
02:42
was that they were so far outnumbered by master craftsmen and master builders. So they've always had to make an argument for themselves in terms of the greater fees that they charge, the greater time that an architect invests in a project, typically, and the fact that it wasn't one-stop shopping.
03:02
That you not only had to pay an architect, but then you had to pay a master builder or a general contractor. So architecture really didn't seem to many clients and consumers to be an economically advisable form of designing and constructing buildings.
03:28
Rorgism is a term that I have used in my writing on the architectural profession, and I think others have used as well. And it obviously comes from Ayn Rand's protagonist, Howard Rourke, in a novel that is often invoked
03:42
and evoked, but I wonder if it's actually read. I have to confess that I found it difficult to get through, a very dense novel, but one that, again, the protagonist is Howard Rourke. And many modern architects like to claim that they were the model for Howard Rourke because of his sexual prowess as well.
04:02
So Frank Lloyd Wright said, of course I'm the model for Howard Rourke, or Richard Neutra claimed that he was the inspiration for Howard Rourke. But he represents in that novel, in the 1949 film in which Gary Cooper portrayed Howard Rourke, the idea of the architect as an uncompromising individualist
04:25
and very much a loner, an outsider as well. I mean, you never see Howard Rourke interacting, except with potential clients, those who are going to bring his vision into reality. So architecture is always seen as a kind of singular practice,
04:42
and that the sum of the architectural process is very much encompassed by, again, the design, expressed through drawing or through the model, the inspiration that's given some kind of tangible form. And then the architect is a very charismatic and prophetic figure who has to convince,
05:02
often recalcitrant, clueless clients to buy into his vision. And again, this notion of the architect as embodying a very masculine expression of power in some way, that the woman can only be the sort of helpmate or the architectural critic
05:22
to advance the vision of a Howard Rourke. So I've referred to, now it's commonly known as Starkitects, is tracing their lineage back to someone like Howard Rourke, although certainly during the Renaissance period and the notion of the architect emerging now as an artist,
05:42
someone who's not tied necessarily to the traditional building crafts and trades and tied to the construction side, it has a very, very long history. I think it's interesting that if one begins to understand what is modern
06:01
about the practice of architecture and this discourse in the late 19th century and continuing into the early 20th century, that to be modern was not only a formal quality, but it was the way in which one organized one's practice as well. And architects began to emulate large businesses in industry.
06:26
The practices became very specialized. No one architect could encompass the kind of technical knowledge as well as the artistic knowledge and the business acumen that were necessary. So you had the development of partnerships,
06:43
oftentimes of two and three partners. And then you had, what I like to see as sort of the base of the iceberg in a way, you had these huge numbers of draftsmen who clearly were never going to become independent practitioners,
07:02
were never going to become partners in the firm. And so they could only participate in terms of these firms if there was a sense that they were included in a practice that was dedicated to art. There was also the notion that monumental building served a social good, particularly in this country,
07:22
which I think is a somewhat specious argument, that it was a grand and monumental architecture based upon the classicism of the Mediterranean world that somehow was going to knit us together and the public spaces that it generated. And of course, the people who felt comfortable
07:42
in those public spaces were, again, a very small slice, or who were welcomed into those public spaces, were a very small slice of our diverse population in terms of race, in terms of ethnic group, in terms of socioeconomic class.
08:00
I think that architects have always made a kind of Faustian bargain, in a sense, that they are dependent upon patrons. And it's going to be interesting to see, given the uprisings in the Middle East now, so many Western architects have practiced
08:21
and have had incredible commissions for museums, for entire college campuses. And we're seeing the kind of fallout in terms of politics, of one is too closely identified with these dictatorial regimes for our own geopolitical interest.
08:42
And I think architects, for their own architectural and artistic interests, and I was very interested to see that some of the artists whose works might be included in the Guggenheim, in the Middle East, were saying they didn't want their work shown unless there was a commitment to improving the living and the working conditions
09:01
of all of the immigrant laborers who were brought into Dubai, who were brought into these countries, really under horrific conditions. I think, again, that kind of moral strain that we talked about, that infused architecture in the United States from the mid-19th century forward,
09:22
and so influenced the modern avant-garde movement with a social idealism. But again, they were dependent upon government and workers' unions to provide the funds for public housing and workers' housing at that time. And unfortunately, in this country,
09:41
in the neoliberal state, as we've seen in the recent attacks on unions, those kinds of sources and the idea that government should have had a very limited role, that kind of patronage really seems to have disappeared, particularly in this country. So I think it's very difficult for architects, and I see it in my students who want to do good,
10:02
who do have a social conscience, and although their numbers are still relatively small in terms of schools of architecture, I mean, it's a really horrifying statistic that African-American architects in the 1960s, I think, constituted 1% of the architectural profession, and today, I think it's only something like 1.5 or 1.7.
10:22
Hispanics are better represented, 8.6, and now women are almost 25% of the architectural profession. So we really haven't advanced, and in part, I think it's because of where the commissions come from. It's still a white male power structure that has it within their purview to award commissions.