Sep '04 - Nov '06
Back home, back to Italy.
Everybody i know in london seems to be ok, and it's a blessing in the tragedy. funny how close it feels when you walk past the places they show on tv, even if you're not there now.
Here it's bliss, a slower pace of life in the sunshine, the hills make a good job of looking good and protecting the city from the wind coming from the higher pressures of the south.
i managed to find a job, small place, as good as it can get here, really. A dead scene in the old boot, i am sorry to say. The ideas floating around have risen, grown and died ten years ago in the rest of europe. no research, no avantguard, a headstrong dealing with the day to day, the missed deliveries on site, the bureaucracy, the clients.
suddenly the important things in life are others, my girlfriend, my friends, going to places. it almost feel like the attention has shifted back from what will (the future) be to what it (the present) is to be, to live in the "now", to feel good, and to be able to escape the worries and the plans.
My Architectural conscience is not screaming, but quietly complaining, yet i am happier now than i can remember being for a while.
is it possible to have a happy life and a satisfactory relationship with Architecture here, without lobotomy?
i will answer in a few years i guess.
not much to do with uni, i know, but i am on holiday after all...
have a good summer everybody.
11 Comments
Nice jet pack you have there! And is that you having a round of golf?
Enjoy the weather its pissing down with rain here cat. 4 hurricane passing on our south coast.
I can totally relate to yout troubles Richard...and I wonder if a balance is possible, or even realistic... We architects seem to be a certain kind of person who thinks ourselves into these 'situations' however...I think. It shouldn't be a case of architecture vs. life - should it?
Enjoy Italy ;)
I think in the end what matters is the people, the people you love and care for. Opportunities can be created anywhere if you try hard enough. Enjoy!!
jo: i understand what you are saying, and i agree, but i think that at this moment in time i should be working with people that inspire me, whose work i admire and who can challange my ideas, and they seem to lack around here...
I have found that in situations where it's 'something' vs. life, life is an option that far too many people disregard.
It sounds and looks like you've got quite the life. Sure, the difference between acadamia and the real world is a hard transition, but you could be much worse shape...
Have you spoken with the folks you're working with about this? If the ideas have already risen and died and you're truely looking at a fallow field, then perhaps it's time for some new ideas.
it's far too early to speak about changing ideas here, i think the difference is not between academia and the real world. in this case is between Arhitecture in the UK and Architecture in Italy, the way the profession works and advances, or does not advance in Italy's case. It's quite frustrating to from working with cutting edge designers and theories to be discussing ideas that are so obsolete they almost don't apply to reality anymore...
things like program based design, dynamic masterplanning etc are so unheard of around here, that it would take 4 years of schooling to convert my new bosses to them, instead i find myself arguing over aesthetic composition and the "machine for living" as if "toward a new Architecture" had just been published...
Italy lies in a state of coma, the universities are still in the hands of the sons of Rossi, Gregotti and the other dinosaurs, there is no avantguard, and no one caring enough to take things a step foward. And because at this stage i don't feel like i can stand on my own two legs yet, i would like to learn from someone...but who, here, can teach me?
I understand your dilemma better now Richard, I suppose all I can suggest is that you take what you can get and learn what you can, if that can only really be how to detail something nicely in Italy then I suppose that's something. If on the other hand you can't learn anything where you are then I would strongly suggest you try and move to somewhere (in Italy) where you learn at least -something- about our profession?
Good luck!
i guess it will have to be the way. while making a site model a while ago i imagined i could gather some like minded soul and be the super studio of the 21st century...it could be done, i guess. I failed to mention one thing: i want super stardom.
anyways, it's summer and i can think for that long.
thanks for all the help, it is good to discuss things!
Richard - I work for Building Design in London and I've enjoyed reading your blog. Now that the academic year is over we would be interested in running an article which gathers together some of your postings from the past 8 months. Could you contact me at BD (02079218203) to discuss?
Hey, what a cool offer, nice one!
wow, i'm all blushed up now!
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