I think with few wonderful exceptions, US architecture has been rather mediocre in the past 20-30 years. I think postmodernism and the subsequent 'isms' really fucked up the profession in the US. In search for semantics the profession got narrowed down to almost nothing. Such a wasted decades! On top of that, lax and capital-oriented city planning has allowed the developers to do awful stuff in the american cities.
Europe is still producing the best architects, the best architecture and the best architecture publications. Perhaps because postmodernism and the subsequent 'isms' weren't very popular in Europe the European architects managed to still relate their work to the urban problems and potentials, instead of wasting an immense amount of time on the meaning of architecture.
Funny thing cause although US has a huge number of great architecture scholars (many of them imported from Europe) and great architecture schools located within beautiful campuses with cutting edge facilities and studios, still the poor European schools produce the best architects.
^ Don't forget that building codes are largely dictated by insurance companies and zoning is often exclusionary and for private rather than public benefit, or enacted by idiots, or well intentioned but poorly thought out, or all of the above. Or that architecture schools in the US vary from the lowly (technically adept) to the lofty (full of shit).
/rant off
Three posts in three years. Will we have to wait another year for your next one?
Is Michael Maltzan the greatest American architect actively practicing?
Charles Schwartzapfel
I think with few wonderful exceptions, US architecture has been rather mediocre in the past 20-30 years. I think postmodernism and the subsequent 'isms' really fucked up the profession in the US. In search for semantics the profession got narrowed down to almost nothing. Such a wasted decades! On top of that, lax and capital-oriented city planning has allowed the developers to do awful stuff in the american cities.
Europe is still producing the best architects, the best architecture and the best architecture publications. Perhaps because postmodernism and the subsequent 'isms' weren't very popular in Europe the European architects managed to still relate their work to the urban problems and potentials, instead of wasting an immense amount of time on the meaning of architecture.
Funny thing cause although US has a huge number of great architecture scholars (many of them imported from Europe) and great architecture schools located within beautiful campuses with cutting edge facilities and studios, still the poor European schools produce the best architects.
^ Don't forget that building codes are largely dictated by insurance companies and zoning is often exclusionary and for private rather than public benefit, or enacted by idiots, or well intentioned but poorly thought out, or all of the above. Or that architecture schools in the US vary from the lowly (technically adept) to the lofty (full of shit).
/rant off
Three posts in three years. Will we have to wait another year for your next one?
dear god, I hope so. maybe he can read some books on recent history before posting again.
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