Architecture, however, is a social art, rather than a personal one, a reflection of a society and its values rather than a medium of individual expression. So it’s a problem when the prevailing trend is one of franchises, particularly those of the globe-trotters: Renzo, Rem, Zaha and Frank.
It’s exciting to bring high-powered architects in from outside... But in the long run it’s wiser to nurture local talent; instead of starchitects, locatects.
— tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com
4 Comments
franchised architecture is just as good as your franchised cheesburger
What a wonderful article. There are many examples that prove the opposite but the general idea resonates with almost every fascet of life. Take America, where many of our earliest buildings were designed by foreign architects, over time even the battle of styles on many of our old main streets attest to not only our heterogeneous background, but are still unmistakenly American, and even more regional when local geography and economics has had time to leave its mark. So while in our "connected" world, we shouldn't limit our vision to local influences any more than the 19th century architects shunned national and European periodicals, it would behove us to learn a localities "sense of place" if it has one. And while one's radius of influence that maybe termed "local" will depend on a variety of factors like culture, geography or economics, it still bears acknowledging that one tends to draw deepest from where one lives.
lost me at stern cuz, well, he sucks. not that the premise was really all that interesting, as developed. can we talk about awesome modern beach shacks more? that shit is nice.
Agree on the robert stern bit...thats nyc 80 years ago, its embarrassing how culturally clueless the supposedly affluent wealthy are in nyc. Mckim meade and white forever, really?
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