There is always a delay between the time a trend begins to gain traction, and the time hipsters begin following it. This delay is caused because people can't be aware of what others are deciding, in real-time. As a result, hipsters gradually realise that the trend, and the decision has been made while making the same decision separately.
This leads to them gradually conforming towards what then becomes the mainstream.
— daily mail
Now, try to imagine "architects" instead of "hipster." Vertical farms? Poche? Blobs? Hedonistic urbanism? Parametric buildings? New Urbanism? Old Urbanism? Etc, etc,.
20 Comments
hipsters...
The Selfish Gene is a good resource that analyzes how cultural trends/learned behavior move through a population and mutate along the way.
Also, many trends that are mislabeled "short term" have actually been around for a while already. 3D-printing was being developed in the mid 1980s. Time moves quickly. It really has more to do with an individual's relationship to the emergence of a trend.
QR codes were developed in 1994 in Japan. I remember seeing them there ten years later and wondering why they weren't being used here in the US. Now they are - 20 years after they were invented,
MONKEY SEE.... MONKEY DO.
They are just a MONKEY.
Hipsters, or architects, are not monkeys. Or, monkeys are hipsters.
This is not about putting the hipsters or architects down. I found it to be an informative research on how the trends develop and evolve what survives as what.
fineprint, as an act, while writing, I picked up a journal on my desk and selected those randomly.
Everything.
Actually, it's not.
You're a primate ya tail-less monkeys :-P
some monkeys are hipsters (tamarins, capuchins, spider monkeys) some are very un-hip (howlers, squiril monkeys...) lemurs are all douchebags...sloths rule! only 2 toed sloths though...3 toed sloths are also un-hip.
Fineprint,
Its not exclusive to architects or hipsters. Dawkins' theories on memes are relevant to a discussion of trends in society generally.
"The meme... was conceived as a "unit of culture" (an idea, belief, pattern of behaviour, etc.) which is "hosted" in the minds of one or more individuals, and which can reproduce itself, thereby jumping from mind to mind. Thus what would otherwise be regarded as one individual influencing another to adopt a belief is seen as an idea-replicator reproducing itself in a new host."
What I find most absurd about this article is that they have somehow resurrected "the hipster" - a formerly much maligned stylistic creature that I'm pretty sure was finally sublimated into popular culture around the end of last decade. If they're only just now noticing beards, fixed gear bicycles (geesh - who still rides those?), and knitted caps they've been living under a rock for the past 10 or so years.
I'm now left wondering if London is no longer the culturally forward place it once was... or maybe it's just the fact that the daily mail is a shite news source.
and in terms of architecture... yeah - there are architectural fashions - things that come and go and resurface... the trick is to always be slightly ahead of the curve.
Agreed, stupid article. Hipsters are under the illusion that they are nonconformist when actually they are just sheeple driven by the corporate dogs of conformity. And the 'math' fails to account for advertising.
I prefer to chart my own course. Whether that is ahead of or behind the curve is irrelevant, because the curve is just a measure of timely compliance.
I think my method pays better, though.
I don't really follow trends per se. When it comes to work, what pays the bills is the only trend I care to follow.
Maybe, but making money is sooo trendy.
Miles, Maybe to those who enjoy starving because they like volunteering themselves as slaves but I am not all that excited about working for free because it doesn't pay the bills and I have enough bill collectors so I like earning a liveable income at the very least.
Sorry, I should have said "lots" of money.
Those pictures of "hipsters" are way off. Should be wearing oversize diy sweaters, round transparent frames and either skinny black pants or traditional-fitting light wash jeans.
So basically the 90s again.
basically I hate anyone younger than 30 because Im jealous of their youth...and im not ashamed to admit it.
Can somebody please start a Your Scene Sucks about architects and their buildings?
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