one driving idea of the show holds firm, Bergdoll’s binder notwithstanding: Suburbs are generally an architect-free zone. Insofar as such creatures are spied at all, they’re employed to rubber-stamp a builder’s plans. Beyond that, they’re not wanted. Suburbanites are conservative, wherever they might lie on the political spectrum: There’s a good reason why builders have kept on churning out houses which have remained essentially the same for decades, even as they have grown steadily in size. — architectmagazine.com
Also see Archinect feature: The CRIT: Thoughts on MoMA's Foreclosed: Rehousing the American Dream
4 Comments
First off interesting to see a finance blogger take on "architectural criticism". Does a good job certainly examining the exhibit.
Also, the key takeaway really seems to be "Of course, for an idea to be sustainable, it also has to be realistic. Much of the MoMA show fails that criterion miserably." .
"There’s no foreclosure crisis in Manhattan. Or, for that matter, in the vibrant hearts of Chicago, San Francisco, or Portland, Ore."
"They basically comprise a simple message to suburbanites: We city-dwellers are better at living than you are, and if you want to improve your lifestyle, you’re going to have to become much more like us."
Someone does need to tell them that.
perhaps I am partial...
ha, manhattan. thats because you need to be a millionare to live in cities these days. I grew up in ny, moved to suburbia because I cannot possibly afford to live in nyc with a family. the city has become a sterile gentrified playground for the wealthy and single. most of the poor and working class people were pushed out to the burbs. Quite the opposite was true 40 to 200 years ago. I wish cities were like they were in the 80's and 90's. I can deal with the occasional stabbing, I can't deal with 4000 per month rent and 5 dollar coffee.
he's reviewing a highly speculative ideas-based exhibit at an art museum as if it's a feasibility study?!
this is why it's so hard for innovation and idea-generation activities to gain traction. they're squashed before anything really can be explored fully by those who say 'nah, that won't work' or, worse yet, 'woah, that's elitist/discriminatory/etc'.
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