We are down to earth, music making, SCI-Arc grads who are passionate about design. We live in Los Angeles and explore many destinations in the world to expose ourselves to the beautiful things life has to offer.
You mean I didn’t get the free job?
It is no surprise that with our current economic situation – a large number of people unemployed in various fields with various skills- starchitecture is feeling the pain. I read in ARCHDaily this morning (http://www.archdaily.com/page/2/) regarding the withdrawal of Calatrava on the Denver International Airport Extension. Calatravas team has stated it would be rather difficult maintaining and providing the standards and quality of a Calatrava signature design.
I am not sure why, but this sparked a few questions for me. Perhaps it is my “design is for everyone” mentality. I mean it is 2011, budget cuts are not just happening in schools – people want everything and anything for free.
So what does this mean for designers and architects? How will this affect the starchitects of our time> as more projects are terminated due to funding? Do the rest of us have to be adaptable? Do we adjust our designs to adapt to the economic changes? I mean, we are the masters of seeing things in multiple scales (I would like to think anyway), so can we “scale back” when needed? More importantly, what elements define an architect and designer’s signature?
My personal take on it is that we are capable of producing projects that transcend our design values, ideas and perspectives, working within a limited budget while composing new innovative strategies to execute quality. Am I being optimistic about this whole thing? Maybe. Call me crazy but design and quality are possible with any budget, it is just a matter of “how”…
We can be reasonable but not cheap. And as long as you and I keep saying “no” to the free job, we can educate people on the value of design.
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