Anti-Architecture in a time of a futureless mindset.

Anti-Architecture in a time of a futureless mindset.

I sit down and begin writing about this subject in what could turn out to be a futile effort.

My belief:

In order to create a piece of architecture, there first must be many people who believe that there will be a tomorrow. The process of creating an architectural structure alone could take months, years, or generations to complete. If people believed there were no tomorrow, civilization, as we know it, would collapse into a chaotic free flowing anarchy. People would no longer think ahead about food, money, art, shelter, etc. Any creation would be temporary, primal, and utilitarian in nature. Would these shelters be considered architecture? Conjuring a mental image of some of the great pieces of architecture project an aura of permanence and immense accomplishment, where countless people have experienced something emotionally moving while inhabiting or viewing the piece. One does not imagine a wood hut that has a simple door cut from its twisting branch façade, a fallen tree used as a bridge, or a life sustaining water well. Architecture implies a physical interaction with a material to make it more suited for a composite structure.

Temporality:

Do a person’s actions determine their belief in the future? There could be extreme cases where cult suicide or paranoia takes hold, but what about energy uses. Most people in the United States have done, and will do nothing to reduce the amount of pollution, waste, pesticides, chemical fertilizers, and energy they use day to day. As the gas prices remain high, the American people have not even bothered to complain about the prices, let alone boycott and discover alternate means of transportation. All these variables combined are adding up to less potable water, breathable air, usable land, natural land, diversity of species, and countless other essential parts that allow for an inhabitable future. This trend is not due to the overwhelming communal idea that there is no tomorrow, but rather because we as Americans have been born into a broken system that will not allow us to stop consuming. This system has turned people into corporations and institutions that no longer allow them to believe in anything other than the wellbeing of the economy. The destruction of our environment and our future no longer is blamed on people, but on these institutions that have no emotions or a conscious to plead too; so change cannot happen at a pace that would ensure an inhabitable tomorrow.

Architects are not innocent. Architecture, like everything else, has become a business that must make money or it will die, so our work is done as rapidly and cost effective as possible – meaning that the quality of work suffers greatly. This copy of a copy of a copy has become the industry standard, with few speaking out against the unbreakable mold.

Anti-architecture is an idea full of pain and fear, but also with a hope of change.