Emergent Urbanism

Rediscovering Urban Complexity

Architecture should be abolished

Just what exactly does this have to do with constructing buildings and cities? When you can just as easily make jewelry as boats, you are not an architect. You are someone who draws shapes.

The architect was once the person responsible for directing the construction of a building, start-to-finish. For some of the grandest buildings, like the Gothic cathedrals of Europe, they didn't even draw any plans. Now the building part is done by engineers, and for a rare proportion of buildings a jewel-artist is hired to create some kind of absurd shell in which to put the structure, which inevitably makes the structure less efficient. So there's no such thing as architecture anymore. Just end the pretense. Shut down the schools. From the subdivision to the big box store to the shoebox office building, the majority of people in North America do not come into contact with any architecture during their daily lives, and they are the lucky ones.

These are the people who will gain the most from the development of emergent construction. By following simple geometric programs, the most banal builders will be able to create buildings of great beauty and complexity. These are the people who will have earned the right to call themselves architects.

Further comment

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