Member-only story
I want to talk to an audience, not an echo chamber.
Architecture is often associated, like the world of art, with a lot of pretentiousness. The whole discussion of building vs. architecture can hint at the sort of pedantic level that the discipline enables.
It is tough — the artist/architect in me that spent a decade in school understands this pedantic language and has grown to not only embrace it, but even enjoy it. You drink a couple of glasses of wine with like-minded people, and the myriad of vocab word vomit ensues.
Yet, as I continue to experience the professional world working in different industries, from residential to hospitality, to multifamily, to commercial, and now industrial — I find myself more excited and humbled by what academically is considered “vernacular” or “folk-architecture”.
I absolutely love writing. I absolutely love architecture. I obviously want to play matchmaker and marry the two. I have so much to learn before I can even consider to be proud of my work, but I try and show up as often as I can to make it happen. And then, there is the crux.
Do I want to talk to an audience? Or do I want to talk to other architects? I read this guide, Young Architect Guide: 10 Tips for Writing About Architecture — Architizer Journal .
Let me break down the 10 tips,
1 — Take a personal perspective.
That can be dangerous. Perspective as what? An aspiring architect? Or as a non-architect — citizen? Can I even detach the two? Probably not enough to be fully objective. This point should be the least of my worries, but then check his example,
“A decade ago, when reflecting upon Danish architecture, I imagined quiet, pipe-smoking, corduroy-clad men, a bit dull perhaps, producing responsible and ecologically sound architecture with a light postmodern touch. At best one could expect neat modernism. The architects of CEBRA … do not fit this image of Danish architects.”
Dull? Ecologically sound? “Postmodern touch”? “Neat modernism”? Who even is CEBRA?
I personally know architecture students that would be completely phased by the conglomeration of these words. Because even if…
