rant | architect's log

I am here to start something new. I am here to rant, because something really small made me really really mad.

You might have seen this. It is a Facebook page about architecture. It’s usually good, they post pictures about houses and other things about architecture but mainly houses. Actually, it posts mostly about fancy villas.

I have no idea what happened or why the publisher decided to say that today but I am so very angry about it.

I know it sounds like I am over reacting but this is a big thing.

We have houses, we have schools, we have shopping malls. All that is architecture. That’s architecture and not fancy villas. And that’s what makes me mad. That more than anything. There are archictects working their heads off to create a enviromentally healthy architecture for everyone. Architects working for affordable living for everyone. Anyone can desing a fancy house with a thousand rooms, a pool, a hot tub, and huge yard where the two blonde blue eye kids can play with a golden retriever. What not everyone can do is build a school in Ecuador using under 300 american dollars. And it is not something new, the great ones like Le Corbusier have tried too.

But as long as people think that good architecture is a fancy villa no one will realize what architecs are working on. If you measure more the fancy house in Beberly Hills than the new schools, museums, hospitals or community centers that are being build around you, you are going to think of the architect as a simple house planner. The architect doesn’t build you a house to live. The architects build you the places where you live. Architects build places, spaces. And yes, not one architect, a lot of them.

And I don’t know if I made a point or not but I had to say it. Just think about it.