Re: Re: Irish Architecture Awards 2008 – Public Choice Award

Hmm. Was going to say “no offense…”, but why bother.

You seem to think that having “the public” like a building is a badge of dishonour for an architect, signifying that they’ve somehow sold out. But if you’re not building for them, then who are you building for? Yourself? Your elite band of rich clients? Surely it is an architects role to build both for and with the public, and not at them.

If people want to buy houses in suburban housing estates, then I think that is a sad indictment of the success that the architecture profession has had in promoting good design. Limiting the voting in architecture awards to an elite inner brotherhood hasn’t done much to encourage people to buy anything other than the “endless suburban sprawl of semi-detatched houses” that you so despise. And yet you’re happy for this situation to continue?

You’re an architect. You care about architecture. Most people don’t. That’s the simple, unfortunate reality. It just means that you’ve got to work that little bit harder to reach out and grab them, to show them that it’s worth thinking about. To invite them in. To get them to look. Closing the door and locking it with a secret key doesn’t do anybody any favours.