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Feature no.13
Photos: Robert Pike
TOP LEFT Viewers were invited to share their views by completing a postcard of their own. | RIGHT Interior view of the Draughtmans Arms, an installation by Gundry and Ducker | BOTTOM LEFT The wall of postcards presenting the view of the profession of architetcure.
generation scrabbling for the scraps from the table. Disconnected...isolated from society...ignored by the public. Adored by each other. No longer the master builder. In need of educational reform. Poor and broke. Should we take the lift to the top of the Shard and throw ourselves off? Seems little to be positive about. One might care to wonder what the Architects and aspiring Is 2051 any different? Will the Architect be permanently redundant, only found in Wikipedia as history? Will they be endangered and struggling onwards as the poor isolated artist? This is depressing! Is there an alternative view? Will the role widen? Is the client no longer the corporate paymaster pulling the
strings or is it formed from community design centres with the public and the user having a greater role in the design of the building? How do socio-economic factors determine the architect’s role? How will the environmental factors, such as sea level rise, extreme weather, and mass migration determine how architects work? Will the architect act as the problem solver delving deeper into the issues within cities? Will the architect be part of a wider interconnected network of design professionals? Will they be global linked by the laptop and LinkedIn...etc.? Where do we go from here? The sense is that architects cannot afford to continue this malaise stuck in the back pocket of paymasters. This is not
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