V ACCUSING ARCHITECTURE_VOLUME 31_VINCENT VAN VELSEN
Architecture has historically been a profession based on well-established principles, passed down from master to apprentice. These principles however have become ever more evasive, volatile and changing. Each successive generation casts away the principles of their predecessors and declares their own. Different movements and styles stake their claim to what is the ‘right way to build’.
This has led to a highly accusational tendency within the culture of architecture; young architects are trained to be adversarial and have thick skins. What does this mean for guilt in the profession?
If forced to always be on the offensive what room is left for honest introspection and self-evaluation?
Architects, ever ready to accuse others, have rarely confessed guilt of their own.
