Audiences

Audiences

Architecture manages to affect us all in profound ways. We live in architecture, work in architecture, recreate in architecture, spend at least one third of our life income on architecture. Still, most people don't seem to take architecture seriously enough. In comparison to other design and construction products, we tolerate too much in architecture and we are willing to pay too much for what it has to offer. Perhaps we are used to low performance and high costs, so a little more or a little less hardly matters.

Maybe that's why many architects pay little attention to the users of their designs. They pay more attention to their clients but often treat them too as a necessary evil and simply tolerate them because they are paying for their services. Their true audience is other architects: with every design they want to impress other architects, outdo them and improve their standing (perhaps we should have rankings for architects, just like in tennis; it could be fun). Even worse, I often have the feeling that the main part of this audience consists of students; neophytes and novices hungry for knowledge and success. Architectural education remains a matter of imitation rather than apprenticeship.