Put Progress on the Shelves!

Coming back from lecturing at the School of Architecture one day, I stumbled into the bookshop on the campus. I was curious what reads they would offer to their customers, the emerging talents of tomorrow. My check was sobering though. The shelf for architecture books was pretty small and the assortment was dominated by one topic: modern architecture!

A university bookshop responds to the demand of their customers. So obviously the students are supposed to learn preferentially about Modernism, what a waste of time!

Modern architecture was considered the answer to the problems of architecture some 90 years ago. However, the world has moved on since then and hence Modernism has been given over to history. Now architects and theoreticians around the world are exploring the uncertainty of new territories, where the outlines of architecture, landscaping, bionics, and ecology emerge into something appropriate for our evolved society; into something processual, fluent, and adaptable, something completely different to the static monumental modern architecture.

So instead of the perpetual sameness of the countless books on modern architecture that display invariably the same buildings with the same pictures, I’d like to see books on the shelves issued by avant-garde publishers such as Actar, in which students can get insights where the intellectual frontier is now and what is thought at leading universities. Today’s students will practice in the mid of the 21^st century by when modern architecture will be outmoded by one lifespan. They ought to be equipped with the knowledge and a philosophical background that enables them to excel on a global level; extensive readings on modern architecture will just keep them retarded.

Booksellers and teachers, please flip modern architecture to the art history department and put progress on the architecture shelves!

- Posted Sept. 2, 2011