week three_article three_blog seven

Ellen Dunham-Jones_Temporary Contracts: On the Economy of the Post-Industrial Landscape

Very near the end of her article, Dunham-Jones writes, “we are building neither a sustainable landscape nor a sustainable culture…yet our profession seems barely to notice this predicament…the more we as a profession ignore the dominant, mainstream built landscape, the more we marginalize our work and ourselves both in the economy and in the culture.” This statement brings to the surface what is (for me at least) a very important question: what is the point of architecture, theory, design, and cultural production if, through the execution of these, we isolate ourselves from those people and things which we are trying to influence and change? What is the value of ‘theory’ if it not only cannot be accessed and received by the masses, but a portion of academia and our profession as well? So often it is my feeling that architecture and architectural theory has chosen to pursue intellectual avenues that are isolated from everyday/contemporary culture. So often, our work seems (or at least feels) undervalued, devalued even. Perhaps this is our own doing? Have we theorized our way out of a vocation? Have we rendered ourselves useless by conveniently choosing to avoid the ‘mainstream’? When and how do we plan to bring ourselves out of this isolated position? Are we too late to do so?