"Fuck you, I do what I want."
My third [of seven] mandatory semester long studio classes is titled 'Architecture and the Metropolis'. It's focused on the greater ramifications of architecture in the world. How architecture affects the city around it and how the city affects the architecture. It has a strong urban planning slant if you can't tell by the title of the course.
Architects are often accused of playing god. We're actually encouraged by everyone to play god when you think about it. Clients want us to design the spaces they live in, actually having a say in the way they occupy built space. You could say we are obsessed with other people: how they think, what they want, who they are, and where they want to be.
You don't hear: "Fuck you, I do what I want" at all.
Why is that? Why don't architects fulfill their own desires. Wouldn't that be great! Tell your neighbors to shove off! Paint your house solid black and finish it off with some limo tint on the windows! Don't build like it's an investment to be resold at some point [thus allowing multiple personalities to enter the design process and we all know what kind of regretful crap happens when design by committee occurs].Wouldn't it be great to walk inside the space created by the mind of one person, with no one but themself in mind?
