November 4, 2005

yes, architecture

i had a great talk with my boss today about the profession and new york (after, of course, he scolded me for coming in late to work all the time -- my punishment being i have to come in everyday at 8:00 am now). he had gone to sci-arc for his master's, worked at some prestigious firms, lived in nyc for 15 years, before moving out to the oceanside here. i mentioned that recent poll in the UK that rated architects as the sexiest male professional. he talked about: why architecture is so prestigious in the public consciousness (movies -- like "the inferno," "hannah and her sisters"), why architecture is romantic (it's accessible, and the idealist's sacrifice), why architects get paid so little (90% of architecture is crap, corporate pushes out competition, and no one does ego projects anymore, just quick profit projects, good design takes so much time and people love to compromise for money -- developers), why so many clients think they know more than you do ("i know how to work a pencil"), and the only kind of firm to work for is the kind that chooses its clients (not the other way around), the early days of sci-arc when students voted what happened to the school ... among other things.

alas. the reasons why we love architecture and hate it, all in 30 minutes.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

good design is always compromised by money! ldhjfldkjfldk

Miss J said...

so true!

profit margins ... GAH. that's sheer capitalism for ya.

Anonymous said...

"sexiest male professional".

bah! :D

i point to one-man musician, librarian, and dramaturge all as like sexy professions for males!

just woke up from a much-needed doze. the north reading room in doe is alive and open!

my aunt prince went to cooper union.. she's my family tie to architecture.

Miss J said...

one-man musician? librarian? andrea, i think we have the same taste in male professions, dont we?

that's really sweet your aunt went to cooper union. did she tell you how it was there when she went? was it madness and mayhem? were there stabbings during the critiques?? lol

Anonymous said...

excellence!

with "librarian", my mind flew to tadanobu asano in "last life in the universe"...

my mind confuses his name with tadao ando's! hmm!

(great names, great names)

moreover, i just remembered that japanese men's magazine you have! yum! i'd like to see it again! um, and you, too- i'd like to see again! :D

my aunt and i haven't really conversed that much...you got me thinking about it this morning...i'd like to spend time at her house (if she'd have me) in upstate new york, with her two kids and her comparatively effeminate husband, john. (she jokes about how she thought he was gay when she first laid eyes on him- right in front of him, she jokes!)

well, technically, her father is my mother's way-older half brother. my aunt prince is in her forties herself; my mom used to "baby-sit" her in taiwan, in the old days..

Miss J said...

andrea, i was TOTALLY thinking tadanobu asano in last life. H O T.

you will receive what you wish for -- men's non-no it is!